File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Press Trust of India)
Representatives of at least 40 foreign countries including China, Japan, Poland, Italy and Sweden are taking part in the ongoing Hindi Conference in Bhopal.
The three-day tenth World Hindi Conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bhopal yesterday which is also being attended by people from the countries where Hindi is neither spoken nor understood.
Professor Marka Jaily from Italy said she has always been interested in India and that is why she has learnt Hindi.
"There is a global approach in Hindi," she says. "We should not forget our mother tongue when we learn other languages," said the professor who teaches Hindi at the Venice International University, Italy.
Hua Finn and Lee Yan from China said it's imperative to learn Hindi in the today's globalised world.
"Hindi is among the largest spoken language in the world and it is expanding," they said speaking in fluent Hindi.
Mauritius Minister of Tertiary Education Leela Devi said, "We have unbreakable relation of heart with India."
Representatives from different countries are participating as they are attached with India at their heart, she said.
Hindi Professor at Polland's Warsaw University, Vanutee Istashik said she agrees with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Hindi should assimilate words from different languages and become more diverse.
Tatiyaan of Costa Rica learns various world languages. "But Hindi is unique," she tells PTI in fluent Hindi. Urbibi, a Hindi translator who hails from Tajikistan, said there is huge interest among his countrymen in Hindi.
Petra from Holland said she has been learning Hindi for last three years in Delhi and she got married in India.
Many foreign students who are learning Hindi in India were also among the participants.
Yu Kako Toshiqua of Japan who studies Hindi in Delhi said she learnt Hindi at a university in her country.
But now she has come to Delhi to learn the language as there are lack of Hindi teachers in her country, she said.
Another student Mane Makerchand, who hails from Armenia and studies Hindi at JNU said she has been inspired by the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi since her childhood.
"I started reading Hindi to understand him," she said. Makerchand said that Hindi language and movies are very popular in her country and Shah Rukh Khan is liked by many, she said.