For the past four weeks, my language learning partner Atul and I have been working on grasping a basic knowledge of the Hindi script. I used the textbook “Elementary Hindi” from the Global Studio and Atul helped me a lot to learn the letters and how to join them together. The script, with its many new letters and conjuncts, is more complex than I anticipated. Although I can read and transcribe basic words, I am not as far as I thought I would be by now. However, since my main goals this semester are related to interpersonal communication rather than written skills, I will move on with my learning plan to learn verbal skills in tandem with written skills.
This week for verbal skills I been working on basic Hindi greetings and introductions, such as commenting on my origin, my job, and the weather. I did not learn numbers and dates yet as I planned, but I think I will try that after I get some more basics down. I listen to Mango lessons in the car during my commute, and I practice with Ashish (my fiance) and Atul. I think that combination is very effective - although the Mango lessons feel slow, they are really drilling the language into my head, and then I get joy from being able to creatively produce similar phrases. Following is an example of that. (It is correct as far as I remember.)
Namaste / Hello
Mera naam Kelly hain / My name is Kelly
Main Amriki Hun / I am American
Main student hun. / I am a student [Hindi-speakers often use common English words in place of the Hindi equivalents]
Aaj mosam bahut achha hain. Gurmee nahi hain. / Today the weather is very good. It is not hot.
As far as near-future plans, for verbal practice, I am going to continue completing the Mango lessons - I hope to have all 69 lessons done by the end of the semester. It is so great that I can do them during my daily ~2 hours of commuting instead of that being wasted time. For writing practice, I really enjoy copying the practice passages from the textbook and translating them. It takes me a very long time, but it is like a satisfying puzzle to me if I can have the dedication to sit down and do it. I will attach an artifact of one of those passages. For interpersonal communication practice, I mostly try practicing what I learn from Mango. Specifically, my next learning task is talking about likes, dislikes, and daily activities. For this, I will set up a vocabulary deck to learn important nouns and verbs.
The artifact, transliteration, and translation follows.
Namaste. Mera naam Kavita hain.
Aapka naam kya hain?
Main Hindustani ladki Hun.
Kya aap Hindustani Hain? Kya aap Amriki hain?
Yeh Kaun hai? Yeh mera dost hai. Iska naam Deepak hai.
Yeh mera ghar. Mera ghar dilli main hai. Mera ghar bada hai.
Yeh mera kitab hai. Mera kitab neela hai.
Hello. My name is Kavita.
What is your name?
I am an Indian girl.
Are you Indian? Are you American?
Who is this? This is my friend. His name is Deepak.
This is my house. My house is in Delhi. My house is big.
This is my book. My book is blue.
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