The language debate between Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam has been ongoing for a long time.
While some people in the southern part of India argue that North Indians coming to the South should learn the regional languages, others believe that this shouldn't be mandatory.
Now, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to share his thoughts on how not knowing Hindi is a challenge for people in Tamil Nadu.
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‘SERIOUS HANDICAP’
In an X (formerly Twitter) post, Sridhar Vembu highlighted that Zoho is a rapidly growing business that is catering to more and more customers from Mumbai and Delhi.
At this point, not knowing Hindi makes it difficult for his staff in Tamil Nadu.
Vembu wrote, “As Zoho grows rapidly in India, we have rural engineers in Tamil Nadu working closely with customers in Mumbai and Delhi - so much of our business is driven form these cities and from Gujarat. Rural jobs in Tamil Nadu depend on us serving those customers well.”
“Not knowing Hindi is often a serious handicap for us in Tamil Nadu,” he added.
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‘SMART’ TO LEARN HINDI
Continuing his post, the Zoho co-founder stated that he has learned to read Hindi in the last 5 years.
He wrote, “It is smart for us to learn Hindi. I have learned to read Hindi haltingly in the last 5 years and I can now understand about 20% of what is spoken.”
Highlighting that the country is rapidly growing, Sridhar Vembu advised engineers and entrepreneurs to learn Hindi and “ignore” the politics around the topic.
In his words, “As India is a fast growing economy, engineers and entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu will be smart to learn Hindi.”
LANGUAGE AND POLITICS
According to Moneycontrol, MP and DMK NRI wing secretary Pudukkottai MM Abdulla asked the Zoho co-founder why he was advising Tamilians to learn Hindi when he himself had expanded Zoho to Saudi Arabia without learning Arabic.
Sridhar Vembu responded by emphasizing that the Hindi and Urdu languages are very useful when dealing in the Middle East.
The Zoho co-founder wrote, “Hindi/Urdu are actually extremely helpful in the Middle East too, apart from Malayalam and Tamil. We also have Arabic speakers in Chennai to work with those Middle East customers who need Arabic support.”
He added, “I am sure you know all this Sir, but I am sorry your politics forces you not to see the truth. We invite you to visit our rural office near your constituency and check this out yourself.”
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