The majority of Deshasthas speak Marathi, one of the major languages of the mainly northern Indo-Aryan language group.
"It is good for all of the major languages now," he says, bright-eyed.
India's population has topped one billion, but the country is a polyglot of 17 major languages.
(Mr. Achebe's native tongue is Igbo, one of Nigeria's three major languages).
Tennis umpires have a list of objectionable phrases in all the major languages.
This huge region had five religions, 18 major languages and 93 minor ones.
The major languages of the family include French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian, all national languages.
The major languages spoken in the areas are Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu.
He was nominated more than once for the Nobel Prize, and his works are available in most major languages.
"Plus," he said, "it gives the rest of us a chance to learn Flemish, one of the world's major languages".
Nepali is the official language, but there are a dozen other major languages and scores of dialects.
