The US Supports Initiatives for People to Learn Hindi

To date, Hindi is the second most popular and widely spoken language worldwide. It follows Mandarin. This is because many speakers of Hindi are scattered all around the world. From India, the use of the language has spread. In fact, Hindi is currently one of the most preferred and prioritized foreign languages in the United States. The reason could be because India is fast becoming an important business and career market. Many migrants from India also speak and write Hindi more than English, so to be able to communicate with these people, many businesses intend to employ professionals who could speak and write the language. Thus, many Americans now strive to learn Hindi.

The US is clearly bracing Hindi as an important language. There are many evidences that could serve as proof of this assertion. Aside from many language study centers and programs that offer teaching of Hindi as a foreign language in some states, here are three more evidences that indicate how Hindi currently is regarded as highly important by the Americans.

The 8th World Hindi Conference

Every year, proponents and supporters of the spread of Hindi meet to identify and deliberate important issues that relate to growth and presence of the Indian language across the world. Every year, a World Hindi Conference is held in a select key global city that welcomes the opportunity to sponsor the event.

In July 2007, the 8th World Hindi Conference was staged in New York. The event was organized by the New York City government in cooperation with the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. The conference discussed the spreading use of the language in many foreign countries, including the US. It also highlighted how Hindi is widely used in the information technology sector and other key industries worldwide.

Hindi classes at Cameron University

Cameron University is one of the top universities in the US. That is why its decision to offer Hindi language classes in 2008 was very significant. The effort could pave the way for other American universities to follow suit. Representatives of the university said the Hindi classes tend to recognize Hindi as an important player in the evolving global economy. Cameron University highlighted the importance and usefulness of the language in communications across global business and finance.

The initiative was also prompted by the fact that there are up to 5,000 Indians who currently live in Oklahoma. Most second- and third-generation Indian families in the state could only speak English. Helping them learn Hindi could help them discover more about their ancestors and their native culture.

Edison schools offer Hindi classes

For the past several years, many Texas primary and secondary schools have been offering Hindi classes as electives for grades nine to 12 students. This initiative is being followed by Edison schools. A federal government grant has been awarded to the schools to help introduce and implement Hindi language programs in children’s and teen’s curriculums starting 2008. It is expected that additional grants in form of cash support would be provided to the schools for the continuous implementation of the program. Thus, many Americans and Indians could start opting to learn Hindi early in life.

Practical Tips that could Help You Learn Hindi

Do you plan to learn Hindi? If it is not your native language, you would surely find the initiative to be challenging. It is not always easy to learn another language other than what you naturally use. It usually takes time and much effort to be comfortable in using another, particularly a foreign language. If you intend to learn Hindi the practical way, here are several simple, yet effective guidelines that could help you do so.

• Regularly visit and read various Hindi websites. The Internet is flooding with so many online sites that are written in Hindi. You may use such sites to know, learn, and understand the language.
• Listen to, and appreciate, Hindi songs or music. You could easily memorize several catchy lines. Take note of correct pronunciation. You could eventually research the meaning of such lines. Intend to use such phrases and sentences appropriately in the future.
• Read materials that offer direct translation from Hindi to English or vice versa. This initiative could be complemented by daily learning about Hindi alphabets and vocabulary.
• Prefer to read Hindi books with lots of dialogues. You could easily translate or understand structures of such sentences, which are more conversational in nature.
• Ask native Hindi speakers to converse with you using the language. You may have friends, relatives, or colleagues who are fluent in speaking and writing Hindi.
• Regularly watch Hindi movies with comprehensive English subtitles. Take note of the English translations of words, phrases, and sentences.
• Always keep a vocabulary list along with a dictionary of Hindi words. Decide to learn at least 10 new Hindi words everyday. Imagine how broad your Hindi vocabulary could be after a week, a month, or a year. As you go on, be determined to gain improvements in spellings, grammar, pronunciation, and construction of sentences.
• Chat online in Hindi. It is like conversing in the language. This way, you could use and practice what you have already learned about the language.
• Intend to write a short essay in Hindi. It would help if you would ask a native Hindi speaker to read and criticize your short composition. Take note of the areas for improvement.
• Play scrabble or word-building games in Hindi. The Internet has many Websites that facilitate online games that could help you learn more Hindi words and concepts. It would help if you would regularly play such. You would enjoy and at the same time keep on learning the language.
• Find materials that would have you fill in blanks in sentences appropriately using the right Hindi words.
• Watch Hindi television shows. Ask your cable television service provider for listings of special channels that carry Hindi content.
• Go out and meet Hindi speakers at the club, the theatre, your school, or the market place.
• Read short stories, jokes, and poems that are in Hindi. It would be better if you could find Hindi comics.

