Foreigners eager to learn Hindi to connect with India

NEW DELHI: While India debates the new government’s plan to tweet in Hindi and civil service aspirants take to the streets in protest against a test of English-language skills being included in the exam, foreigners are increasingly seeking to speak the local language to woo Indians.
US secretary of state John Kerry invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election tag line 'Sabka saath sabka vikas' at a Washington think-tank meeting before his India visit last week. While this may have been good diplomacy, investors and brand marketers are also trying to convey a greater cultural affinity.

David Wax, director of US-based private equity investment firm WL Ross, has come to India several times in the past to discuss business deals. For his latest visit last week, Wax got his business cards printed in Hindi on one side.

Wax, who is looking to invest in distressed companies in India, said it was a small but meaningful gesture. "The purpose was to show respect and cultural sensitivity to the Indian recipient," said Wax. German airline Lufthansa's TV commercial attempts to connect better with the Indian flier.

The company has created an advertisement only for India for the first time, trying to shed the image of being cold and unemotional by showing Indian food and movies on board flights.

"As a brand we have been in India for a long time... but this time we wanted to make an emotional connect," said Sangeeta Sharma, manager, marketing and communication, Lufthansa. In Delhi, several embassies have enrolled staff for Hindi classes.

Apart from such students institutes also see good demand from researchers at companies seeking to learn the language. After the Modi government took over, visitors from the West and even countries such as China, Japan and South Korea have started talking about the growing importance of Hindi in India, according to Chandra Bhushan Pandey, founder of Hindi Guru Language Institute.

"Many Chinese have called me recently to say they want to do advanced courses in Hindi as it would help them in conducting business and diplomatic relations better," said Pandey, who is currently teaching people who work at companies such as Mitsubishi and Mitsui.

"I see lot of enquiries coming in once the summers are over and people are back from their holidays." Experts point out that communicating in a country’s language or respecting the culture is a way to show not just friendliness, but also the intention to engage on social, political and business fronts.

"It's important to connect with the locals rather than maintaining an international identity," said professor Abraham Koshy of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

So when the German Tourism Board releases promotional material in close to 10 Indian languages and five-star hotels such as those run by the Starwood group go the extra mile to make sure that they offer slippers and masala chai to Indians guests at their international properties, one knows what's going on.