Living Language presents a simple and effective introduction to Hindi, providing you with everything you need to speak, understand, read, and write Hindi. You don’t need any background in the language – each new concept is explained clearly with plenty of examples, making this course ideal for beginners or anyone who wants a through review.
Read - Natural dialogues, clear grammar notes, essential vocabulary, and key phrases Listen - Two sets of recordings on six audio CDs for use with the book or on the go Practice - Plenty of exercises, both written and recorded Explore - Real-life discovery activities, internet resources, notes on culture, cuisine, history, and more Expand - A useful pronunciation guide and an extensive two-way glossary
Why Choose Living Language?
The Living Language method is proven and simple. There are no phony gimmicks or fad techniques. Millions have learned a new language with Living Language since 1946.
Hindi is the official language of the central government of India and the native language of approximately 370 million people, depending on the source that you cite and how you define Hindi as opposed to closely related languages. Several hundred million other people in India and elsewhere speak Hindi as a second language. That gives it a rank of either second or third among the most spoken world languages, the other spot being occupied by Spanish (Chinese is first and English is fourth). Hindi is an Indo-European language, meaning that it is related to English, Spanish, French, German, and other languages with which you may be familiar. It's a very close relative of other Indic languages: Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Nepali, Sindhi, and Oriya. Hindi is particularly close to Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, the main differences being that Hindi is written in the Devanagari script and has the ancient language Sanskrit as the base for most of its vocabulary, whereas Urdu is written in a modified Arabic script and has Persian and Arabic as the base for most of its vocabulary.
This course is designed to provide you with an easy and practical introduction to the language. It will help you learn the basics of Hindi vocabulary, structure, and conversation so that you'll be able to take part in everyday conversations, find your way around, and make yourself understood in a range of situations in Hindi. Of course, learning a language is not easy; it takes time, patience, and commitment, but it can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. This program doesn't assume that you have any knowledge of Hindi or that you're a whiz with grammatical concepts. Everything is explained in plain English, grammatical concepts are put in simple language, and there are plenty of examples to help you understand each point as you progress through the course. You'll probably find that with this course, Hindi comes to you far more painlessly than you would have imagined!
HOW T0 USE THIS COURSE
This beginner-level course is designed to use both audio and visual instruction to help you master the basics of Hindi. No previous knowledge of Hindi is assumed. Following this introduction, you’ll find a section that teaches you everything you need to know about Hindi pronunciation and the written Devanagari script. Use it in conjunction with the audio to become fully acquainted with the sounds of Hindi. Imitate the native speakers that you hear, but don't be worried if you don't sound quite native yourself; after all, you're not. Good pronunciation will come in time. Just use the pronunciation section enough that you become familiar with the sounds and written form of Hindi. Then you can begin the fifteen lessons, each of which is dedicated to a particular topic and to a number of structural points.
As a general piece of advice, fight the urge to skip ahead or rush over any part of this course. It's designed in a careful sequence, and each section represents a building block that adds to everything before it while at the same time preparing you for everything that comes after it. Always move ahead at your own pace; if you don't understand something or if you don’t feel quite comfortable with some point, simply go over it again. That's the best way to make sure your learning experience is painless and effective.
Each lesson of this course contains the following sections:
Vocabulary Warm-Up
The vocabulary warm—up begins the lesson with key words you’ll hear in the dialogue. Many will be related to the topic of the lesson; some will be related to the grammar you’ll be learning in that particular lesson.
Dialogue The dialogue in each lesson allows you to read and hear natural Hindi and to learn about Hindi culture. Read these dialogues carefully; they contain the grammar and key phrases that you will be learning later in the lesson. Don't be afraid to read them several times and to listen to them on the recordings a few times as well. Always go at your own pace, and stick with a section until you're comfortable with it.