There are many ways on how you could learn Hindi. You may opt to enroll at special language classes. But even without investing dollars into enlisting in such programs, you could still learn the language effectively.

Some Inconveniences In Learning Hindi

Someone had said that today’s India is the new tower of Babel. Consider: there are 15 national languages recognized by the constitution and spoken in over 1,600 dialects by over 900 million people. Learning Hindi, one of India’s official languages (the other is English), would seem like a daunting task.

For many educated Indians, especially those living in modern urban areas, English is virtually their first language. For the rest of the population who are multi-lingual, it is a second language. Their first might be one of the 16 other major languages in India.

To learn Hindi is like learning any other language for that matter. Depending on where you came from, there might be some difficulties but there might be some ease, too. Let us look at them.

Alphabet

Without going into the details of pronunciation, you might very well guess that there might be difficulties in the language starting with the alphabet. Hindi has a total of 10 vowels and 40 consonants.

Compared with the 21 consonants and 6 vowels in English, the students will be in for a long haul in their language lessons.

For the native speaker, the Devanagari script represents the exact sounds of how Hindi should be spoken. A native speaker who knows the Devanagari script can exactly sound out the Hindi text even without knowing the meaning.

Consonants

For a very rich language descended from one of the oldest languages in the world, Hindi carries with it a corresponding rich consonant system, about 40 of them.

There are more than the official list, considering the many other regions of India, each with distinct variation of the language.

Inherited from Sanskrit, the traditional core of the consonant system comprises 25 occlusives and 8 sonorants and fricatives. It also has 6 sounds borrowed from the Persians (Iranian) and the Arabs, but are now considered Hindi sounds.

Some difficulties

Teachers found out that aspirated and unaspirated Hindi consonants are difficult for English speakers. Also, they will need to carefully distinguish four different D sounds and four different T sounds.

In English, the unstressed vowels have a “schwa” sound, making the pronunciation have an UH sound. This is called reducing. In the word UNIFY, the second syllable becomes an UH instead of an EE. The second syllable of PERSON is pronounced with an UH rather than OH.

In Hindi, care must be taken not to reduce these vowels. For example, VO BOLTA HAI means “he talks” and VO BOLTI HAI is “she talks”. Typically, an English speaker would say the first sentence (VO BOLTA HAI) as VO BOLTUH HAI, which comes out as “she talks” to the native Hindi ears.

Grammar

The first two examples we have are still in the area of alphabets. Hindi grammar is another hurdle, though not that hard once you get the hang of it. (English is one of the most difficult languages to learn considering the many rules and the accompanying exceptions to these rules – in grammar, pronunciation, and function.)

Hindi is getting to be an international language, thanks to the growing popularity of Bollywood movies. Learning Hindi through these songs is not such a bad idea. Songs are never difficult to learn.

How You could Learn Hindi Effectively

Many people find learning Hindi as easy as learning ABC. Yes, this may be true compared to some other global languages, Hindi may be less complicated to master and learn. But be reminded that it may not be as easy as many teachers would claim. Expect learning the language as one of the most challenging tasks you would ever undertake. However, it would still be possible to learn Hindi without the need to knock yourself out during the process. Here are some tips that could practically help you make the entire process of learning the language easier and more effective.

Start with the proper mindset. You should go into it with a welcoming and positive attitude. Do not be among those people who instantly say, ‘That is too hard and I cannot learn that’ even without trying out first. If you would be pessimistic in the beginning, you surely would find it very hard to learn Hindi. Experts advise learners to be optimistic and to believe that the challenge could be easily handled. Set your goal and learn Hindi no matter what the challenges and difficulties you encounter.

