Bengali (also known as Bangla) is a language that doesn’t get much attention in the United States. It’s even possible you’ve never heard of it before.
But despite its obscurity in the U.S., Bengali is a major world language. And it will only grow more important in the years to come, as the Indian economy grows along with the number of Bengali speakers.
With that in mind, here are 5 reasons Bengali is one of the most important languages you’ve never heard of:
The Bengali language is the 8th most spoken language in the world.
Or possibly the 7th – it depends on who’s counting. Between 205-242 million people speak Bengali as a first language. That’s more than French and German put together! When you include people who learned it as a second language, Bengali has approximately 261 million total speakers.
Bengali is an official language in Bangladesh, parts of India and the city of Karachi in Pakistan.
Bengali is the only national and official language of Bangladesh. In India, it’s the official language in heavily Bengali-speaking states, like West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam. Bengali is also one of the 22 scheduled languages under the Indian Constitution, which means that the Indian government is required to protect it and encourage its development.
In 2009, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina proposed adding Bengali as an official UN language.
Spoken Bengali is split into many regional dialects that fade into each other, forming what’s called a dialect continuum. There’s also a standardized form of the language used for writing. And to add an additional complication, Hindus sometimes use different words for the same concepts than their Muslim neighbors do. So, it’s important to know your audience.
Bengali speakers take their language seriously.
On February 21, 1952, Pakistani police killed 5 students as they protested in favor of official recognition for the Bengali language in Pakistan. A few years earlier, the government had declared that Urdu would be the national language and the only language used in Pakistani schools.
In 2000, UNESCO began observing International Mother Language Day on February 21 in honor of the students who died.
An important note for healthcare entities who need to be in compliance with Section 1557 of the ACA:
Bengali is one of the top 15 languages spoken by individuals with limited English proficiency in the following states: New York, Virginia, Michigan, and the District of Columbia. And especially since it doesn’t use the Roman alphabet, it’s important to have your documents reviewed by a specialist, native-speaking translator to ensure display and formatting errors don’t creep in. And yes, that’s true even if you’re using the taglines HHS provides.
Bengali’s importance will continue to grow in the years to come.
In 2015, the British Council published a report on the most important languages for the future. They looked at several different factors, including the languages spoken in the fastest-growing emerging economies by 2050. Out of these emerging economies, Bengali is expected to be the third most commonly spoken language, below Chinese and Hindi.
So even if it isn’t a top-priority language for your business right now, that could change soon.
A note about desktop publishing in Bengali:
Bengali uses a cursive script that differs from the Latin alphabet in several important ways. First, there are letters for consonants, but not for most vowels. Instead, most vowel sounds are indicated using diacritic marks. Next, there is no case difference between capitalized and lowercase letters. Finally, there is a horizontal line at the top of the characters linking them together called a matra.
Understandably, this can create design and formatting headaches when translating content into or out of Bengali. A good language services provider will be able to help you navigate the many complexities of the Bengali language to ensure your message gets through loud and clear.
Want to learn more about Propio and our award-winning translation process. Contact us today!
