Bengali – the sweetest language in the world

Every nook and corner of India is overflowing with cultural heritage and history that it truly gratifies the title-  ‘Incredible India!’. This five thousand-year-old civilization is a melting pot of wondrous festivals, endless celebrations and beautiful languages. One of these languages is Bengali, a passionate language emerging from the land of music, fine arts, literature, the cinema and of course Rosogulla. If the Bengalis have the power to invent such a sweet creation known as the Rosogulla, imagine the sweetness their language may possess. Even the way the Bongs say I love you is so poetic- ‘Ami tomake bhalobashi’, like a sweet poem.

According to a UNESCO survey, Bengali has been voted the sweetest language in the world; positioning Spanish and Dutch as the second and third sweetest tongues. Bengali is spoken all over India including West Bengal, Assam, Bangladesh and Andaman, and Nicobar Islands; it ranks seventh after Hindi in the list of Most Spoken Languages in the world. There are many significant Bengali-speaking communities in the United States, Canada, the Middle East and the United Kingdom as well. Bengali’s or the Bongs have a revered fondness for language and literature, and identify a language as an element of identity and uniqueness.

Another interesting fact is that Bengali is a language officially recognized in the Constitution of India and both India and Bangladesh’s national anthem is written in Bengali by the revered Indian poet- Rabindranath Tagore.

The Bongs have a rich history and have heavily imbibed traditions and culture in their language which has cast a long shadow of influence on the way they enunciate and express themselves. One of the reasons why Bengali is one of the loveliest languages to speak is because it is very simple to speak and comprehend; there is no roughness or harshness to the words and the language has simplified vowel and consonant sounds. The language is magnificently laden with the richness of expressions and emotions which bleeds into their language as well making it one of the most poetic languages on earth.

Each one of us feels that their mother tongue is the sweetest and we are not wrong in believing so. Language is the gratification to the ears of an artistic soul and one will never tire of learning a new language. This immense reverence for a language is beautifully summed up in a Bengali saying- Ekṭi bhasha jôtheshṭo nôy which means “One language is never enough”. it may take us years to learn a language but it only takes a minute for it to become a part of us.