Mahatma Gandhi wasn’t just talking about his own homeland of India when he said, “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.” He captured the essence of how countries and societies are ultimately perceived around the world.
As for Gandhi’s own country, Indian culture is among the world’s oldest, dating back more than 4,500 years. Second only to China as the most populous country on earth with more than 1.2 billion people, India boasts diverse customs, languages and religions.
In our latest look at world cultures, we summarize some of the widely diverse traditions and customs that make India such a captivating country and alluring destination for travelers.
Language & Communication
The vast number of languages spoken across India could almost fill the Bay of Bengal. A recent Indian Census identified 22 major languages and nearly 1,600 other languages used in various parts of the country! Nearly 30 of these languages are spoken by at least a million people, so it’s critical to know which language is spoken in the region you’re traveling to or doing business in. The country of India is divided into 28 states and seven territories. The Hindi language is recognized as the official language by the central government, although different states have also designated official languages for their own areas. In fact, 59 percent of India residents speak something other than Hindi, including Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil and Urdu. While the diversity of Indian languages is staggering, recent reports estimate that 250 other ones died out over the past 50 years, and many others are in danger of doing so. For example, you will no longer find anyone speaking the Aka-Bo, Aka-Kora or A-Pucikwar languages. Nearly 200 other existing languages—like Kachari, Lishpa and Pengo—have been labeled as vulnerable or endangered as tribes vanish or children fail to learn the languages from their elders.
Values
Whether in families, schools, businesses or social settings, there’s a respect for the hierarchical order of things. From early childhood through adulthood, people are taught to respect elders, family members and authority figures. After marriage, children frequently bring parents and other relatives into their own home, and care for them until death. This caste system, which stems in large part from the Hindu religion, affects much of the Indian culture. (Hindus believe in reincarnation, and those with good karma are reborn into a higher caste. Bad Karma can result in being reborn into a lower caste. Attaining “nirvana” releases the soul from the cycle of reincarnations.)
Business Relations
The people of India are generally non-confrontational, and this trait carries into the business world as well. Negotiations can be slow, but cordial. The best results are achieved through a steady relationship-building process whereby all parties get to know each other well. The more trust and respect that are built up, the better the business talks proceed. Indians value punctuality and organization, so it’s helpful to be prompt, send a detailed meeting agenda in advance and provide backup materials for participants to review and retain. While Indian women typically have not held major business roles in the past, this is changing. Business attire for both men and women is usually conservative, such as dark suits or dresses.
Social Etiquette
The diverse cultural, religious and even geographical aspects of the country make for equally diverse social norms and customs. Not surprisingly, religion, education and social class all play a role in social settings. True to their respect for hierarchy, Indians greet the eldest or most senior person first, and again when departing. Handshakes between men are common, as they are among women. However, they are less frequent between men and women. It’s best to wait for a woman to extend her hand before making the first move. Naming conventions and the use of titles vary depending on the region you’re visiting, the person’s religious affiliation and their social class. Gift-giving is common, although avoid giving Hindus anything made of leather; and alcohol products are inappropriate for those of the Muslim faith. Food is frequently eaten with your fingers, although utensils may sometimes be available. In either case, it’s customary to eat with your right hand. Hindus and Sikhs do not eat beef, and Muslims do not eat pork or drink alcohol. One of India’s other distinctions is its spices, so be prepared for dishes that may have a little more heat than you’re used to!
If you’re fortunate enough to visit India for business or pleasure, one of the “must-sees” of your trip is the Taj Mahal. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the white marble mausoleum was built over a 12-year period (1631-1643) by Emperor Shah Jahan to honor his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

For more than 30 years, ASIST Translation Services, Inc. has worked with business, government, educational and non-profit clients around the world. We improve foreign language communications through a full menu of translation and interpreting services, including content localization, studio voice recording & audio-visual production, transcreation, proofreading, website content, page layout & design, cultural training, and other specialized language support. To learn more about how we can assist you, visit our LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook pages or our Website!

