Bengali survival kit

About this kit

Bengali (Bangla) is spoken by over 270 million people in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. With this kit, you have the bare essentials to get by in Dhaka, Chittagong, Kolkata or anywhere in the Ganges delta.

Bengali (Bangla) is the sixth most spoken language in the world, with over 270 million speakers. The official language of Bangladesh and several Indian states including West Bengal, it uses an elegant Brahmic alphabet inherited from Sanskrit, written left to right with its characteristic upper horizontal line. Travelling in Bengali-speaking lands means diving into a civilisation where the language itself is sacred: the martyrs of 1952, who fell for the right to speak Bangla, inspired UNESCO's International Mother Language Day. The cuisine is intimately tied to daily life: Ganges river fish (ilish), fragrant rice, milk-based sweets, hot tea served in clay cups. Linguistically, Bengali blends learned Sanskrit roots with Persian, Arabic and English borrowings depending on religious and social context. This kit gathers the bare minimum to handle an arrival in Dhaka or Kolkata, a rickshaw ride, an order at a street restaurant, a medical emergency and a smooth departure. You will find greetings adapted to both Muslim and Hindu contexts, phrases to find your way, key words to order rice and tea, plus cultural tips to avoid faux pas around bargaining, meals and the famous lateral head wobble. Memorise these expressions before takeoff and you will gain instant confidence from the moment you land at Hazrat Shahjalal or Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport.