Showing posts with label Urdu-Hindi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Urdu-Hindi. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

October - December Goal - Separation

My 2 Language Study Plan worked alright for a while but I realized that people in other parts of the world are awake when they are awake and there were certainly nights where I was chatting with people in both languages.

I found that changing the times was helpful but even more so is consciously switching off one for one person and switching it back on for another person.

This is easier said than done. I can't tell you how many times I would use a word from wrong language only to notice when my friend responded with "what are you saying?" It typically would happen when I couldn't think of the right word and I was unaware that my brain just replaced it so I would need to look it up the word in the correct language.

Also talking to myself is helpful. It takes a lot more effort to think in Hindi. Portuguese is getting pretty easy to think in. Krio just happens. And French is quite difficult.

My biggest struggle with the Hindi is still the sentence structure because my vocabulary is decent (except I have forgotten a lot) and you can use English and be understood.

I still don't have Hindi and Portuguse figured out, but I think I will be needing to add in some Spanish to the mix. There have been several times people will speak to me in Spanish. I understand and then respond in portunol or just plain old portuguese.

This is not ok. I am around enough Spanish that I actually need Spanish in my town...so I am also working on separating Spanish and Portuguese in my head. This should not be too difficult, except I do fear loosing my Portuguese before I get decent and not getting it back....ever. Will see.

So my goal October - December Goal (or until I re-write goals):
Speak Hindi and to keep languages separate in messages, conversation and my brain.

Thank guys!!! 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

How Many Languages Do I Speak

Here is a video answering the question "how many languages do I speak?"


Saturday, January 31, 2015

Hindi Vocabulary Lists

Assorted art from the #TheLilyPadProject
Why recreate the wheel...here are 13 great Hindi word lists to take a look at.

These lists can be used in several ways. You can memorize them or take each word and write a sentence (which I find quite helpful).

1. My First Phrases from Hindi for Christmas

3. Common verb list (short but could be learned in a week)

4. Days of the week and directions from linguanaut.com

5. Numbers  from linguanaut.com

6. Adjectives from linguanaut.com

7. Vocabulary from linguanaut.com

8. Survival Terms from linguanaut.com

9. Grammar Tense Practice from Hindi for Christmas

10. Urdu lists from linguanaut.com

11. Hindi Words that come from Arabic from Namaste-America


Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Separation: Tips For Studying Multiple Languages at Once


My tips to avoid language confusion when studying multiple new languages.

Greeting cards inspired by henna designs and Indian culture by Felicia Follum Art+. They will be up on ETSY soon.

1. Stagger languages - practice one language for a few months then add another one in.

For me I confused Hindi with Spanish because neither language was at a good enough level to add more. I also confused Spanish and Portuguese at first. Once my Portuguese became stronger it began to hold its own.

2. Separate place, time, people, activity, etc so your brain will associate these things with that language.
For example practice Hindi in the evenings through texting and Portuguese in the mornings. Watch movies in Hindi and use Duolingo for Portuguese. I've also told friends that I can only practice one language with them at a time.

More of my art inspired by language learning and Indian culture.
3. Don't practice mixing both new languages.

Ex don't try to speak in a mix of Hindi and Spanish at first. It will hurt you in the long run. Form a sentence in one and force yourself to  use only that language. Resist the urge to have conversations in a mix of two incomplete languages even when you find others who mix the same to unrelated languages.

4. Learn Languages that are different from one another.

This will help keep language confusion to a minimum. Some people will argue that working on similar languages is helpful because the work off one another. Though helpful, I found that my precious knowledge of Spanish was more of a hindrance than it was helpful. However learning only Urdu or Hindi would be a challenge.

5. Learn one difficult and one easy language.

I realize this is subjective. One strategy is to pick a language similar to one you already know and one that is very different. One strategy would be to focus maybe 60% or 70% of your time on the more difficult language and the rest on the easy language. I typically prefer to practice the language that I am excited about at a given time.
These are just the things that helped and are helping me the most. I am aware that there are more ideas and would love to hear some of yours. What tips have helped you? Did mine work for you? Do you struggle with mixing languages?
Let me know below...

