Language in Nepal

Video Transcript

(Note: This transcript has been edited for readability.)

English is, only the educated people who’ve gone to a private school. Public schools’ standard of English is very poor. Very difficult to find English speakers. But the younger generation, those with cell phones, influenced by the Western culture and media, you could expect them to speak English. When you go to areas like Tamil and Kathmandu where you would find a lot of Western people, those kind of areas with businesses and shops, they will definitely speak English. But if you go to rural areas, it could be a problem. Very basic English, people don’t know. Even those who would know. The Nepali language, 75% of the written language is derived from Sanskrit. A man in Nepal, or a Nepalese man in India would find it very easy to kind of learn, because many words, many nouns, verbs. Most of the Nepalese people would understand Hindi, so if there’s a problem with the English language, if you can come up with Hindi, you’re going to pass. That’s what I can say.

A Nepali national discusses language in Nepal.