Goa Language :
Konkani is the main spoken language of Goa and is also its state
language. Most Goans speak Konkani, English, Hindi and Marathi.
And quite a few still speak Portuguese, which was the language
of the educated elite in pre-1961 Portuguese-ruled Goa. However,
as different languages tend to be used for different purposes
in Goa, it is easy to get confused. While Konkani is the most
widely spoken, English and Marathi are the most widely read
languages. Most newspapers are published in these two languages.
While primary school education is mostly in local and regional
languages - Marathi and Konkani - for reasons of getting government
grants, at middle-school, high-school, and college levels the
education is almost completely in English.
Catholics largely use Konkani for their prayer services,
while the language for Hindu religious ceremonies is usually
Marathi. English is widely used as the language of the
administration, the judiciary, and a significant segment of
the media.
Most Hindus in Goa prefer Marathi for the written word
(although the influence of English is growing) as is obvious
from the popularity of Marathi newspapers. Many Marathi
dailies are published locally, and some come in from
adjoining Maharashtra as well.
In recent years, there has been an attempt to revive written
Konkani. But over the past few years a rift has emerged
between the promoters of the officially accepted Devanagari
script of Konkani and the widely-used-but-not-yet-accepted
Roman script of Konkani.
Konkani is written in four to five scripts in and beyond Goa
- Devanagari (the official script), Roman or Romi (widely
used in Goa), Kannada script, Malayalam script and Perso-Arabic
(reportedly used by some Muslim communities further south
along the west coast),
Hindi, too, is increasingly being used to communicate with
tourists. In some ways, Konkani is very close to Marathi and
Hindi (the Devanagari script is also the script of Hindi and
Marathi).
Portuguese, seen as an elite language, was never widely
spoken even in colonial times. Post 1961, it was speedily
and voluntarily given up and gave way to English. However,
many still see it as the language of aspiration. There have
been many studies on the obvious impact of Portuguese on
Konkani. That many words have entered the Konkani language
through the influence of Portuguese is undeniable.
Foreign residents of Goa also make their presence felt by
the visibility of their language. It is not unusual to find
signboards in Hebrew, Russian and German along parts of the
coast. And thanks to the influx of tourists, Goans, in turn,
have picked up bits of many languages.
