加尔各答的华人看上了普通话的优势
KOLKATA: The city's are returning to the classroom to learn Mandarin. With the non- in Kolkata outnumbering the population in their ability to converse in 's official language, Kolkata's are taking lessons to brush up their language and participate in the thriving trade and business opportunities between India and .
加尔各答的华人回到课堂学习中文。随着加尔各答会说中文的非华人人口超过华人，加尔各答的华人正努力提高他们的语言，希望参与印度和的繁荣贸易和抓住商业机会。
Unlike Mumbai where the minuscule community — third and fourth generation in India — are now Hindi, English and Marathi speakers, most of the Indian in Kolkata still converse in as they have continued to reside in two pockets: the old town in Terretti Bazar and the new town in Tangra. But their dialects are distinctly different from Mandarin, the most-widely spoken language in .
跟孟买很小的华人社区不一样，孟买的第三代和第四代华人现在说的是印地语、英语和马拉地语，而加尔各答的大多数华人仍然用中文交流，他们一直住在两个地点，一个是Terretti集市的旧城，另一个是塔坝的新城。然而，他们的方言跟最流行的普通话有明显不同。
"At present, nearly 65% of the Indian in Kolkata speak Hakka, a dialect spoken in southern . A sizeable section of the rest speak Cantonese, the lingua franca in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The rest speak Hubei, the dialect in which people in central converse. Only a few know Mandarin that has emerged as the most important language in the world due to 's emergence as a global economic superpower," said Bean Ching Law, president of Indian Association, who speaks Hubei at home.
“目前，加尔各答的印度华人大约65%说的是客家话，是南方的一种方言。其余相当一部分说的是广东话，是广州和香港的一种通用语。剩下的说湖北话，是中部的一种方言。只有少数人会说普通话，而随着崛起为全球经济超级大国，普通话成为了世界上最重要的语言。”中印协会主席Bean Ching Law说，而Bean Ching Law在家说的是湖北话。
While Hakka is closest to Mandarin — akin to the similarities between Hindi and Bengali — those who speak Cantonese and Hubei can catch words and phrases in Mandarin but may not be able to decipher sentences that make a conversation.
A realization has now dawned that despite the inherent advantage of being , they need to learn the official language to be relevant in the new world order. At 45, Law — a trained architect who is now into IT business — has enrolled into a beginner's programme to learn how to write and speak Mandarin so that he can transact business with his clients better.
客家话跟普通话最接近，类似程度相当于印地语和孟加拉语。说广东话和湖北话的，只能听懂普通话的一些词语，也许无法理解别人的交流。
人们已经认识到了这点，尽管作为华人与生俱来的优势，为了参与到新的世界秩序中，他们还是得学习官方的中文。45岁的Law，从事IT业的架构师报名了学习中文的初级课程，为的是能够更好地与客户做生意。
"There are many Indians in Kolkata who now speak Mandarin fluently. Earlier, Mandarin was taught at Pei May school in Tangra and Moi Kong school in central Kolkata. But with Indian migrating to other countries in large numbers in the past couple of decades, these schools have now become defunct. Except a few families that took personal initiative to teach Mandarin to their children, the young generation never learned the language," explained Law.
“加尔各答很多印度人会说流利的中文。早些时候，塔坝的Pei May学校和加尔各答市区的Moi Kong学校有教中文。然而随着印度华人过去几十年里大量移民其他国家，这些学校已经关门。除了一些家庭主动教孩子学习中文，年轻一代再也没有人学习这门语言。”Law说。
Hsing, a seventh generation resident of Kolkata, speaks Hakka, English and a smattering of Hindi. "My grandfather spoke only Hakka. My father spoke Hakka and English. I picked up Hindi. My children can speak these languages as well as Bengali. Unlike a few decades ago, it is not uncommon for people to know multiple languages. I am sure the Indian in Kolkata can add Mandarin to their repertoire of languages and benefit from it," he added.
加尔各答的第7代居民Hsing说客家话和英语，还懂一些印地语。“我的祖父只会说客家话。我父亲会说客家话和英语。我无意中还学会了印地语。除了会说这些语言外，我孩子还会说孟加拉语。跟几十年不同，当时会多种语言的人并不多。我确信，加尔各答的印度华人有能力把普通话加入到自己的语言库中，并从中受益。”
以下是《印度时报》读者的评论：
译文来源：三泰虎 http://www.santaihu.com/2015102603.html
外文地址：http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/-in-Kolkata-eye-Mandarin-advantage/articleshow/49531532.cms
Hema Barua
SECULARS, WHO WILL INTERSEPT CHINA SP1ES?????
谁来拦截间谍？
Shashi Srivastava
But who really cares?
谁会在意？
Harish Thaker
Long live your Mother Tongue - this is very close tonthe heart, as Fathers hardly get to speak their terms.
母语万岁
The Indian
are playing a clever game by injecting their things in Northeast India. They may be seeing for what p*rks are doing and Hindus do not retaliate and taking advantage of the situation. This is a high time for Hindus to unite stand against these false intention things. If we do not take steps now, things may go out of hand.
耍诡计...他们也许是过来看巴基斯坦在做什么，而印度人并未采取报复。
印度人早该联合起来，戳穿他们的虚假意图。
如果现在不采取措施，情况也许会失去控制
Amit • Piyush
The are not only clever, they are also very hard working people. They have overtaken us in nearly every matter and will continue to leave us behind if we have this narrow minded, xenophobic attitude. Most great cities of the world are proud of their Towns. Kolkata once had a bustling Town too, but as with every thing else, Kolkatans have killed it. Ofcourse, Kolkata cannot be called a "great city" anymore. And ofcourse, your city of Bangalore is hardly a modern city and its citizens are as parochial as you are. Just keep your head buried in your computer . You know nothing about the world, let alone the North East.
不仅聪明，而且勤劳。
几乎每个领域超过我们，如果我们继续保持狭隘思维和排外的态度，他们会继续把我们抛在后面。
世界上很多城市以拥有城为荣。
加尔各答曾经也有一座城的，但是后来消失了，加尔各答不再配称是“伟大的城市”。