Hindi is Bush’s new secret weapon (Americans find Hindi critical to security needs)

Hindustan Times ^ | January 6, 2006 | S Rajagopalan

[Stellar Dendrite]

p
i
n
g

[AmishDude]

Oh, yeah, Hindi is a big priority.

Sheesh.

They're hiring translators, not teaching kids. And they should be more focused on Urdu, frankly.

[CarrotAndStick]

Other than a few loan words, Hindi and Urdu are identical in most respects, except for the script. Hindi uses the ancient Devanagiri script, which runs right to left, like the other Indo-European languages, while Urdu uses the Arabic/ Islamic-Persian script, suitably modified, and it runs from left to right.

[La Enchiladita]

Is this serious, or a parody?

[endthematrix]

Initiative is Washington buzz-speak for "It's OK to spend money on this" Also interchangeable with Investment.

[MadManDan]

WTF??? Do Arabs care enough to learn English? Is this really what the Prez said? I saw part of it on Fox News, but don't remember anything about kids learning these languages in future. Some American kids not learning a foreighn language is NOT why the crap that is going on now is happening. Learning of any kind is good, but jeez come on.

[Smokin' Joe]

Hindi? The one gift the British occupation gave India was a common language. Prior to that there were some 1100+ dialects, many of whom could not commmunicate with one another. Farsi, Arabic, etc., I can understand.

[MadManDan]

As per post 5: is this even real? I am very drunk right now after having an interesting night at the bar. And yes, lately I am trying to "escape reality" by getting drunk. What happens or is allowed to happen these days is stranger than anything I can imagine while drunk.

[F14 Pilot]

Apart from Hindi, the languages being courted are Chinese, Russian, Arabic and Persian. "This programme is a part of a strategic goal, and that is to protect this country," Bush told a conference of more than 120 US university presidents

[DoNotDivide]

It would be nice if the ZILLIONS spent by the Feds on Government Schooling would actually teach our children how to SPEAK ENGLIGH.

[AmishDude]

Thanks. That's good info.

[endthematrix]

"So our short-term strategy is to stay on the offense, and we've got to give our troops, our intelligence officers, our diplomats all the tools necessary to succeed. That's what people in this country expect of our government. They expect us to be wise about how we use our resources, and a good use of resources is to promote this language initiative in K through 12..."

President's Remarks at U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education

Brace yourselves this is long-term.

[CarrotAndStick]

And I hope you haven't confused Urdu for Arabic. They are totally different, except for the script. Sort of like writing French in Japanese(or Russian) characters.

[CarrotAndStick]

SPEAK ENGLIGH

Where do we enroll for classes?

[AmishDude]

Oh, I knew it was similar to Hindi in structure, but it's the language of Pakistan and northern India.

[Smokin' Joe]

Gotta have people to weed through the backlog of NSA intercepts. Translators wanted!

[CarrotAndStick]

Yes. More accurately, the language of the Muslims of Pakistan and northern India.

[DoNotDivide]

LOL

I'm still not totally adept at TYPING the language yet.

Good one. :)

[La Enchiladita]

Ugh, so apparently Condi is one of the forces -- if not the main force -- pulling the President and the administration to the left?