Useful Hindi Words For Travellers

no = nahi*n*
water = panee
sleep = neend (noun)
to sleep = sona/so jana
bad = bura/buree
stomach = pate (rhymes with 'date')

*n* = nasal 'n'

I've always wanted to know how to say...

"Do I look like an idiot?"

Hi, can I assume that Hindi-English phrasebooks are readily available in India? I'll be flying into Delhi and hope to pick up a phrasebook ASAP

kya main bewakoof dikhtee hoon?

(main: nasal, "maenn"
bewakoof: beywahkooph.. the ph like in phenyl
dikhtee: soft 't'
hoon: nasal, "hoonh")

Don't bother me = Tang mat karo

This is too much = Yeh bahut zyada hai

Enough is enough = Bahut ho gaya

Go away = Chale jao

If I'm being hassled a lot, I just say Kam Karo....Do your work. It's taken as meaning do your job properly and stop hassling. It seems to work.

By the way that would be kaam karo – the first word has a long ahh sound the second has a short a sound. If you have short a in both words you are saying "do less" as in daam kam karo = make the price less.

Of course "do less" might just confuse them and they go away?

This is one of the best forums here, just now I've learned all the "first words" I like to know when entering a new country Thanks people!

a nice one with rickshaw-wallahs is:

'kya aap mujhe chalane dete hai?' - 'will you let me drive?'



or simply:

'dhire chalo! dhire chalo!' - 'drive slowly! drive slowly!'


Mark

If you are lost, just say Main Kahan Hoon?? with expression, which means Where Am I?!!

This is the most re-run, classic dialogue from Hindi movies, often delivered by the protagonist after regaining consciousness, post head injury on the hospital bed in state of so called amnesia

Going back to the discussion on pronounciation and "choddo", I had the same problem except my pronounciation is so bad I was trying to say "chotta" and got badly mistaken!

Other potential stumbling blocks are "Gandhi", and "land" in English, they sound quite close to rude Hindi words. Make sure you make a very distinct short "a" sound (like "cat") when speaking them.
I recently had someone burst into hysterical laughter when I described a movie* as being "about Gandhi".





*the movie was "Lage Raho Munnabhai", and it's great.

Ha Ha dat funny!

What about "stop staring please, I'm not from Mars" Phonetically and in hindi script (so I can get a t-shirt printed before I return)

What word does it sound like?

"Main Kya Mangal Grah kas waasi Lagta/lagti (he/she) hoo, jo mujhe ghoor rahe ho"

I guess I look like a citizen of mars, that is the reason you are staring at me...