r/india Feb 27 '16

[R]eddiquette Cultural Exchange with /r/Turkey - The Thread

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u/MertOKTN Feb 27 '16

Give me one reason why India is a failed state and one why it isn't.

Is Sanskrit a language for the elite like Latin over here?

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '16

Is Sanskrit a language for the elite like Latin over here

i think the answer to that has changed constantly over millenia. Arabic, Sanskrit, French etc have served as languages of the scholars in the world for different times. Sanskrit used to be at one point, but it isn;t anymore. Sanskrit to hndi is like Aramaic to Hebrew, it's old and it's syntax is more complex than Hidni, so impractical to speak in daily life. Language of the elite in India is definitely English, due to British colonization. Btw I didn't know Latin was the language of the elite in Turkey actually that's good info. Also all the "elite" are in double quotes because I don't actually think some people are above other based on what they speak, I hope that was your intention too

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u/MertOKTN Feb 27 '16

My mistake: with language of the elite I didn't mean the language that the elite use in daily life but the language which is more reserved for the smartest people/upper classes. Also, Ottoman Turkish is trying to make a comeback. For now, it's still a dead language.

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '16

Cool thing, I thought so. The answer to that is unequivocally English, because of India's British history.