Bangla or Bengalee

[creativeCREATURE]

Assalamu 'alaikum

WHAT SHOULD BE THE WORD? BENGALI OR BANGLA? PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IT.
We do not write English as Ingrazi? Do you? We do not say Urdu as Ardu, Hindi as Handi or Hebrew as Hoobrewoo. SO WHY BANGLA as BENGALI?
British is still on our shoulder!!

Allah hafez

[Fary]

I have debated over this with many ppl, but my view is that "Bangla" is the official language, but if you want to translate it into English, it becomes "Bengali", as in the language from the "Bengal" (that incorporates the Calcatians, ppl from Calcutta aswell). So if you want to distinguish yourself as a Bangladeshi as opposed to a Calcatian, then refer to our language as "BANGLA".

[NoOneImportant]

I tend to say bangla rather than bengali although my reason isn't to distinguish myself from calcuttans. For some weird reason i find it difficult to say 'bengali' and i think it sounds rude (don't ask me why, just one of those things).

[Pulak_Bose]

I hail from the State of West Bengal, India. Within this state, the mother-tongue (M.T) is known as: BANGLA (phonetically: `baanglaa'), and the people whose M.T. is BANGLA are known as: BANGALI (phonetically: `baangaali').

Supposing I accost someone - whom I may identify as one speaking bangla as one's M.T - on the street of London, I may open with, " AAPNI KI BANGALI ? " (bangla bhasha) !

[butterfly_s]

We are Bangladeshi

[BOTOI_MIAH_]

the country is BANGLADESH !

the people are BANGLADESHI !

the language is BANGLA !

It is now up to us to teach these westerners
(and some of our own people)the correct terms

JOY BANGLA!!!

Botoi Miah.

[heesham]

"Elementary my dear Watson"

The word Bangla comes from the word Bangal, i.e. the region of the Indian sub-continent where Bangla is spoken. This includes parts of Bangladesh, which was 'once-upon-a-time' incorporated within greater Bangal.
Bangla is a derivative of sanskrit an ancient Hindu language.
Those who's mother tongue is Bangla and are an indeginous race of the specified area are known as Bangali, this excludes Sylheti's and such.
Bangladeshi on the other hand does not refer to a specific race of people or their language. For example, Sylheti's are also Bangladeshi's, however, they are not Bangali's, although they may speak Bangla. This is because they are not indeginous to that area.
So a Bangladeshi from Dhaka may identify themselves as Bangali and Bangladeshi, however, a Sylheti is Bangladeshi and not Bangali.
Bangladeshi is our most current identification as a nation with a distinct boundary (Bangladesh). However, bear in mind that the Bangali language originated from West Bangal (Calcutta) and not East Bangal which is part of greater Bangladesh.

heesham