Hedonologist Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 Offline there seems to be a very limited numbers of courses available for English speakers wanting to learn Hindi, even less so for the less common Indian languages such as Gujarati. Does anyone have an explanation for this? Hindi seems to be the most underrated language compared to how many native speakers it has. This isn't a trend I can see changing unfortunately, even with India's booming economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meera Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 I agree Hedonologist, It's so frustrating for me because I'm obsessed with Hindi and it's my favorite language in the world and I love all the Indian languages and would love to learn them. I'm trying to learn Bengali and you would be amazed at how little there is for this language, even less then Hindi! It's very frustrating for learners. And many times even Hindi, Bengali etc speakers tell me I'm just wasting my time to learn it, since everyone speaks English. I think Hindi is a very underrated language, India has a booming economy, a gigantic film and entertainment industry, India attracts many tourists and there are many Indian's living abroad. I'm not fluent in Hindi yet, but I can read well in it and I've found it very rewarding to learn and not useless at all. I've used Hindi a lot here in the United States. Sorry this was kind of a rant but it is quite frustrating when trying to learn, I feel like if I was obsessed with Spanish, Japanese or Russian I'd probably be fluent already because of all the sources they have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWL Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 I totally agree! When I was learning Hindi, I had no choice but to refer to CM Naim's "Introductory Urdu" for the finer points of Hindi and Urdu grammar. The reading lessons are very good as well, although being for Urdu, you'll be learning the Nasta'liq style of Arabic script rather than the Devanagari script. http://dsal.uchicago.edu/digbooks/dig_toc.html?BOOKID=PK1983.N2_1999_V1I've never found a satisfactory grammar for Hindi so far, they're all either large dictionaries or simple phrasebooks.Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meera Posted May 20, 2014 Report Share Posted May 20, 2014 Hey Brian, I think the Routledge Essential Hindi grammar is pretty considering there isn't much else. I've heard good things about the McGregor grammar too but I personally haven't used it. Usha Jain's grammar too is supposedly very good also. The best book I think for learning Hindi is the Teach Yourself. I know the Teach Yourself series has a bad reputation but the one for Hindi is among the best I've used. Most of other books for Hindi don't go into as much depth. But to be honest it's quite hard to find good resources for Hindi/Urdu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpringBreeze Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 I agree... A few years ago, I decided to study Hindi for a summer. It's something I just wanted to do for fun since I love Bollywood movies. And when I went to the book store to buy a learning manual, I was surprised how few books/manuals they had for Hindi. There were a ton for French, Italian and Spanish of course. If I remember correctly, I had a choice of 2 books. And both I didn't really like. But I did buy one in the end. If I ever decide to learn Hindi again, I will buy my books/manuals online. I may even look for classes online too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeraldH Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Oh, man, this is true! I had a bit of a "fling" with Hindi/Urdu for a number of years around the end of high school. I managed to pick up one of those colourful vocabulary books for Hindi, but it seemed so trivial to me. Vocabulary learning in Hindi (for an English native) quickly becomes an exercise on how to speak English slightly differently. Plus, it doesn't help when you can't fit the words together properly!I did pick up a "Teach Yourself Urdu" book once at a book shop, and that actually did a lot more for my understanding. That, and watching Bollywood movies and trying to speak with Hindi speakers...Sadly it seems that the Hindi speakers I know stop learning or using their own language at some point in their education, so it probably explains the lack of materials for an outsider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpringBreeze Posted June 2, 2014 Report Share Posted June 2, 2014 Sadly it seems that the Hindi speakers I know stop learning or using their own language at some point in their education, so it probably explains the lack of materials for an outsider.I had the same problem when I was learning. I asked a couple of Indian co-workers for help and they said they couldn't help me. They only spoke Hindi. So, they couldn't help me with the reading and stuff. Or maybe they just didn't want to have me chasing after them. Hahaha!!! Bollywood movies helped me a lot with pronunciation and colloquialism. Music videos also helped a lot because they were short and I could play them over and over again. This way I could do focus practicing/studying with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raytalks Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 I agree, the resources are very few. I found a list of books that may help you with Hindi. There is one phrase book, but there are also complete courses that are very helpful. It also mentions the software 'Rosetta Stone' for online and interactive learning in Hindi.http://goindia.about.com/od/learningthelanguag1/tp/top-5-hindi-language-books.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
czarina84 Posted January 19, 2016 Report Share Posted January 19, 2016 Where I live, you are lucky to get French and Spanish, much less languages like Hindi, Greek or Russian or anything else. It's terrible the lack of access you have to languages without the internet. What a wonderful invention to bring us together like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vietal Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 One may learn Gujarati or Hindi here. Just type words and phrases in English,click translate and read in Roman script. What is your name? તમારું નામ શું છે? / Tamāruṁ nāma śuṁ chē? / .................. आपका नाम क्या है? / Āpakā nāma kyā hai? Most world languages have modified their alphabets and use most modern alphabet in writings. Vedic Sanskrit alphabet have been modified to Devanagari and to simple Gujanagari(Gujarati) script. https://translate.google.co.in/#en/gu/What%20is%20your%20name%3F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguaholic Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 On 25.1.2016, 02:19:12, Vietal said: One may learn Gujarati or Hindi here. Just type words and phrases in English,click translate and read in Roman script. What is your name? તમારું નામ શું છે? / Tamāruṁ nāma śuṁ chē? / .................. आपका नाम क्या है? / Āpakā nāma kyā hai? Most world languages have modified their alphabets and use most modern alphabet in writings. Vedic Sanskrit alphabet have been modified to Devanagari and to simple Gujanagari(Gujarati) script. https://translate.google.co.in/#en/gu/What%20is%20your%20name%3F I have never even heard of Gujarati. Do you mind telling us a little bit about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vietal Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 As per Google transliteration Gujanagari(Gujarati) seems to be India's simplest script along with Roman script. All Indian languages can be learned through transliteration in one's favorite script. These are all write as you pronounce languages and don't require to much spellings memorization. devanāgarī દેવનાગરી देवनागरी দেৱনাগৰী দেবনাগরী ದೇವನಾಗರೀ ദേവനാഗരീ ଦେବନାଗରୀ ਦੇਵਨਾਗਰੀ தே³வனாக³ரீ దేవనాగరీ دیوَناگَرِی You may go through these links. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/gujarati.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarati_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarat Gujarati lessons 1-4 https://youtu.be/iNEheU_YJAI https://youtu.be/GvVY8mHblBU https://youtu.be/dtP47mUxqyQ https://youtu.be/L6dG1O1wmd8 http://www.letslearngujarati.com/consonants Sanskrit Sounds: https://youtu.be/cV8WoNJtaYQ https://youtu.be/L-Abvk4hgZs https://youtu.be/2UfCGrvfmOY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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