language fact file: Gujarati

An official language in: Gujarat, India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Number of native speakers: More than 55 million

Learn some: ‘Hello’ will be familiar to many of us: નમસ્તે, pronounced ‘namaste’. If you want to go one better, ask how are you with તમે કેમ છો, pronounced ‘tame kem chho?’

Fast facts:

Gujarati is one of 22 official languages in India. It is also one of the most widely spoken foreign languages in both London and Birmingham!

Within the language, there are many diverse dialects. There is an old saying about Gujarati: ‘Baar gaamey boli badlaay’, which translates as ‘the dialect changes every twelve villages’, and the linguistic diversity remains today.

‘Father of the Nation’ and one of the architects of Indian independence, Mahatma Gandhi, spoke Gujarati as his mother tongue, as does Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.