Sunday, February 28, 2010

How To Learn Hindi: What Are My Options?

Once you have decided to learn Hindi, the question becomes how to learn Hindi? Perhaps you are in a position to take a university Hindi course. You might find a class in a commercial language school. Maybe you have found a private tutor.

For many, the best choice for how to learn Hindi is an online Hindi course. Online courses offer flexibility in scheduling and pace. The best online courses offer different kinds of learning experiences, both written and aural, so that all types of learners will find helpful and appropriate materials. Exceptional online courses provide a members-only forum, so that students can get questions answered and learn in a community setting.

Read more about taking an online Hindi course here:

How to Learn Hindi: What Are Your Options?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

How To Learn Hindi: Some Helpful Grammar Facts

Since India is a more and more important force globally, many more people are determining how to learn Hindi. Speaking and reading Hindi is a valuable asset for anyone traveling in India for business or pleasure. Anyone wishing to advance in an international business career would be well-advised to have this skill.

Grammatically speaking, Hindi is not that complicated a language. To learn some helpful grammar facts about Hindi, visit

Monday, February 22, 2010

A Little Bit On Hindi Literature

The Hindi language has a rich literary tradition dating back six centuries. The literary forms are generally devoted to religious devotion and heroic honor.

If you are trying to discover how to learn Hindi, you should learn a little bit about Hindi literature, too. You can read more about Hindi literature here:

How To Learn Hindi: You, Too, Can Learn Hindi

Have you ever studied French? Native English speakers can cheat in French. Say they want to use the word "definition" but they don't know how to say it in French. So they say the English word with a French accent, hoping they can cheat and get away with it.

And you know what? They can! The French word for definition is "definition." Just pronounce it with a French accent.

Unfortunately, an English speaker can't cheat when you are working on how to learn Hindi. There is not much common vocabulary between the two languages. However, the Hindi language is pretty regular when it comes to grammar and spelling. So, even though you will have to work for it, you, too, can learn Hindi.

Read more about Hindi here:

Thursday, February 18, 2010

How To Learn Hindi When You Don't Have Time To Learn A Language

A lot of the people who would be interested in how to learn Hindi are the busiest people you know. World-travelers, or international entrepreneurs, or people who never heard a language they didn't want to learn. Even for the most motivated Hindi students, finding time for Hindi lessons is challenging. But it can be done. Just be creative in your approach to finding the time, and you will succeed in your Hindi course.

Read some tips on finding time for how to learn Hindi here:

How To Learn Hindi: Stay Motivated

Staying motivated while you are trying how to learn Hindi is its own job. The key to maintaining motivation is to take your Hindi course step by step and recognize your accomplishments all along the way. Set short-term, intermediate and long-term goals and reward yourself each time you reach one. Read more here:

How To Learn Hindi Using Phonology

For me at least, it is challenging to figure out how to learn Hindi sounds. As with any language, there are sounds in Hindi that don't exist in any other language that I have ever studied. Learn a little bit more about Hindi phonology:

How To Learn Hindi Online

There is a lot on the internet that can help you discover how to learn Hindi. The resources range from online newspapers that can help you develop your reading skills, to instructional podcasts that teach you grammar and vocabulary, to Bollywood movies that allow you to learn Hindi to an Indian pop music soundtrack. Find out more about it at

Thursday, February 11, 2010

How to Learn Hindi? See A Bollywood Movie!

Watching television and movies and listening to the radio are always good for people who are studying foreign languages. It gives you a feel for the rhythm and inflection of a language, it forces you to listen to the language at conversational speed and it gives you a sense of the culture and routine of the speakers of the language.

If you are interested in how to learn Hindi, you should take advantage of those resources. More specifically, you should use Bollywood movies as study aids.

Bollywood movies are long, but fun. Spectacles of music and dance, they are full of plot twists like twins separated at birth, star-crossed lovers, heroes and villains and dramatic reversals of fortune. And they are in Hindi. They offer a student a look at Indian culture, a chance to hear Hindi spoken and sung, and a three-hour-long entertainment.

So if you are looking for ways how to learn Hindi, don't overlook Bollywood movies. They are a great resource.

You can read more about them here:

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

You Can Do It!

Have you ever known anyone who says, "I just can't learn foreign languages"? Or are you one of those people yourself?

Well, if you think that way, you will be right. You won't learn Hindi. You'll never be able to read the Devanagari alphabet. You will never be able to have a conversation with anyone in Hindi.

So think again. Decide that you can figure out how to learn Hindi. Take on some good study habits and set yourself up for success. And you will be able to do it.