Set a simple reward system so you could effectively motivate yourself. A reward system could truly make you strive harder just to be able to reach your target. To do this successfully, you may need to set goals about what you intend to learn each day. For instance, you may decide to learn Hindi alphabet first during the first five days of your endeavor. After a week of mastering the alphabet, you should reward yourself for meeting your goal. The reward could be as simple as treating yourself with ice cream. It could also be as elaborate and costly as getting out of town for a night. The important thing about this is to treat yourself to anything. You would eventually find that doing this could give you a lot more incentive to learn Hindi in any way.

The next thing to do is to set up an actual schedule for yourself. Many learners of Hindi fail because they try to tackle too much lessons at a single time. You know it would not be possible trying to consume a 10-course meal in just five minutes. Be practical and realistic when setting goals and scheduling daily learning tasks. Observe proper and comfortable pacing for your initiative to learn Hindi. There is no need to rush when learning the language, unless you are in a professional deadline. Make a good and workable schedule for yourself. Take a break from learning the course. Distribute the lessons in piecemeal proportions. A good course in learning Hindi would be effective if you do this. Most of all, be firm in sticking to the schedule. Do not attempt to jump ahead unless you know you are really ready to do so.

Do you need to learn Hindi? The best time to start the initiative is today. The task may not be very easy, but it surely would be something you could comfortably manage and handle.

Learning Hindi – An Overview

Learning Hindi is getting to be more and more popular, especially among businessmen. The facts are simple: in a shrinking world of business and commerce, it pays to learn some important languages for better communication.

Hindi is the first language of some one-third (about 400 million) of the Indian population, and is the second language of millions more. It is also designated as the official language and used in all official communications in India. It is taught in all Indian schools where Hindi is not spoken or not dominant.

Sanskrit

Hindi came from the ancient Sanskrit language, and is a member of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is related to Urdu, spoken in Pakistan, although Hindi and Urdu use different alphabet systems to represent the sounds.

To most people, the Hindi spoken in Delhi is indistinguishable whether it is Urdu or Hindi. The distinction is only shown on the script or how it is written. If written in Perso-Arabic script, it is Urdu. Written in Devanagari, it is generally considered Hindi.

Hindi written in Devanagari has the letters with bars at the top to connect them to other letters to form a word. The alphabet does not have upper or lowercase forms of the letters. Like English, however, it is written from left to right.

Genders

Like most European languages (except English), Hindi has a grammatical gender: all Hindi nouns are masculine or feminine. All male human beings, male animals and plants perceived to be “male” are masculine. The same is true to all things female which are regarded in the feminine gender.

Things, inanimate objects, and abstract nouns are either masculine or feminine according to convention.

In a sentence, most of the adjectives, though not all, changes according to the gender of the nouns. Moreover, Hindi verbs change to indicate the gender of their subjects in a sentence.

Grammar

Hindi uses the word order subject-object-verb in contrast to the English sequence of subject-verb-object. This means that in Hindi, the verbs fall at the end of the sentence. It also does not have articles, either definite (“the”) or indefinite (“a”).

Hindi also uses postpositions (they are put after nouns) in contrast with prepositions (placed before nouns) in English.

The Hindi adjectives always precede the nouns they qualify. The auxiliaries always follow the main verb.

There are four simple verb tenses in Hindi: present, past, future (presumptive) and subjunctive (sometimes referred by linguists as “mood”). Conjugation of the verbs is used to show the number and person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) of their subject, but also its gender.

Even with its complicated rules, Hindi grammar is fairly regular (irregularities are limited). Hindi punctuations use the commas, exclamation points and question marks like the western style. Periods are sometimes used, although the traditional “full stop” (a vertical line) is also currently used.

Media

Films and songs in Hindi are very popular in general, even in places as Punjab and Gujarat where Hindi is not spoken as a native language. Before the proliferation of satellite TV, broadcasts in Hindi dominated both TV and radio airtimes.

For prospective students, to learn Hindi is neither that daunting nor hard. The experience will also be unique because the language is as old as its culture.

Learn Behind Hindi Basics

Much of what the world is today can be fully attributed to the ever dynamic and growing circles of technology. Due to the fast paced game of life that is widespread at present, most people tend to forget the basics. With this article, we will be focusing our thoughts on Hindi basics and will be learning how such a very ancient way of communication has thrived throughout the ages.