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

InshAllah

Pakistani Dinner Night







Mere pati, meri dost, aur main








InshAllah 


Several months ago when I was just beginning to learn Hindi I was messaging one of my friends in Pakistan and she told me 'InshAllah' referring to learning Urdu. I asked her what it meant and she said that

"InshAllah means if God wants you to then you will do this easily"

And though I would not say that this past year of learning Hindi was easy (and I honestly wouldn't say that I have learned it yet). It was full of challenges and stepping outside of my comfort zone but it is certainly seeming clear that God does want me to learn and practice this beautiful language.

Read more about InshAllah

Sunday, April 27, 2014

They All Speak a Different Language


Felicia Follum
Washed in Blood – Henna
Mixed Media
I have friends from all over India here in the us. One night I was hanging out with about 10 Hindi speaking friends. They were all speaking different dialects, had different accents, and some may have even been speaking Urdu and i would have never known. 

This to me is absolutely fascinating. ugh though I am not quite sure how it will impact my learning. Maybe it will make me more diverse or just confuse...but In reality, I will just accept it as a lot of fun.

I guess my current plan is to keep learning all that I can (and at times filter out what is the most important and the general idea). 

My current tip (to myself) in regard to spelling is to learn from one good resource mainly and take everything else with a grain of salt.  sticking with one source will also help me learn the alphabet and transliterations better... Shyad, I will add more sources/spellings as I become more comfortable.

Since I began this post I have encountered one big problem with the one source strategy but will get to that in a future blog post.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

The Last Night Meme from Sunday Stealing

I found this meme* at SundayStealing.blogspot.com and thought that last night would be fun for me to write about especially since it surely applies to my Hindi learning.
Dancing at Diwali night with some of the guys from cricket.

Haan, mujhe memes bahut pasand hai kyunki main thoda thoda nerd hoon.

Did anyone call you last night? Naa, but I did have a couple Hindi text conversations with friends.

How late were you on the computer last night? Shayad, midnight…I was actually on three super nerdy and great Hindi facebook pages. 1) Learn Hindi 2) Learn Hindi with Bharti  and 3) Learn Urdu

...aur Urdu kya hai?! I suppose the only people who can read the question already know the answer...mugar chalta hai...

If you are curious to know more about Urdu I will be posting more on the language here soon as it is looking like it will be the next language I tackle...

What did you have to eat last night? Main ek scone flavor ka pumpkin spice khati thi aur ek Hot Snow piti thi. Do bahut swad the. A Hot Snow is a white chocolate drink with almond milk.

Did you watch any good TV shows or movies last night? Haan, Main meri pati sath Dexter dhekte hain

Did any news items stand out to you last night? Kuch nahin…

Any regrets from last night? Haan, I didn't speak one of the specific Hindi sentences I had perfectly constructed in my head...lol I was kinda being hassled a little bit (but not much compared to the guys) and I was teasing one of the guys...Teasing is something that the guys do a lot. I think Indians just like to tease new people (old people and girls). It's some sort of bonding... Anyways, I wanted to tell my friend Rajeesh**, who is known for speaking very fast that he was speaking too fast. "Raj, Raj, sach batao, tum bahut jalde bolta ho. pata nahin kyu tum bol. Hum samajte nahin hain."

I constructed the sentences in my head just a bit too late and missed the chance...Chalta hai...next time.

Did you go out last night? After playing cricket, I went out for chai with the guys. Yesterday, both while playing cricket and at the coffee shop I was able to pick up more of the Hindi conversations than ever before. It was pretty cool.

Oh, and I actually played decent cricket, not great but better than usual, except I couldn't field for anything...I think I will write another post on my cricket learning.

What was the weather like last night? It was surprisingly nice. Maybe 30 F and only light wind.

What was the last thing you said last night? Goodnight, I love you.

What time did you go to bed last night? Shayad ek (1) ya do (2) baje

Phir se dhanyavaad doston!! Thanks again for joining me on my blog all about learning Hindi. 

* I did edit the questions just a bit.
** Raj is not the real name but if you figure out who you are and want your real name or would prefer a different pseudonym let me know yaar...