What are the best programs for learning Hindi?

Hindi is the fourth most-spoken language in the world, after Mandarin, Spanish and English. 322 million speakers speak Hindi as their first language with another 270 million speak it as their second. Hindi or Modern Standard Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in India which has been described as a standardized and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language. This itself is based primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and neighbouring areas of Northern India. Hindi is written in the Devanagari script. It is also 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. Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India. 

With that said, if you’ve decided to learn Hindi and are searching for a course that is worth pursuing with your time and money that offers comprehensive learning and can help you learn the language at the earliest possible. However, with so many different online and offline course providers, it can get a little tricky to pick the right one.

PIMSLEUR

Pimsleur offers you an audio course with dynamic lessons to help you hone and develop your speaking skills with verbal prompts. Your learning will be cohesive and structured. However, they do not offer much when it comes to the writing of the language.

LEARNING-HINDI

LearningHindi is a blog that offers you 100 easy to access lessons for free from beginner to intermediate levels. The offered audio files work with you to get your pronunciation correct and there are lessons for everything from learning vowels and consonants to practising numbers. It provides learning through real life application of Hindi with over 60 children’s books that feature both Hindi and English translations.

DUOLINGO

Duolingo is an easy and accessible free app that offers great audio content and quality content through exercises for beginners with plenty of practice once you master the basics. However, in order to learn the Devanagari alphabets, learners will need to use another resource. It is only beneficial if you know the basic rules of the language well and just wants to practice as this could be your practical option.

UDEMY

Udemy offers targeted lessons for specific skills lasting anywhere from half an hour to six hours for beginner through advanced level. From beginner introductions in Hindi to writing tips to conversational phrases, you can learn the language thoroughly with a handful of different classes/courses (costing different). 

MANGO LANGUAGES

A single Mango subscription opens up access to multiple libraries, with 70+ languages to learn without having to pay again, for intermediate level learners. The less popular dialects however offer only fewer lessons. With that being said, a beginner must work hard to learn as well. Grammar and cultural notes help a learner immerse in the language. 

You could also take help from Vidalingua’s mobile app to learn Hindi, Italki for searching conversation partners, and Hindipod101 for listening to podcasts. 

There are many Hindi learning programs to choose from online, but the above mentioned are by and far are the most reasonable and best of quality for the said language. Hindi is an extremely beautiful language that enables you to experience the Indian culture just by learning it. It can be highly beneficial to you in the future if learnt in the right manner.