Indian phrases and word to use HELP?

SANJAY_DEL

In places like Kashmir and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, its Urdu that is widely spoken and read. Also in Hyderabad, a city with a Muslim subculture. In the predominantly Hindi belt, the northern states of UP, Bihar, along with most of central India, Rajasthan, Haryana there are regional dialects of Hindi that are spoken.
But a pragmatic mix of tongues led to the widespread usage of "Hindustani", made popular by Indian cinema, television and music.

Lugubert

In most cases, I found that a smile or similar was the normal way of expressing "thank you". Shukriya to a more or less obviously Moslem person in, say, Old Delhi, brought forth a wider smile than any dhanyavaad could have managed.

What surprised me was that what must have been dhanyavaad to me sounded like dhaniwaar. My ears, or really Uttaranchal pronunciation?

billisutra

According to the 2000 census, there are 18 indian languages with nearly 2000 regional dialects spoken. Regional pronunciation will vary, quite literally, from street to street at times. This is especially apparent in the metros like Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai.

For the basic traveler, Lonely Planet publishes a mostly correct phrasebook for Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. Out of the hundreds of dictionaries I find Oxford and the Teach Yourself series (Rupert Snell's work in particular) to be most useful.

In practical application, however, no matter where you learn your Hindi (or any Indian language), someone will correct you according to what *they* know to be 'correct'. A phrasebook will cover the basics that can be understood in the largest demographic, but for more abstract conversation and grammatical points, the languages tend to be very flexible by nature and thus very fluidly codified.

One thing that certainly holds across the board, not just in India but in any culture, is the appreciation that you're at least attempting to communicate on their terms; and again, a smile is intelligible universally.