The language does not assign nouns’ gender, but does use polite forms that correspond to the German “Sie”, even when referring to people in the third person singular or plural. Verbs appear at the end of sentences, and instead of prepositions, postpositions are attached to nouns. The syntax is different from that of European languages. However, others are placed in front of the consonants after which they are pronounced, and one other vowel is represented only at the beginning of the word and nowhere else. This script represents some vowels where they are spoken in the word. But I was aware that learning an Oriental language, even within the region where it was spoken, was a particular challenge.īengali has its own script, which is related to Devanagari (the script in which Sanskrit and Hindi are written). I had learned English and French and was quite proficient in both languages after having spent a year each in Wisconsin and Paris. At that time there was no “Bengali for Non-Bengalis” class. I was living in West Bengal again, though not in Calcutta, but in the small university town of Shantiniketan, which was once home to India’s national poet, Rabindranath Tagore. Another three years! Afterwards, when I wanted to extend my studies again and conclude my research by earning a doctorate, it became clear to me that now I had to learn an Indian language. I taught for three years and then decided to begin a new course of study in Chennai (South India).

After graduating from university, I came to Calcutta as a German teacher and thought that I would stay for one or two years before returning to Europe.

It took a long time, too long, for me to decide to learn Bengali.

Complete Bengali by William Radice