The language I love or my love language?
कोस-कोस पर बदले पानी, चार कोस पर वाणी (Kos-kos par badle paani, chaar kos par vaani). The English translation of this famous Hindi idiom is: In India, the taste of water changes after every mile & language after every four miles. This rhyming poetic aphorism reflects the diversity of languages and dialects in India (Narayan, 2017), where citizens experience multilingualism almost unconsciously in their daily lives. I was born and raised in India, a country of 22 scheduled languages with official status (not including English), around 400 languages spoken by a million or more people each (Gopinath, 2023), and thousands of recognized dialects and identified mother tongues. Most children are multilingual before beginning primary school, Continue Reading →