Americans gunning for Hindi, Telugu

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New Delhi, Sept 25: If the professional courses pull more Indian students to the US, Indian languages and rich culture have emerged as favoured areas of studies for Americans. The trend of American students coming to India to study Indian languages is on the rise, academicians said. It is evident from the increase in the number of students enrolling for language studies.

There are 208 American students for this academic year pursuing studies in 12 Indian languages. These languages include Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Oriya, Sanskrit, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali and Kannada, said P Mehendiratta of American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS).

“American students take interest to study Indian languages. They use the language for doing research work in India or teach the languages in the US. Many want to do foreign service in US, while a sizable number of students are interested in journalism,” Mehendiratta said.

AIIS has been offering language studies since 1962 and has witnessed steady increase in the student flow. From 50 students in 2001-02, the number increased to 84 in 2003-04 and to 64 in 2004-05.