Learning Hindi in India?

Hi

I have four weeks in November and thinking about learning some Hindi somewhere in India - I am especially interested in Mumbai or Bangalore, but other cities or places are ok as well.

Has anybody done this too? How much Hindi can I expect to learn in 4 weeks / 3- 4 hours a day?

I have travelled in India before for a couple of times.

Another question: I am from Switzerland, my mother tongue is german - does anybody know if there is a possibility for me teaching german? My english is too bad to be teached ;-) .

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Greetings Shiva

How intensely do you want to learn? Berlitz (one on one) style works but will leave you fried if you do it hours a day..

Mumbai and Bangalore aren't in the Hindi belt so the immersion aspect of learning may be diminished (another consideration)..

I've studied with these guys - http://www.angelfire.com/indie/himhindi/ (Himalaya Hindi House) but they're in the hills of Uttaranchal so absolutely nowhere near your preferred locations.
As edwardesco said though, if you're out of the Hindi belt you won't get as much chance to use your Hindi, which really does help your learning.

Mumbai has what we call "Bollywood" Hindi. The kind of English that Don Corleone would speak. Passable and very understandable... but purists may call it "polluted".

The huge educated middle class in Mumbai speaks better Hindi; as Hindi is an obligatory subject for all Public certificate exams. You cannot pass ANY exam without clearing Hindi at the minimum SSC level. But the hawkers and street side vendors speak a unique Hindi, cuz they are uneducated. Ditto for the Delhi & Rajasthan & U. P. hawkers... they speak their own version of uneducated Hindi mixed with Brij or Punjabi or Rajasthani as applicable to the area.

Only academic types in any place speak flawless Hindi. Even here there is a subtle difference between the academics who speak "sanskritized" Hindi & "urdu-ized" Hindi [also called hindustani].

You will get Hindi teachers practically everywhere, even in the deep South. Speaking Hindi with public will only happen in the cities and everywhere in the North.

Mumbai is such a large melting pot that the only common language is Hindi. So Mumbai people speaking Hindi are everywhere. Bangalore is also okay, but many of the street people [hawkers, vendors, etc.] do NOT speak any Hindi, but only Kannada the local language]

Thanks to Bollywood in Mumbai, its large movie following has ensured a common following for Hindi in Mumbai and the deep South. Most of the starry-eyed tourists [Indian] go to "meet" big movie stars at the studios. You can talk to them in Hindi ONLY [mostly] and sometimes English.

Wherever your main purpose makes you stay, stick to that place. Hindi teachers can be got in all the big cities.

Thanks for all the good advice!

Don't hesitate and tell me more about the topic ;-) ! Any info is welcome.

Thanks Shiva

Hallo Shiva,

Ich schreibe diese Anzeige auf Deutsch und Englisch hier. (I'll write both German and English versions of this message.)

AvidTrekker and the others here have given pretty good advice on the best ways to learn Hindi while you're in India, so I'll just mention in response to your second question: The prospect of teaching German is becoming more and more popular these days in India so I'd definitely consider doing this. (Nice way to fund your trip. ) I'm not too sure about the details, but I know that quite a few Indian BPO and service-type companies are desperate to have German teachers in India who can help instruct students in the language, since service business between India and Germany/Austria is increasing so rapidly and fluent German-speaking Indians are needed for the call centers and tax paperwork-processing companies, for example.

In fact, IIRC some of the big BPO companies like Infosys are starting their own German language instruction programs, so if you know someone who's involved in the companies in Bangalore (or can set up an appointment), I'm sure you'll be very welcome, especially since you're a native speaker. And it would be a nice experience to add on the resume.

Also, quite a few public and private schools in India are working hard to improve their German-language departments, so you could probably get a job with the school system also, depending on how long you want to stay in a given area. (You might also be able to help just as a consultant by e.g. supplying German-language materials.)

