Language schools in India

diplomacy

Cheers everyone,

Do you people know of any good language schools in India (for hindi etc), preferably in the south?

diplomacy

afish

Hi - I have contacted one guy in Bangalore that I hope to take a few lessons with ... unless they are crazy expensive (I am not sure of the price yet). He can arrange private lessons at your home if you are interested, but I think he has a school too.
Gyanendra Kumar
Ph. 9880719686
Email : sonu_imp@hotmail.com
This is his teacher profile:
http://www.language-school-teachers....o.asp?UId=3608

If you want somewhere other than Bangalore try to do a search on this website they have quite a few options
www.language-school-teachers.com

Also, you can always try ask a grad student from a local university who might specialize either in language studies or education. Though I do not know of any good humanities/language programs in south India.

Hope this helps!

beebah

Hi there
You should try the landour language school in Mussoorie.

More info about accomodation and other matters relating to the school here.

Nick

Lugubert

Three years ago, there was one (1) really good teacher at Landour, Mr. Dinkar Rai. Two female teachers held useful lessons; I seem to remember the name Kumud for one of them. Several young males (I won't even call them teachers) were a total waste of time and money.

Indojingai

Hindi lessons in the South. hmm... interesting.
Tamil or Malayalam will be a better option IMO.

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sara45

Hi,

I going to Landour Language school for a 6 month stay. If anyone has been there recently can you tell me the good teachers, places to stay and what they offer. Is there shopping nearby (I'm not taking clothes). Also, what's the safest way to get there from Delhi airport. What type of students attend that school...Americans, Indians...? Are there many opportunities to practice my Hindi, or only with the tutor? Most importantly, are there lots of spiders there? Thanks

Lugubert

[quote=sara45]Not recently (1 month, 3 years ago). If you're lucky, Mr. Dinkar Rai will still be alive (he smoked an awful lot of bidis) and teaching. There was one woman teacher, slightly older than most others (Urmila?), who wasn't half bad, and one other woman who was useful. And a slew of kind but perfectly useless youngish boys. It would be an insult to the profession to call them teachers.

The nearby Rokeby guesthouse is very Christian, meal prayers etc. It should have been extensively renovated by now, but who knows. From where I stayed, the Ivy Bank Guest House, it was a very steep and not too short walk to the school. Nice rooms, lousy food.

Apart from us 8 university students from Sweden, there was a significant presence of Korean people in training for missionary work.

Shopping is avaliable, but far away from the school and the accomodations mentioned.

Locals were very friendly. Very soon, we were identified, and there was lots of namaste's when walking past shops. Good tailor brothers (but slow). You will probably have no problem in finding patient people for trying out your Hindi.

I can't remember having seen a spider.

There are good train connections from Delhi to Dehra Dun. From there, I suppose there are buses, or take a taxi.

contrabassista

Hi Language Lads & Lassies,

Has anyone reading this post had experience with the Bhasha Bharat school in Varanasi? I can only cone to India in January when the Landaur School is closed.

beebah

I feel it's only fair to say that yes there are spiders. they're not dangerous, but they have long legs. I think it's quite likely you'll see one or two but you shouldn't be afraid of them.

I thkn it's inportant to point out that how useful the teachers are depends on how much Hindi you already know. They have a book from which they teach which starts fom absolute beginners level and all of the teachers know how to teach from this but outside tht only one or two are really good, but alot also has to do with how you get on with them.The only teacher I'd reccomend you don't opt for is Habib as he is a good table tennis player but pretty useless at teaching.

Mussoorie's is a honeymoon town so there are shops selling all sorts of fancy things as well as the local bazaar. That's all a little way from the school but as the bazaar is all one long road there's not much problems finding anyhting!

There's more about Landour on a previous thread - I posted a link to it in an earlier post in this thread.

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sara45

Hi all,

Check out http://www.bhashabharati.com/ I came across it while Hindi hunting. These people have Ph.Ds and are real Hindi teachers. Maybe I'll go there instead of Landour.

contrabassista

Hi Sara45,

If you are there the last two weeks of Januari (Bhasha Bharati) then I may be ther too.

I am still looking for a personal review out of personal experience with the school. Everything seems good, yet IndiaMikers are not reporting on it.

Yooo hooo!!! IndiaMikers, does anyone hear me?

Lugubert

My post, July 22. Want more? OK, now knowing the teachers, I might return to Landour if I was 100% sure that I would have Dinkar Rai and Urmila(?) (and ?Kaur - not a Sikh, though) for teachers.

contrabassista

No, not Landour, Bhasha Bharati.

em2

I tried 3 weeks at Bhasha Bharati last year. I got a bit of a foundation in Hindi but found there was quite a bit of note giving/taking and story telling rather than teaching and practice.It was interesting at times but I didn't always feel like I was getting my money's worth. I took the full time course. I think less class time might mean there is more focus( which would be good) and then you can go out into life and practice.

I found a teacher at Assi Ghat that I took private classes with for a week after my time at Bhasha Bharati. I really liked his teaching style and felt I was learning more with a one hour lesson than my full day classes. (though I did have some of the basics by then). I would highly recommend him. If you are interested in contact info let me know.

contrabassista

Thanks em2. I would love some contact info. Where did you stay at that time, and what were accomodatons and food like at Bhasha Bharati? Was it really a home stay? Did they actually converse in Hindi, or did everyone slip into English and stay there? Would you recommend that I get that same foundation before I go out on my own?