My language learning experience thus far has been fun yet challenging. I have a basis in Indian languages because of my background in Tamil; however, I am quickly learning that Hindi is much different and requires lots of practice. It takes a lot of time when one’s environment does not immerse them in that language. It has been difficult to learn Hindi mainly because I am not around it all the time but also because to learn basic vocabulary words takes lots of practice and effort and repetition. Because I do not have a basic vocabulary set down, it has been hard to form sentences and go into more complex grammar issues such as different tenses. I have slowly realized the importance of learning vocabulary because learning the basics will eventually lead to you learning the language better. Only then will I be able to put together words together and can start to understand the sentence structure of Hindi, also very different than the sentence structure of English. I am currently learning different tenses of verbs and slowly starting to put together sentences that I would need if I am ever speaking to a Hindi speaker. I realized it is important to get Hindi speaking help from different sources, so one of the main goals for my Spring Break is to buy some Hindi textbooks from Barnes and Noble to keep learning consistently. This will allow me to come back to the University with an understanding of sentence structure and more vocabulary knowledge in Hindi. In the future, I am going to be using these books to fulfill my language goals and use my language partner to clarify the pronunciation of words and to speak with me to get a grasp on speaking more.
I have some HIndi speaking friends at the University of Richmond and back home in Chicago, so speaking to them will help me better understand the language. However, I already have a very good understanding of communicative competence because I am Indian and I have visited India many times. This allows me to understand body language and to show respect through signals and how I act. However, while speaking Hindi, I am interested in understanding how Hindi speakers show respect to each other with words like “aap” instead of “tum”. Seemingly, there is a hierarchy of authority in how Hindi speakers speak amongst themselves. For example, between two people of similar age and gender who use the lowest form of respect when speaking to each other usually implies the same gender or close familiarity. However, with elders, there seems to be a more sense of authority then is given to elders in English. This relates to Indian culture, where respect is very important because families are really close and its a collectivist culture. I have understood that notion first-hand, as both my parents are from India, and my family seems to be more collectivist than that of my friends. However, proper application of respect and gender is the most important thing while learning communicative competence in Hindi.
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