Penguin, one of India's leading English-language book publishers, has taken what it describes as an "unprecedented" decision to print books in Hindi in a drive to reach more readers. The firm hopes to tap the vast market of Indian book buyers who are not comfortable reading in English, while simultaneously searching for new Indian talent writing in Hindi and a range of other Indian languages.Wow. A major untapped niche—books in a language that half a billion people speak. I'm amazed.
via Blookslut
1 comment:
Ha, interesting account. Hindi is probably the "sleeping giant" among major world languages-- spoken by up to a billion people (especially if Urdu speakers are counted) yet so few publishers have realized its potential. Finally Penguin decided to wise up.
I think it's about time that Hindi was made one of the official UN languages as well. Not only because it's so widely spoken and is the major language in South Asia-- considering that India contributes disproportionately to UN dues and peacekeeping forces (far more than the US, for that matter) it's about high time that India got some credit for all it chips in.
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