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Comment by anal_reactor | Hacker News Reader

This is so obvious now that you point it out I'm embarrassed not to have noticed it.

By the way, I was wondering if learning Hindi would be the winning strategy here. Be the only white guy speaking Hindi, instant hire.

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Don't be embarrassed. Most don't see it, because the moral framing blocks economic analysis.

As for learning Hindi, it may help. But don't make the mistake of confusing cultural diversity with competence uniqueness. One expands the number or silos in the labor pool. The other justifies better pay.

My thinking was, the goal of "diversity" is to have people reject their cultural backgrounds and form a shapeless blob that absorbs commands more easily and resists less. Basically "divide and conquer" applied to workplace.

Dividing implies having to preserve, if not reinforce differences.

Of course those difference aren't meant to object the dominant force. They are meant to counter act each others.

I see more push for integration than assimilation in the workplace.

lol that depends. If they are mostly from South India, learning Hindi might not move the needle as much. Might want to pick up some Kannada, Telugu and/or Tamil. Would be pretty cool for trying, and it’ll probably make your outlook favorable

In the bay area, I've met relatively few NRIs who don't know Hindi well, even if it's not their first language. Most of them that I've met are not even Kannadiga, Mallu, Telugu, or especially not Tamil. Sample size of at least several dozen.

The irony is ethnic Indians in the U.S barely speak any of those.

Studying Hindi has felt very rewarding to me, and it impresses people disproportionately to my actual skill, but I don't feel it has affected my ability to communicate with coworkers whatsoever.

No. Very large numbers of Indians, particularly ones in the US do not even really speak Hindi or use it much. It is more common for them to speak their local languages and good luck learning all of those. Also, the culture is such that I think they would just have a good laugh as they click delete on your resume or whatever.

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