Landour Language School, Mussoorie

Hi Golden and others,

It is strange how Landour seems to be the only Hindi language school in India with much web forum information about it. The climate and reputation of the school and area seems great, though the fact that there is not much of a Hindi language community is fairly worrisome. After all, in country learning is supposed to really increase the effectiveness of the teaching.

I don't know if there are many other viable options though. Rosemount seems fine, though very oriented towards foreign students, even in their English language courses. I imagine it would be a semi non Indian environment as well.

I am going for a 6 month trip so I have a few options. I am thinking of studying at Landour for 2 or 3 months to get some basic foundation and settle in, and then studying at some other language schools closer to the cities. Hopefully I can find them! I'll post the results in the Learning Hindi / Hindi Language Schools thread if I have any luck.

Great if you would. I've been myself to lls and I think that it is a good foundation - but as you say it's not the best environment in which to force the pace of speaking practice - maybe if you stay downstairs off the ridge - that was suggested to me as a good idea but I was always in love with the pace of landour.

Hey great thanks for the post I've just picked it up. Not sure if it'd be the school mentioned by Chashickstar above.

I don't think it is the same school. There are lots of English/ other teaching institutions in Dehra Doon. It's a valiant effort, unfortunately, this requires some off line foot based research. Which I would have done, except, I'm slightly incapacitated by laziness.

It is curious, the lack of online presence. I met, oh, 5 people who were at the school or knew people there, but it was very, uh, nameless...however, one of the people said that his business had booked it for him and you'd think they should be online.

It could be for legal reasons, as I say, this is some sort of rebel offshoot of the Landour-Kellogg Method. Maybe the influential LLS exerts pressure against them, or they don't have the correct permits, or the whole 'religious' thing, etc., etc. We are talking about India.

There is more emphasis on practical use from an early stage, but otherwise, it's the same sort of deal. I know some people say that LLS is just any sorta language method school, but, really, it has a very long and prestigious history for non-military Hindi learning (the military language school in Calcutta died off long ago).

But, yeah, there are other schools, other methods. There's the Jain book from California and the Varanasi method and, uh, lots of new schools in Delhi, but...as I say - you start with one method and it is best to complete it.

And there is a reason that universities around the world send their students to Landour. It is relatively basic - you'll never learn the historical difference between Khari Boll and Urdu and literary 17C this-that Hindi dialect poetry, or how to understand Urdu Gazals. But, well, whatever, I don't think I really need that.

You do everything about grammar, etc. Ultimately, if you need the language, then you will be compelled to practice speaking in the situation that you need it.

Personally, I stay in the bazaar and leave town on the weekends. That way, you walk up the hill for your mountain-tree love and are down again in the bright lights by the time it gets dark and spooky on the hill. It really is more fun and useful. There's nothing to do on the hill at night (except study).

my issue with the school is that it is too expensive these days for independent learners because so many institutions send their people there. The Fulbright scholarship doesn't care about a few ruppees, so the price keeps on going up over the rate of inflation. Ultimately, because the price is high you begin to look like a walking dollar sign to the people of Musssoorie. It's embarrassing. It's also a corrupting influence on the purpose of the school.

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.........except, I'm slightly incapacitated by laziness.

Okay, so my plane tickets are booked and I'll be in Dehradun in August. I'm going to Rosemount so I'll post a review when I've had a chance to see how everything works there. I'll be there until sometime in December.

Hi GoldenChicken

great if you can give a rundown on the place - I'm sure many out there would like to hear what the experience is like.

Ah, Golden chicken - very interesting. Maybe keep your eyes and ears open for the mystery school too?

I've been at Rosemount Language Institute for a little over a month now. There is one other American student here. All the other students are here to learn English. I can only compare the teaching to the Spanish and Latin classes that I took in high school/college and I'm not sure how helpful that will be. The school is small. We have class for three hours in the morning and for an hour each evening. The hostel where the students stay (only the international students, there are also Indian students here to learn English) is located about three miles from the school. The director of the school takes us back and forth to class as the hostel is on the same compound as his family's home.

The teacher wants students to be able to read and write not just speak so we spend time on what are essentially spelling vocab tests. We also have been spending a great deal of time reading.

I know that I'm definitely speaking more and better than I was when I got here. It helps that most people here do speak Hindi so I've gotten the chance to practice a lot. You can check out my blog if you want to see pictures of the grounds around the school and Dehradun http://adventurouscarrie.blogspot.com

Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.

Are you thinking of the Heritage institute of Languages by any chance? They are on Rajpur a bit north of Clock Tower. I've found them hard to contact by email (write to the Lucknow email, the Doon one doesn't work) but I do know they're legit!

Himalaya Hindi House? Try their website here; it doesn't seem to work that well but it has some info. It also says that "Other courses may be offered at different times on DEMAND either at Nolunna or Dehradun."

I'm guessing you are thinking of the Himalaya Hindi School. Website here. The site is pretty out of date though.

Just to bring news of Himalaya Hindi House up to date- there's no courses officially being run as such for this year and next year 2014(I think). I was in touch with the gentleman I spoke of in earlier post and asked if it were possible to still get private tuition while staying there(Noalunna). Hadn't actually gotten to stage of discussing any detail with him as I have had to postpone India trip for this year anyhow - but I imagine such would be possible as local people are involved in teaching

I wouldn't be so confident, Yogendra retired a few years ago to relax in the mountains. He may still agree to teach you (or others) if you are very nice and he is feeling generous, but his health and family mean he can't teach very often, and he's done well enough to not really need to.

If you can though, Nolunna is beautiful. There's much more to learn there (and in Uttarakhand in general) than Hindi.

Hello,
I will be studying Hindi at Landour for about five weeks this summer - June and part of July- and am looking not for one room in a guest house, but for a whole house or apartment or several rooms in a guesthouse. My partner and son and at least two to three other people will be staying there, even though I will be the only Landour student.
Any leads on such a place, or recommendations of a guesthouse that may accommodate so many people?

Also, is there by any chance anyone in North America. who has the Landour Hindi textbook who would like to sell it? The online sellers who are offering this text do not have good reputations, at least not the ones that I have found.

Thank you for any help with these requests!
- Mona