BengaliBengali is the main language of Bangladesh whereit is spoken by approximately 100 million people andanother around 68 million speak it in India,predominantly in West Bengal. It is estimated thatas it has spread throughout the world a further 200million speak Bengali as either a first or secondlanguage. The language, written in the Bengali alphabetis diglossic which means there are two very distinctforms of the language High and Low.

High, or Sadhu Bhasa which contains many wordsderived from Sanskrit is used in formal contexts suchas sermons, lectures and speeches and Low, knownas Calit Bhasa, is more for everyday conversation,modern literature and other informal situations.Gradually Calit Bhasa is becoming the more acceptedform of the language.

Bengali contains a large number of loanwordsfrom Portuguese, English, Arabic, Persian and Hindi.Written in a cursive script below an imaginary lineBengali has 52 consonants and 12 vowels in itsalphabet. Vowels are made by placing symbols orvowel marks around the consonant.

While English numbers are now common inBengali script its worth noting that the symbol 8 inBengali equates to the number 4.

Bengali is a phonetic language and has similaritieswith other Indian languages. Verbs are changed ormodified by appending a suffix to a word. There is noverb to be in Bengali so they may say I student for Iam a student. Sentence structure is usuallysubjectobjectverb. Statements are turned into

negatives by adding Na (literally meaning no) at theend of the sentence. In Bengali the word ki meanswhat? It can turn a statement into a question, e.g.Ami chhAtro is I am a student and Ami ki chhAtromeans Am I a student?

While Bengali is phonetic, there is a tendency tospeak vowel sounds, particularly o, that are notwritten, e.g. ngr, which means town, is pronouncednogor. English pronunciation and word stress can bedifficult for Bengali speakers to learn, as is the Latinbased alphabet.

There is no gender distinction in pronouns butthere are polite and familiar forms. When addressingsomeone, elders are addressed as Apni by youngerpeople and younger people are addressed as Tomiby older people.

The majority of Bangladeshis are Muslim and acommon greeting would be As-salaa-mu-alaikummeaning Peace be upon you. They would alsotouch the forehead with the right hand. Thoughthere are no strict rules for naming, the familyname comes first and is followed by a givenname. An older person would be addressed bytheir given name followed by a suffix such as oldersister even if they are not related.

When speaking to an older person it wouldbe rude for Bangladeshis to maintain eye contact,but at other times eye contact is desirable. Whistlingand winking in public is considered impolite, and itis also considered impolite to cross ones legswhile sitting. Giving the thumbs up sign is undesirable

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and so is beckoning with the index finger.It is common for Bangladeshis to eat with the hand,

the right one, though spoons are used for desserts.Men and women may eat separately at large gatherings.White is worn for mourning.

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Bengali

Hi/HelloBye/GoodbyeHow are you?Fine/Well, and you?Not so goodWhats your name?My name isPardon?YesNoI dont knowPleaseThank you

Good!Do you understand?Try againDo you want some help?Dont worry, learning takes timeShall we take a break now?Lets finish (the lesson) nowYoure doing wellCan you say it now?Can you answer (the question)?Now you ask meSee you next week

HelloBidai/JachsiKamon aso?Valo abong tomi?Toto valo noyTomar nam ki?Amar nam _____________Ki bolasan?HaNaAmi janinaDoya koroTomaka dhonnobad

Valo!Tomi ki bojho?Abar chesta koroTomi ki shajjo chao?Chinta koro na, shakhai shomoi lagaAmra ki akhon biroti nabo?Cholo (porati) shash koriTomi valo korsoTomi ki akhon iha bolta paro?Tomi ki ottor dita paro?Tomi akhon amaka jiggesh koroPorar shoptaha dekha hoba

ENGLISH BENGALI PRONUNCIATION