What are some tips for mastering Hindi?
Hindi alongside Urdu as Hindustani is the third most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English. Apart from the script and formal vocabulary, standard Hindi is mutually intelligible with Standard Urdu, another recognised register of Hindustani as both share a common colloquial base. Hindi or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in India. Hindi has been described as a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language, which itself is based primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and neighbouring areas of Northern India. Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India. Hindi is the lingua franca of the Hindi belt and to a lesser extent other parts of India. Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, is one of the two official languages of the Government of India, along with the English language. It is an official language in 9 States and 3 Union Territories and an additional official language in 3 other States. Outside India, several other languages are recognised officially as “Hindi” but do not refer to the Standard Hindi language described here and instead descend from other dialects, such as Awadhi and Bhojpuri. Such languages include Fiji Hindi, which is official in Fiji, and Caribbean Hindustani, which is spoken in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. As a linguistic variety, Hindi is the fourth most spoken first language in the world, after Mandarin, Spanish and English.
Hindi is a beautiful language to master. With that said, it could prove to be a little difficult for a few. Therefore, the below-mentioned tips should help you master Hindi with a little ease:
- Listen to as many relevant audio resources as you can to build familiarity of the language; the way the words sound, intonations used, pitch, speed, where different words end and start and so many technical aspects of the language. You can’t speak what you can’t hear. So make listening to your prime focus. You should soon be able to hear correct words spoken by the speaker. Use an audio transcript to help you ace this further after a couple of times of listening to the audio. Use Hindi radio, youtube videos, Spotify playlist, Hindi songs, talk shows, documentaries all to your benefit.
- Read a lot and read aloud. Identify the characters used. Hindi is a phonetic language. Step up your learning by learning to read the Hindi script.
- Speak a lot. Use Shadowing technique to repeat dialogues from Hindi movies aping the right accent, speed, tone to get this right after adequate listening practice. Speak to yourself in the mirror to your pet to plants etc. Find native speakers to converse with, online via Tandem helloTalk, Italki etc if you can’t find someone around you.
- Practise writing the Hindi script. This will seal the deal on your learning.
- Put flashcards to best use. You could use decks available on 101languages, Anki, Quizlet to learn or create your own in apps such as Anki that allow you to create one.
- Write a journal or a diary to capture the newly acquired vocabulary of Hindi phrases, not just words, conversation connectors, fillers to help you build your first conversation.
- Enjoy learning. Making mistakes is natural while you are learning. But don’t let it deter you; instead walk over the mistakes taking corrections in your quiver.
- Practise as much as possible. Use the Pomodoro technique to study a few minutes at multiple intervals in a day rather than studying at a stretch on weekends.
Finally,
Hindi is harder than French or Spanish, probably about on a par with German and easier than Russian. It’s important to learn the Devanagari writing system because it clarifies pronunciation much better than Roman transliteration. There is much less vocabulary overlap than in most European languages, although since English is widely studied, you can often get away throwing in English words you don’t know into Hindi. There’s an amazing new way to learn Hindi! Want to see what everyone’s talking about! Click here.