Does Hindi need word imports?
Languages should not be confined in its present day authentic dictionary. If that were
the decision of scholars of that language, then that language would shrink rather than flourish.
English language is the most flourishing language in the world because of its liberal approach to make it spread. One-millionth word is not a funny story for a language. Nobody can learn all the words, but non-English speaking people are satisfied with those words that they knew before learning English.
Hindi as a language is nowhere near the English in terms of number of people speaking the language. That does not mean one should not try to improve the language adding more words that are popular.
Prasun Joshi, a lyricist and advertising guru in India is in favor of
importing words to this language, and that should be the right way to flourish the language. Indian words that have been added to English are frequently used colloquially as well as in high standard writings.
Not importing words is one problem for Hindi language; the second problem is the language is losing old words for not under use frequently. To curb this problem, people working in advertising field, movie industry, and news television need to use words those are not commonly used in day-to-day life. Interest of people will grow with repeated hearing of the words.
According to Joshi, a language is like a continuously flowing river; if its course gets obstruction, its flow would stop. His observation is that the self-appointed custodians are controlling the language strictly, and in the process it is losing its sanctity.
We should encourage people to use good Hindi through different media like newspaper, television, advertisement, etc, opined Joshi. The other way to improve the value of the language is to stress on correct speaking than funny fashionable speaking, Joshi said.
As usual, there is an opposing side of it too. Professor B. J. V. Prasad, a linguist in Jawaharlal Nehru University, does not think there is a need for importing words in Hindi language. Obviously, if the matter is politicized, then improvement would be controversial.
Word count of some languages is given below for a clear understanding where the English language stands.
English: 10,00,000
Chinese: 500,000+
Japanese: 232,000
Spanish: 225,000+
Russian: 195,000
German: 185,000
Hindi: 120,000
French: 100,000
Toki Pana: 197