While English and Hindi are the official national languages of India, they are only spoken by 30% of the population. Interestingly, the majority of government documents, newspapers, and other information are published in the two official languages. Additionally, the majority of English and Hindi speakers usually live in the major cities of Bombay, New Delhi, Calcutta, and Madras.
So, one might wonder: what about the other 70% of the population? The majority of the population lives in rural areas of India, where one of the fifteen official vernacular, or regional languages are spoken. Traditionally excluded from mainstream media (written in English and Hindi), Indians living in rural India have recently responded to regional editions of English and Hindi national papers such as the Indian Express and The Times of India by buying subscriptions en masse. Since deciding to publish multiple vernacular editions in 2001 and 2002, publications have at least doubled their circulation.
If media outlets want to access the Indian population, they have to start with fundamentals: publishing or broadcasting in multiple vernacular languages will inevitably boost profits.
- Theodora Stringham
No comments:
Post a Comment