How languages intersect in India

If two random Indians meet, there is only a 36% chance that they can talk to and understand each other, a Hindustan Times analysis of 2011 Census data shows, given the large diversity in languages spoken across the country. For instance, more than 97% of the people in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand can speak Hindi, which is why it is highly likely that random people from the two states can talk to each other. In fact, outside the homogenous Hindi Belt, the probability that two random persons from even two neighbouring states can talk is low. Linguistic expert Ganesh Narayandas Devy, founder of the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre in Gujarat and pioneer of the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, explained that many of the people speaking similar languages will be able to understand each other, even though they may not be able to speak the other language. For instance, assuming that most Hindi and Urdu speakers can communicate with each other because of language similarity, the chance that two random people from within Jammu and Kashmir can talk increases from 51% to 63%.