Recommendations for Learning Hindi?

mercedes10

Hi! I am really keen to learn Hindi. I had hoped to attend a class locally (as I think this would be the best way to learn) but unfortunately I can't seem to find one! If anyone knows of Hindi classes in Central Scotland PLEASE let me know!

Failing that, I am looking for a 'learn Hindi' at home type thing - be it books, tapes, software whatever. There are so many out there though that I don't know which to choose. As a lot of them are quite pricey I could be making a very costly mistake. I'd be really grateful for your recommendations. I am a complete beginner! Many Thanks!!

guerik

I'm studying Hindi at uni (but it's in Australia so doesn't help), but I'm also learning a lot from "Teach Yourself Hindi". I think it's http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...302414-4824405 <-- that one, but I've got an old copy from eBay so the cover's fallen off
The book's excellent though.

mercedes10

Thanks Guerik. Funnily enough I was just looking at that on Amazon a minute ago! Am I right in thinking it will be essential for me to learn the script? I thought initially that I might just be able to speak/write using the romanised form, but the more I read about it the less feasible this seems. I so want to learn but it seems like such a daunting task!

mercedes10

Has anyone used Rosetta Stone software or Linguaphone? I've previously seen the Hindi versions of both of these on eBay and wonder if they're any good? Thanks.

guerik

It's hard to explain the sounds properly in english script so if you can learn the Hindi script it's probably easier that way in the long run. Plus then you can read signs on the road/train stations a lot more easily
Before my trip earlier this year I was learning from the tapes that come with a LP phrasebook, not sure if you can buy them seperately. They're not very good though.

Arun

As a start, you might use the various web-site tutorials. My "bookmarks" contain several good ones.

These are good for learning the alphabet, but nothing can take the place of teacher-student interaction.

Arun

Yikes, where are all the bookmarks?!?!

open_air

Hello mercedes10,

I too am learning Hindi at the moment and found RUprt Snell's books "teach yourself Hindi" excellent. On the web, there is a fairly good video program by Afroz Taj, "A door into Hindi", which I enjoy a lot. It's at http://www.ncsu.edu/project/hindi_lessons/

The most important is to get the Devanagary script fluently. A web based video link for that is: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/hindi/alphabet/ , but I still highly recommend Rupert Snell's "Teach yourself beginner’s Hindi Script" as complimentary source.


Have fun!

Shannon

I just want to echo how important it is to learn the script. Not only will it assist significantly in travel (roadsigns), but as guerik said, it is very difficult to learn pronunciations using romanized hindi. In English, letters like "j" and "g" are used almost interchangeably to produce certain sounds. That makes proper pronunciation very difficult. You won't run into that using devanagri script because each symbol has one sound only.

Plus you'll be able to wow your friends when you write their name using devangri script

Bonita

hi there..
A really fun book for learning basic spoken hindi(sorry, no script!), is HINDI IN THREE MONTHS, by HUGO..i believe it is a british publication..Well, you do not really speak hindi in 3 months, i mean, i have been carrying around this book for what seems like three lifetimes, but it is really entertaining, user-freindly, and a lot of fun, and teaches some superb expressions that makes you sound like a pro.....the book is set up in differnt chapters about differnt things, shopping, traveling, etc, and has converstations that are really funny and useful...the first chapter is all about the TEa-shop, chai-wallah is classic, and teaches useful expressions like, :
Chaiwallah:-"chai, chai, garam chai!"..
tourist: "anji. chai,kitne pasie hai?"..
chaiwallah: "chai, ek rupeya hai."
toursit..."achha..do chai dena.."
***how fun is this book!! THEN the convo moves on to ciggarettes and samosas, now we're talking....***
chaiwallah: "haa ji...aur kuch chaaiye?"
toursit: "aacha. thikee. do samosa aur ek packet wills dena.."
so, that is a few words from hindi in three months by hugo....u may not get fluent, but a good book to carry around for passing the time on the trains and the likes!..

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