Read more tips about how to learn Hindi here:

Monday, February 8, 2010

Rasas and Bollywood Movies

There are many reasons for taking a Hindi course. Maybe you want to make yourself more marketable if you are doing business in India. Maybe you are interested in traveling to India for spiritual or personal reasons. Or maybe you just love Bollywood movies.

Bollywood movies, like other performing arts in India, borrows from a long tradition that includes performances of epic poetry, Sanskrit drama, music and dance conventions and more. One of the elements of these traditions is the concept of "rasas." Rasas are the chief emotion that a performer tries to convey, or that the audience feels, in a performance.

There are nine rasas, running the gamut from love and attraction to terror and horror. Each is associated with a color and a deity.

To read more about rasas, and Bollywood, check out

Friday, February 5, 2010

Before You Start Your Hindi Course

Hindi is the predominant language spoken in the northern India states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Himchai Pradesh, and Jharkhand. It is a secondary language of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is so closely related to Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, that the spoken colloquial languages are practically identical. Urdu, though, is written in Perso-Arabic script, while Hindi is written in Devanagari script.

To learn more about the context in which Hindi is spoken, as well as some basic facts of Hindi grammar, take a look at

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Why You Should Take A Hindi Course

There are a lot of reasons to take a Hindi course. For one thing, if you are in international business, more and more of your competitors are doing it. To keep the edge, you should advance your skills when it comes to doing business in Asia by learning one of the official languages of India.

Hindi has another advantage. The spoken language is mutually intelligible with Urdu, the national language of Pakistan. So if you learn to speak Hindi, you will be able to speak with millions of people in India as well as millions of people in Pakistan.

Don't have time for a weekly class? Try an online course! Read more about it at

How To Learn Hindi In Its Written Form

If you have decided to learn how to learn Hindi, you will also need to learn the Devanagari alphabet as part of your Hindi course. Learning this beautiful, exotic-looking alphabet might be challenging, but with consistent work and a methodical approach, you can do it. After all, you learned the Roman alphabet when you were learning to read and write English.

For advice about how to learn the Devanagari alphabet, or any foreign alphabet, take a look at

Why To Take A Hindi Course

There are many reasons why to take a Hindi course. Hindi is the fourth most commonly spoken language in the world. Only Mandarin, Spanish and English have a greater number of speakers. It is not only spoken in India, but also in Guyana, Fiji and Mauritius and by many people in the US, UK and Canada.

Hindi's sister language, Urdu, is the official language of Pakistan. Although Hindi and Urdu are written in different alphabets, their grammar is the same and the colloquial spoken language is mutually intelligible.

So a Hindi course would open the door to communication with millions of people who inhabit several countries.

You can read more about it at

Before You Start Your Hindi Course

This may help you before you start your Hindi course.

When I start to learn a language, I always find it helpful to get an outline of the grammatical structure of the language before I jump in. If you are like me, you should go to

6 Things To Know About Learning Hindi

You will learn about the following items of Hindi grammar:

  1. Word order
  2. Case
  3. Gender
  4. Pronouns
  5. Verb forms
  6. Interrogatives.

How To Learn Hindi

A lot of people are interested in how to learn Hindi these days and you, too, may be looking for a Hindi course. India is experiencing such economic and technological growth, and there is now so much commerce between the US and India, that business people and business students find it beneficial to be able to speak and read the language.

As exotic as it seems, Hindi is not that hard to learn. It is not a very complex language grammatically. It is written as it is spoken. Even little kids can learn Hindi. So you can, too.

The problem arises in finding resources to learn the language. There aren't many college courses available. Some language schools teach Hindi, but not all of them do. And they are expensive.

An online Hindi course may be the best approach for learning Hindi. For more about how to learn Hindi, and for a recommendation for an online Hindi course, visit

Will You Be Visiting Ahmedabad?

Will you be visiting Ahmedabad? Four good places to visit are

  1. The Calico Museum of Textiles
  2. Kankaria Lake
  3. The Mosque of Sidi Saiyyed
  4. The Siddi Bashir Mosque
To read more about these places, visit

Laughter Yoga Clubs in Mumbai

Laughter is good for you. It not only elevates your mood, it has mental, physical and spiritual benefits as well. A Mumbai physician, Dr. Madan Kataria, has devised a type of yoga that incorporates laughter into a more traditional practice of asanas and pranayama. Laughter clubs have sprung up all over the world to practice it.

Read more about the origins of laughter yoga at

Indian Crafts

India is rich in craftsmanship. Some of the crafts that it is most famous for are:

  • Textiles, which are often decorated with block prints or embellished with embroidery
  • Jewelry, fashioned in silver, gold, turquoise and coral
  • Other types of metalwork, used for decorative and practical purposes, including boxes, vases, plates, trays and cups
Read more about the crafts of India at