Hindi is actually a tag accepted as an Indo-Aryan language or a dialect continuum of languages that are mostly utilized in areas of central and northern India. There are about 41 percent of Indian constituents that are considered to be native speakers of the Hindi dialects. Furthermore, Hindi is placed on the Constitution of India as one of two official languages of communication that paves the way for federal governance. It is also a vital component of the 22 scheduled languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

It is highly advised that keen should be observed when dealing with the Hindi concept as it is part of multiple perspectives of language classification. There is said to be standard Hindi and standard Urdu both of which are taken from the Khari Boli dialect. Hindi is primarily Sanskritised while Urdu has underwent a Persianizing process which led to the existence of various writing systems such as the Perso-Arabic script and Devanagari.

As mentioned above Hindi is the dominant method of spoken communication within the Indian realms. It is utilized in main localities and territories of the northern states of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, and Haryana. It comes as secondary option in places like the Nicobar Islands and Andaman where it is commonly tapped on along with regional languages such as Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, and Gujarati. Hindi has also reached the neighboring borders of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal.

The Hindustani language has also influenced other Indian descents that are situated in Fiji. Specific areas like Northern Vanua and Western Viti Levu have served as avenues wherein Fijians of Indian heritage and native Fijians connect together and surpass languages barriers via a common spoken language. With this, Fijians are now regarded as having the only ethnic group across the globe that are Hindi speakers but are not of Indian background.

Around 48 percent of the Fiji population rely on Hindi dialects as means of communication. A huge chunk of this percentage can be linked to individuals having Indian ancestry whose forefathers basically emigrated from India and brought about the Hindi existence within Fiji. Hindi is part of a trifecta that serves as the official language of Fiji. According to the country’s constitution, it can be utilized to perform transactions with a department, an office of state service, or a local authority.

It is good to go back to the basics whenever the wide array of technological resources starts to falter. The success brought about by the crude mechanisms of the Hindi language not only on its motherland but across the seas allows us to learn a good language should be.

Before You Learn Hindi

Are you intending to learn Hindi? You may not use the language to communicate with your family and friends but you may use it to communicate with business partners or important clients. Now is the right time to learn how to speak and write this native Indian language. But before you go on, it would be appropriate if you would learn several important insights about Hindi.

First of all, ‘Hindi’ is actually synonymous with the Indo-Aryan language. It is actually a dialect spoken by up to 41% of total population in India. It is specifically the main language used in central and northern India, which are often referred to as the ‘Hindi belt.’ It is one of the only two official languages that are used by the federal government of India.

Hindi is just one out of about 22 other languages and dialects that are used in India. Many users of the language also call it Standard Hindi, which is used along with English in the administration of the country’s central government. Standard Hindi is also serving as the official language in the nearby island of Fiji.

As a language, Hindi evolved from another one, the Prakrit. It emerged from being a local dialect like Braj, Awadhi, and Khari Boli. Through the years, Hindi evolved, mixed with influences and several terms from other languages, including Arabic and Persian.

To date, Hindi is the most spoken among all of India’s official languages. Hindi is the main language used in the Indian northern states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Himchai Pradesh, and Jharkhand. It is the second main language in the nearby Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where it is spoken alongside other regional languages like Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, and Marathi.

Knowing more about Hindi, it is actually a subject-object-verb language. Verbs used in speaking and writing Hindi are usually found at the end of every sentence instead of before the object (the usual case in English). Another distinction from English is that Hindi does not use articles (like ‘the’ and ‘an’).

There are two genders that are used as nouns. Male humans and animals are masculine while all female humans and animals are feminine. Inanimate articles, things, and even abstract nouns could be masculine or feminine according to the convention used. In the case of pronouns, there are first, second, and third person referring to only one gender. Thus, unlike English, there is no ‘he’ or ‘she’ in this Indian native language.

It is a weakly inflected language. The relationship of nouns with other elements in sentences is often indicated by postpositions (prepositions following a noun). The language plays a vital role in the national popular culture. It is not surprising that most Indian films and literary pieces use it.

Are you ready to learn Hindi now? You might be surprised that it is not actually a hard language to learn. You might find it easy and exciting to actually know how to speak and write this Indian language with or without a reason.