Vocabulary The vocabulary list contains new words from the dialogue as well as other words related to the overall topic of the lesson. You can refer to this list while reading through the dialogue, but of course the translation of the dialogue is provided as well. Use the vocabulary list as a chance to build a good foundation for your Hindi vocabulary, one topic at a time. Experiment with different methods of learning vocabulary——spoken or written repetition, flashcards, practice sentences, and web searches . . . Be creative and find what works for you.
Key Phrases The key phrases section contains more practical words or phrases related to the lesson topic. Don't worry if you can't grasp the grammar behind each phrase right away. Treat the phrases as an extended vocabulary list; the grammar will be filled in as you progress, and the idiomatic and practical expressions you learn in the key phrases will come in handy.
Culture Notes Each lesson contains two culture notes. These notes are intended to give you a window on Hindi culture. They cover such topics as food, clothing, manners, and etiquette, and they also offer practical advice for anyone traveling to India.
Grammar Each lesson contains a number of notes on particular aspects of Hindi grammar. These notes are introduced in a careful sequence so that they build on one another and explain the key structures you encounter in the lesson, particularly in the dialogue. Each point is explained in plain and simple language, and there are plenty of examples to help you understand. Grammar can be tricky for many beginning language learners, especially with a language that looks and sounds so different from English. However, take your time on the grammar notes. Grammar is the nuts and bolts of any language learning; without it, you wouldn't know how to put words together!
Exercises The exercises in each lesson will give you more opportunities to practice the grammar and vocabulary you’ve learned in that lesson. Each lesson includes an answer key at the end so you can check your progress.
Independent Challenge The most important part of learning a language is practice. These challenge activities are designed to give you ideas for Ending contexts in your life where you can practice your Hindi. They're meant as a guide; if you feel inspired to create your own independent challenge activities, go right ahead. The more contact you have with a language, the better you'll learn it. And don't forget about the internet. Language learners have an incredible tool at their disposal———they can find newspapers, blogs, online references, travel and tourism sites, and much, much more, all of which can be used to add depth and color to language lessons.
Audio The audio portion of this course is divided into sets A and B.
Set A includes the dialogue, vocabulary key phrases, and grammar examples from each lesson. This part of the audio course should be used in conjunction with the book. By following the order of each lesson, you will hear how the words on the page sound in spoken Hindi. A good approach is to read each section first without the audio, so that you’re prepared to get the most out of the audio when you do listen to it. Then, take it step-by—step and listen to each section at a time, always allowing yourself the time and repetition that you need.
Helpful Hint: Once you've listened to the dialogue several times while reading along in the book, try listening to it without the help of the book. This will help tune your ear to Hindi and make understanding the spoken language easier down the line. Set B is intended to be used on the go to supplement your studies. It contains the dialogue from each lesson and is broken down into easily digestible sentences. You'll hear pauses after each line of dialogue; use the pause to repeat the line and practice your pronunciation. This set also includes several audio-only exercises that do not appear in the book but that are based on the same grammar points. A good way to make use of Set B is to listen to it following each lesson, once you've comfortably completed reading the text and listening to the Set A audio. Use Set B wherever it’s convenient for you——in the can on the train, at the gym, while you do dishes, in the garden . . . it's up to you. You can also use Set B as a review of lessons you completed long ago to keep you on your toes!
Glossary At the end of this book you'll find a Hindi—English/English—Hindi glossary. It includes all the words from the vocabulary lists, plus any important vocabulary that's taught in the grammar notes. It also includes a wide range of common and practical words that may not come up in the context of this course. It's not meant as a complete dictionary but it certainly includes enough to be a valuable reference tool for the beginner student of Hindi. As you use this course, keep this in mind: language learning is a gradual process; it won't happen overnight. Still, with repeated exposure and practice, you'll find yourself becoming a better and better Hindi speaker each time you pick up this course. But languages aren’t used by books; they're used by people. So if you can, seek out speakers of Hindi where you live or on the internet. That way, you can practice the language and discover new people while you do.
Bhagya apake sath ho! Best of luck!
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