This is my learning plan for Hindi!
Sanjna Kaul posted a status
Jan 31
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Learning Partners
Activities
Potential checkpoints
Graduated Friend
Texting in Hindi – progressing from conversational texts to lengthier more formal discussions; speaking in Hindi over calls every other week; sending small written passages in Hindi
Mid-February: alphabet memorized
End of February: able to write simple things in Hindi
Mid-March: Can slowly start reading a book in Hindi; start watching Bollywood films while attempting to read Hindi subtitles
End of March: Begin writing summary of book; repeat this task throughout the semester with different books as time permits
Current Student
Speaking in Hindi; writing prompts in Hindi; consistent reading check-ins in Hindi (tentative on our agreements)
On-Campus community and family
Regularly speaking in Hindi multiple times a week
Independent Activities
Watching Bollywood films with Hindi subtitles; reading and writing short summaries of Hindi books in Hindi; currently memorizing the alphabet
I have organized my self-directed activities to progress in the complexity and speed at which I would be reading Hindi, following reading with writing as that is typically harder. I have already learned a good amount of the alphabet and am currently mostly focusing on memorizing it so I do not need to refer to a chart. I am not waiting, however, till it is memorized before I start actually writing/texting. My main resources will be in-person partners and movies from Amazon and Netflix, but my family is also looking for children’s books in Hindi that I used to have that I can collect from our home to read. As SASA president and part of Bollywood exec, I will have no trouble connecting with my culture as it is, like I said, my own culture. My community and heritage of Hindi will also help me connect more consistently with Hindi. I am interested not only because of my heritage, but also because of my research interest based in South Asia and the greater access to archival materials that this reading ability will provide me. I did not receive much feedback from my classmates yet.
That seems like an excellent reading plan. I have never thought about reading a book in the foreign language and then giving yourself the task of summarizing it as you read it.
I also think it's very reasonable of you to memorize the alphabet first and take your time with that because as simple as it seems, delays in knowing which letter means and sounds like what (even if they're rare) will be a major impediment to feeling comfortable in the language.
One thing I would caution from my own experience is prepare yourself to see some very different vocabularies at play between Bollywood movies/formal written Hindi in your books and the colloquial Hindi you'll see in texting. Abbreviations and cultural developments will make book Hindi knowledge insufficient as you text with native speakers so prepare yourself!