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!

Did you know that 90 percent of the world uses the metric system? In fact, only Myanmar (Burma), Liberia and the United States use a different form of measurement. That’s pretty amazing when you think about it. That means for virtually any translation or interpretation project that involves measurement—like length, mass, volume, area, even temperature—you need to be extra careful about how they are communicated.
In some cases, you might want the conversion to be an exact translation, but not always.
When it comes to translating measurements, first consider how precise you need to be. For example, when warning consumers to store a gas cylinder at least “three feet” away from an open flame, you probably would not want to use a literal translation. Three feet actually equates to “0.9144 meters,” so in this instance, rounding off to say “one meter” would be acceptable. Those few tenths of a millimeter won’t matter in this situation, and the smooth flow of your copy will be preserved.
On the other hand, measurement units for tools and machinery need to be very specific. Wrench, nut and bolt sizes are a common example, and we frequently see this mishandled in amateur translations. When a 5/8” wrench is required, that’s exactly what must be communicated in any language. Specifying only 1.5875 cm (or much worse, rounding it to 1.6 cm) leaves the user not knowing which tool is required, or possibly stripping the nut because of a misleading conversion in the translation!
All of this is relative to the scale, and the significant digits in the original measurement. When providing high-altitude recipes for cookie batter at 3,000, 5,000 and 7,000 feet, it doesn’t make things any “clearer” to the audience if you specify 914.4, 1,524 and 2,133.6 meters in your French translation. On other hand, when a component is only several centimeters long in the first place, fractions of a millimeter can often be very important.
Sometimes you might want to include both English and metric measurements—either to ensure that units used in the original situation or component are retained, or to provide approximations that help your audience get a sense of the sizes, weights or distances involved. In translation, as a general rule the common measurement units of the target language appear first, followed by the original equivalent (within parentheses, for example). Again, the translation team must have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter—and common sense—to know when a word like “approximately” is called for, and the appropriate level of precision for each conversion.
However, there are exceptions to this default order, like the wrench example cited in the previous section, or where the product itself is supplied in English units—spools of cable in lengths of 100, 500 and 1000 feet, for instance. When documents are directed towards non-English-speaking populations within the U.S., it is also common to use English measurements—sometimes followed by their metric equivalents if that will provide additional clarity.
So when it comes to communicating measurements across countries, use common sense in deciding when to be exact and when to be “close enough.”
Metric Trivia:

• The famous platinum bar established as the meter standard in 1799 (at an international scientific meeting in Paris) was supposed to represent one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator.
• The measurement was wrong! We now know that this distance is actually 10,002,000 meters, and our standard meter is actually about 0.2 millimeters short of that exact proportion.
• Today’s definition of a meter: the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in one 299,792,458th of a second. Yeah, that makes it much easier to remember
• Thomas Jefferson devoted much effort to make the United States the second nation in the world to adopt the metric system. Obviously, he was unsuccessful. However, it should also be noted that France, the birthplace of the metric system, was reverted to the older system of measurements (livre, aune, etc.) by Napoleon in 1812, and didn’t complete full conversion back to the metric system until the end of World War I.

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!