When Alban Michael passed away earlier this year at the ripe young age of 89, the occasion really marked two deaths. You see, Mr. Michael was the last surviving speaker of the Nuchatlaht language once spoken by his Native American ancestors of the Pacific Northwest. His death also marked the quiet end of yet another language that has died out over the millennia of human existence.
Like plants and animals, human languages have proven to have their own life cycles: they’re born, they grow, they adapt, they expand and, invariably, they die. Sometimes their death is a slow reincarnation, like the transition from “Olde” English into our modern vernacular, or how Latin was gradually replaced by Italian. Other times their unfortunate demise is driven by oppression—conquering armies throughout history have often either destroyed indigenous cultures or prohibited the use of native tongues. For the thousands of languages that have disappeared over the ages, there was always one last soul—like Mr. Alban Michael—who carried the final words of their people to the grave.
So just how many languages have been lost to time? There’s no definitive answer.

Estimates range widely from 600 to 60,000. It’s especially hard to guess how languages came and went among primitive groups of people thousands of years ago. The Eblaite and Sumerian tongues are among the oldest languages whose deaths are traced back to the 2^nd millennium B.C.  But more recent studies on the death of languages are not much more conclusive. Some have estimated that 4,000 languages have become extinct just within the past few hundred years. If you read our last blog, you learned that about 250 languages died out in India alone over the past 50 years, with many more on the “endangered” list. In fact, some experts predict that 90 percent of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the world today will be extinct by the year 2100, if not sooner.
This expedited death toll can be attributed to a couple of key factors:

1. Globalization is urging populations to grow closer together and remove communication barriers that hamper economic, social, scientific and cultural interactions.
2. Communication technology is bringing cultures and people together at an unprecedented rate, which can force smaller, undeveloped communities to forsake their native tongue for more mainstream languages in order to compete, or just to survive.
3. Homogenization is slowly winnowing the number of languages that young people have traditionally learned either in schools or from their parents. In recent centuries, many countries have urged—or forced—assimilation of cultures within their borders, so instead of nurturing language and cultural differences, young people grow up learning only the more dominant language of their society, and the native tongues of their ancestors slowly die off as a result.

Of the 7,000 languages in use today, the majority of them are spoken by relatively small clusters of people. According to the website Ethnologue, which catalogs all of the known living languages on Earth, six percent of the world’s languages are spoken by 94 percent of the world’s population; the remaining 94 percent of languages are spoken by only 6 percent of the population. Consider the small island of New Guinea: despite its minuscule percentage of the world’s population (0.1%), it is home to more than 1,100 languages, or about one-sixth of the world’s total. About 130 languages around the world are spoken by fewer than 10 people, which illustrates the extreme vulnerability of that speech as the speakers age and die out.
When it comes to existing languages susceptible to extinction, the Top 10 countries with the most endangered languages are: United States (227 endangered languages); India (199); Brazil (190); Indonesia (149); Russian Federation (148); China (148); Mexico (143); Australia (108); Papua New Guinea (98); and Canada (93).
As a leading language service provider for more than 30 years, we hate to see any language die. In addition to being unique and intricate links to humankind’s collective past, languages can also provide valuable information across cultures. For example, aborigines in Australia used their traditional language to educate modern medical staff about otherwise unknown uses of a local plant that cured skin rashes. It shows that languages represent more than just words; they also carry the memory of a people, complete with the irreplaceable knowledge, insights and experiences gained over the centuries.
We see language diversity as a healthy and essential part of a thriving planet. Promoting multilingual families, schools, businesses and communities is a more enlightened and constructive approach to a globalized world than one where we all speak the same language. We’ll continue to do our part to make sure we all can communicate with each other, even if it’s in an obscure, possibly endangered, language.  We think Alban Michael would have shared our view.

For more than 30 years, ASIST Translation Services, Inc. has worked with business, government, educational and non-profit clients around the world. We improve foreign language communications through a full menu of translation and interpreting services, including content localization, studio voice recording & audio-visual production, transcreation, proofreading, website content, page layout & design, cultural training, and other specialized language support. To learn more about how we can assist you, visit our LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook pages or our Website!