My first post here!
Great to see all the enthusiasm for my language (especially Meera's
). Hit me up with any questions regarding the language.
I read through the previous pages and many of what has been written here is correct. Nepali as a language is very similar to Hindi, but not mutually intelligible. However, most of the urban Nepali, plus people living in districts bordering India can understand Hindi perfectly well. This I guess is a result of India's cultural domination in South Asia through its movies, television, radio. On the other hand, most Indians cannot understand Nepali even though they can read the texts as both the languages have the same script. Also, most Nepalis are multi-lingual in the sense that they have their ethnic native language first (Newari, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magar, etc), then the national language (Nepali), and now English and Hindi.
Also, yes there is diglossia in the spoken and written Nepali language. The day to day spoken Nepali is more informal and shortened version of the formal. For example, if I want to ask "Where did you come from?", it would be "Kaan bata aunu bhako?" in Informal spoken with Respect when the more formal and written form would be "Tapai/Hajur Kahan bata aaunu bhaeko?"
The written Nepali is a lot more formal and uses much more direct Sanskrit words. So people wanting to learn the language might find it a little harder to adapt to the formal/informal spoken and written discrepancies.
(jk)