One of the official tongues of India, Hindi is both colorful and phonetic – meaning there is a direct relationship between the spelling and sound of words. It’s the fourth most spoken language in the world, with more than 500 million people globally using it as a first or second language. Its similarities with Urdu – Pakistan’s official dialect – and the fact that it’s understood in numerous countries mean it can expand your reach, providing you with even more job opportunities. So learning Hindi can be useful for you in business, especially if you’re planning to work with a booming economy such as India. Native speakers will admire your efforts, and it’ll help bridge the cultural gap when you talk their language. And don’t forget the added bonus of being able to discover Bollywood’s incredible Hindi films!
Hindi evolved from Sanskrit (an ancient Indo-European language) and uses the Devanagari script. It can be an extremely tricky language for native English speakers, as the pronunciation, cadence, and tone are completely different. Learning to write Hindi is significantly more challenging than understanding it spoken. The language also has several influences and borrowed words from Portuguese and English that date back to colonial times. Although certainly not as difficult as Arabic, Mandarin, or Japanese, Hindi still represents a big hurdle for anyone wanting to learn it from scratch.
This is why using language learning software is practically unavoidable in this case, especially when you consider the amount of time it would take to learn on your own – even more so if you don’t live in a Hindi-speaking area. There are plenty of up-to-date affordable apps that let you study at your own pace. With an entertaining and stimulating process, you only need a few minutes a day to start learning. These software offer an immersive language learning experience, ideal for expanding your vocabulary and pronunciation skills, and include audio courses perfectly suited for a phonetic language such as Hindi.
Launched in 1992, Rosetta Stone has over two decades of experience in teaching students a new language. The result is one of the most thorough and effective language learning apps in the industry. The software covers over 20 languages, tackling reading, writing, listening, and speaking with an immersive approach. It’s so intuitive that we didn’t even notice we were learning new vocabulary.
While courses are on-demand, Rosetta Stone does provide 6-week personalized study plans that consider students’ goals. In addition to the usual classes and exercises, the language learning platform also offers live sessions with native speakers and expert tutors, interactive stories, an audio companion, and much more. Prices start at $10.95 per month, and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee to try out Rosetta Stone risk free.
Launched in Romania back in 2013, Mondly is a language learning app that offers a more engaging way to learn a new language than studying flashcards. Instead of focusing on individual words, Mondly teaches you commonly used phrases that allow you to learn new vocabulary and memorize sentences. Moreover, all exercises are backed up by a native speaker, enabling you to listen (and repeat) words with the correct pronunciation. There are speaking exercises available too, where the app takes advantage of speech recognition to tell you whether your pronunciation is correct or not. With over 40 language courses, there’s a lot to learn with Mondly, and due to the company’s recurrent promotions, you can get access to all of them for as low as $4 per month. You can also try the app’s premium version through the 7-day free trial.
Pimsleur was one of the first self-instructional language learning courses to hit the market. Back in 1963, Dr. Paul Pimsleur released his very first reel-to-reel tape with a Modern Greek course. Nowadays, Pimsleur offers programs for more than 50 languages. Though the time of reel-to-reel tapes is long gone, there is one thing that Pimsleur maintained: the Pimsleur method. By combining graduated interval recall, the principle of anticipation, core vocabulary, and organic learning, Pimsleur helps people speak a language in no time. It’s possible to get the various learning language courses by purchasing each level of the program, or by subscribing to a monthly billing cycle that provides full access. Either way, unless you get the CD version it’s possible to use the software both on desktop and mobile, or to download the lessons in MP3 format for offline use.
Writing in Hindi is considered much harder to grasp than speaking since the script uses a wide variety of languages. If you don’t already know an Indo-Aryan language, you may find Hindi very idiomatic. Furthermore, this language generally follows an SOV (subject-object-verb) order for its sentences, instead of the more common SVO (subject-verb-object) found in Latin languages. Once you learn Hindi’s characters, it becomes much easier to get into its structure, which actually has rather satisfying and regular rules. Each letter in the Hindi alphabet has its own independent and distinct sound, and words are pronounced exactly as they are written. An easy example of a sequence of similar verbs could be: ‘khaana (खाना),’ ‘khilaana (खिलाना),’ and ‘khilwaana (खिलवाना),’ which translates as ‘to eat’, ‘to feed’ and ‘to have someone fed’.
Luckily, many native speakers also use the English alphabet, and often change the meaning of English words and make them sound more Hindi. English nouns are also often used, such as ‘pen,’ ‘guitar,’ and ‘computer,’ making it possible to deviate from the Devanagari script. Nonetheless, there are still new sounds and completely new words to learn, and that’s where language learning apps come in handy.
Undoubtedly, online courses are a great way to acquire an intermediate fluency, especially for beginners. However, afterward you will likely lose the language if you don’t immerse yourself in a Hindi environment. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities online to expand your Hindi knowledge. One fun option is to delve into Bollywood movies – try watching the non-dubbed versions with English subtitles. You can choose from classics such as ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ or ‘Koshish,’ or more contemporary options, like ‘3 Idiots’ or ‘Gangs of Wasseypur.’ YouTube and other streaming websites are also a fantastic choice, with a massive community of Hindi-related channels and content. If possible, you should also start talking with native speakers, which will help you appreciate and familiarize yourself with Hindi’s many dialects and fascinating culture.
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