The SMU Dept. of Foreign Languages' Hindi website claims that it's one of the easiest and most logical Indo-European languages... Is this true? What's your experience been with it? Its script looks like a pretty major stepping stone to learning the language...
Hindi - how easy is it?
I can only imagine that it'll be a whole heck of a lot harder than English.
I borrowed a book by Charles Berlitz a year or two ago. It had a section on Hindi including its script and how the words/expressions would sound in English. I noticed things about its script right away and thought "Hey, not bad, not bad at all!" I think your hardest choice will be which language to choose. That said, I passed up a good deal on a Colloquial Hindi book recently.
I like Indian food and Indian culture (what I know of it), but there are some funny things about the language. Apparently you greet people according to their religion. That sounds terribly PC and all, but I can't imagine doing this in English.
I like Indian food and Indian culture (what I know of it), but there are some funny things about the language. Apparently you greet people according to their religion. That sounds terribly PC and all, but I can't imagine doing this in English.
Would the equivalent be something like "Hey, Christian!" or "Hey, Buddhist!" or "Hey, Muslim!"? That's sounds terribly un-PC... Unless of course your name happens to be Christian. Or Buddhist or Muslim... lol
No, it would be more like a Jewish person saying "Merry Christmas" or maybe even "Christ is risen" to an Orthodox Christian and wishing a Muslim a Ramadan greeting.
There was info on this on the blog "Polite Indian" and it's mentioned in the Colloquial book too. When I read that, I decided that I didn't want to get involved in such sticky linguistic and religious matters even though Hindi has a very cool-looking script.
Some Muslims don't want to wish Hindus a "Happy Holiday Name X" because that holiday reflects the polytheism of Hindus and Muslims are monotheistic (whether their deity is the same as the Jewish and Christian one is debatable)...
Too sticky for me. I'm not an expert on Islam or Hindu practices, so I'll leave the details to another person.
There was info on this on the blog "Polite Indian" and it's mentioned in the Colloquial book too. When I read that, I decided that I didn't want to get involved in such sticky linguistic and religious matters even though Hindi has a very cool-looking script.
Some Muslims don't want to wish Hindus a "Happy Holiday Name X" because that holiday reflects the polytheism of Hindus and Muslims are monotheistic (whether their deity is the same as the Jewish and Christian one is debatable)...
Too sticky for me. I'm not an expert on Islam or Hindu practices, so I'll leave the details to another person.
If you speak Hindi natively, feel free to correct me if I am wrong about my perception of this cultural practice.
I think I already got caught up in this religion confusion when I asked my boss (who is from Pakistan) if I could greet him with "namaste" since Hindi and Urdu are practically the same language...
He said I should say "Salaam"...
This is too messy for me...
Maybe I'll stick with Sanskrit only :)
He said I should say "Salaam"...
This is too messy for me...
Maybe I'll stick with Sanskrit only :)
So, ignoring the complication presented with learning a new script, how difficult would it be for an English speaker (or really any Centum language-speaker) to learn Hindi?
I don't think Hindi is the easiest language in IE language family compared to Farsi and Bengali.
And I don't think Hindi is the most logical one in IE either compared with Sanskrit and Latin.
It's true that Devnagari is very difficult for every Hindi learner at the very beginning but I think from another point of view,it's much easier to read Hindi words because every letter has only one pronunciation,not like English,French or German.
Hindi Grammar is easier than German or French, a little bit more difficult than Farsi.But in India, most Hindi speakers do not use the standard grammar, and sometimes they even say "Nai Dilli aa gayaa hai."(we've arrived in New Delhi) while actually it should be "Nai Dilli aa gayee hai." because "Nai Dilli" is feminine.
And to Skippy:
If you can only speak English, it MIGHT be difficult for you to master Hindi within 1 year. My mother tongue is Mandarin and I have been studying Hindi for 8 years, according to my own experience,I can say that if you can spend 1-2 hours in studying Hindi by yourself or with an Indian friend, it will take you four to six weeks to "remove the script stone", and ten to twelve months to learn the grammar and about 800 frequently used words. And if you want to read the short stories and some easy news reports,it'll take you three to four months more. And maybe after two years, you can read the novels easily and after three to four years,you can watch the Hindi movies without subtitles.
And I don't think Hindi is the most logical one in IE either compared with Sanskrit and Latin.
It's true that Devnagari is very difficult for every Hindi learner at the very beginning but I think from another point of view,it's much easier to read Hindi words because every letter has only one pronunciation,not like English,French or German.
Hindi Grammar is easier than German or French, a little bit more difficult than Farsi.But in India, most Hindi speakers do not use the standard grammar, and sometimes they even say "Nai Dilli aa gayaa hai."(we've arrived in New Delhi) while actually it should be "Nai Dilli aa gayee hai." because "Nai Dilli" is feminine.
And to Skippy:
If you can only speak English, it MIGHT be difficult for you to master Hindi within 1 year. My mother tongue is Mandarin and I have been studying Hindi for 8 years, according to my own experience,I can say that if you can spend 1-2 hours in studying Hindi by yourself or with an Indian friend, it will take you four to six weeks to "remove the script stone", and ten to twelve months to learn the grammar and about 800 frequently used words. And if you want to read the short stories and some easy news reports,it'll take you three to four months more. And maybe after two years, you can read the novels easily and after three to four years,you can watch the Hindi movies without subtitles.
lol sounds daunting... Is it any more difficult than, say, the Slavic languages?
To Skippy:
I haven't learned Slavic lang. systematically before.
Just recently I have begun to learn Polish for one month.
And I think Hindi is much easier than Polish and maybe than Russian.
There are three genders and seven cases in Polish lang. which is very difficult for me because in Mandarin,the nouns and pronouns do not have genders and cases.
Hindi Grammar is not so complicated, and in my opinion, the biggest difficulty is, as I have written above, that many Hindi speakers do not abide by the grammar when they speak or write. So,sometimes you would be confused.But this is not a very big problem,just try to start learning it.
I haven't learned Slavic lang. systematically before.
Just recently I have begun to learn Polish for one month.
And I think Hindi is much easier than Polish and maybe than Russian.
There are three genders and seven cases in Polish lang. which is very difficult for me because in Mandarin,the nouns and pronouns do not have genders and cases.
Hindi Grammar is not so complicated, and in my opinion, the biggest difficulty is, as I have written above, that many Hindi speakers do not abide by the grammar when they speak or write. So,sometimes you would be confused.But this is not a very big problem,just try to start learning it.