All Bengali – the language

Bengali or Bangla is spoken by approximately 235 million people around the world, making it the ninth-most popular language in the world after English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian and Portuguese. In India, Bengali is one of the 22 officially recognized languages and is spoken mainly in East India. It is also spoken in parts of the United States, the UK, Nepal, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Bengali is the official language in Bangladesh, the former East Paskistan. Their own language – which is different from the Urdu spoken in Pakistan – contributed to the formation of a national identity, and ultimately to the independence of Bangladesh.

In the country of the Bangla speakers

Bengali is the easternmost of all Indo-European languages. In the cities is also spoken English, partly excellent, but mostly sufficient. If there is nothing left, like in the country, you still have Hindi, or you speak with hands and feet, that is fun and breaks the ice. Even rickshaw drivers rarely have the intellectual background to deal with you profound philosophical considerations, in a language of your choice. Most of them are not even able to read or write. So it makes little sense to keep a guide book under the nose of the willing but unsuspecting rickshaw driver, unless there is a picture of your goal. In terms of experience, however, many passersby will take care of you and instruct the rickshaw driver - which of course does not necessarily mean that you arrive, where you actually wanted to go.