Lastly, I know that there are a number of "Goethe Institutes" in India, funded IIRC by the German government, which work to teach German to Indians and also to help encourage recruitment into the IT sector in Germany. There may also be some German-medium schools for secondary or even university-level education in India, with similar funding as the Goethe-Institutes I suppose, and here you'd obviously have nice job prospects. (I know this is at least being actively discussed.) Especially if you learn good Hindi and can speak another Indian language, you'll be very much in demand.

So in short, there is undoubtedly a big demand for native-language German teachers in India, and you could probably secure jobs in both the public and private sectors. In fact, improving German-language education is a long-term objective in Indian schools, so I suspect that the government and businesses are very much interested in recruiting people like you into India to expand their German-teaching programs.

Good luck with all your efforts, and have a great trip. You'll love India.

JT

{Auf Deutsch}

AvidTrekker und die anderen hier haben sehr guten Rat auf den besten Weisen gegeben, um Hindi zu erlernen, während Sie in Indien sind. Also gebe ich hier eine Erwiderung auf Ihre zweite Frage: Die Gelegenheiten, um Deutsch in Indian zu unterrichten, sind wahrscheinlich sehr viel, denn diese Tage ist das Lernen von Deutsch in Indien immer populärer. (Ein gute Weise, um die Reisekosten zu bezahlen. )

Über die Detaillen bin ich nicht sicher, aber ich weiß, daß ziemlich viele indische BPOs und Dienst-Firmen sehr eifrig sind, deutsche Lehrer in Indien zu haben, die die Deutsche Sprache zu ihren Arbeitern lehren können, da Service-Geschäft zwischen Indien und Deutschland/Osterriech heutzutage so schnell erhöht, und die Gesellschaften brauchen fließende deutschsprechende Inder für die Anrufmitten und Steuerbuchhalter z.B.

Tatsächlich starten IIRC einige der grossen BPO Firmen wie Infosys ihre eigenen deutschen Sprachenanweisung Programme, also wenn Sie jemanden wissen, das in die Firmen in Bangalore arbeitet (oder einen Termin mit den Gesellschaften verabreden können), bin ich sicher, daß Sie sehr willkommen sind, besonders da Sie ein Muttersprachler sind.

Auch ziemlich viele allgemeine und private Schulen in Indien arbeiten fleißig, um ihre deutschsprachigen Abteilungen zu verbessern, also können Sie vermutlich auch einen Job mit dem Schulsystem erhalten, wenn Sie ein paar Monaten in einem einzelnen Bereich bleiben möchten. (Sie können auch als Berater zu den Programmen helfen.)

Auch gibt's eine Menge von "Goethe-Instituten" in Indien, ich glaube finanzierte durch die deutsche Regierung oder etwas ähnliches, die Deutsch zu den Indern unterrichten und helfen, Inder nach Deutschland zu rekrutieren, um das ES Sektor in Deutschland zu verstärken. Vielleicht gibt's auch einige Deutsch-Mittel Schulen für Sekundär- oder sogar Universität-Niveau Ausbildung in Indien, mit der ähnlichen Finanzierung wie die Goethe-Instituten, und hier würden Sie ja sehr gute Jobaussichten haben. (Ich weiß, daß diese Idee mindestens sehr aktiv besprochen wird.) Besonders wenn Sie gutes Hindi erlernen und eine andere indische Sprache sprechen können, sind Sie sehr viel innen Nachfrage.

Also kurz gesagt, gibt es ohne Zweifel eine grosse Nachfrage nach Gebürtigsprachendeutschen Lehrern in Indien, und Sie können Jobs in den allgemeinen und privaten Sektoren vermutlich sichern. Tatsächlich ist die Verbesserung von deutschsprachige Ausbildung eine langfristige Zielsetzung in den indischen Schulen, also vermute ich, daß die Regierung und die Geschäfte sehr viel interessiert sind, Leuten wie Ihnen in Indien zu rekrutieren, um ihre Deutsch-unterrichtenden Programme zu erweitern und verstärken.

Viel Glück mit allen Ihren Pläne und Bemühungen. Sie werden Indien viel genießen.

JT