LANGUAGES

Goa is a multilingual state thanks to its colourful history of thousands of years which has seen people of various regions, ethnic races and religions from India and abroad settling in Goa and influencing the local language. Konkani is the mother tongue of Goans, while Marathi too is widely spoken.

The Portuguese Influence ...........

In major towns English is widely used in writing and conversation. Goa being a major tourist destination offers a tourist friendly medium of interaction through English. ON the other hand, Portuguese, the language of the colonial rulers and the official language until 1961 before Liberation, notwithstanding the official patronage and compulsory medium of education, failed to make a permanent dent in the majority of Goans. It remained the language of the elite. Thus just after the departure of the Portuguese, the Portuguese language lost its usage. Only a small percentage of the older generation still speaks Portuguese. Their children have by and large switched to English.