Hindi Resource List for Teachers

I also have a never ending resource list with more thoughts, resources, and updates. These are simply the ones I think would work well for teaching the Hindi language (I teach English to adult learners)

Conversational
Pimsleur helps a lot with sentence order but only for a small portion of sentences 
Chatting and texting are my favorite methods!! 

Grammar
Learning-Hindi.com
Anil Mahato on YouTube 

Vocabularay
I would encourage sentence mining and use vocab from other lessons.

Speaking 
Spending time with Hindi speaking friends
Creating YouTube videos in Hindi

listening 
Hindi U on YouTube  
Bollywood Movies and Songs
Guli Guli Sim Sim - Sesamie Street
Shaka Laka Boom Boom - Kids show

Writing 
Flashcards

Reading 
TenguGo Hindi
Hindi Bible
Learning-Hindi.com has some great reading lessons
Beelingual - this app allows you to select texts and has some great tools for studying a variety of reading topics

Thinking 
Pimsleur Lessons
HindiPod101 helps with all areas
Doulingo it's out!! I just finished the tree and am writing a review!

I hope this list is helpful and I do encourage you to check out my "Never Ending Resource List" for more and future updates

Duolingo Hindi

I finished!!!

I am excited to announce that I just finished the Hindi tree on Duolingo.

Overall, I love Duolingo and think it's a great app for supplemental language study. I have been very out of language practice so this was really good to go back to.

How did it go?

The tree is very short. I tested out of the alphabet but a lot of my basic vocab skills were lacking, so I didn't make it very far passed the first checkpoint (the awful alphabet section that I will discuss later on). I use Hinglish (along with the Indians I know in the US). So my vocabulary for American foods and numbers and family was severely lacking.

But I was able to test out of moat levels individually, because the context and topic helped me remember and it was fairly easy to tell when I didn't know one or two vocab words in context.

I did have to complete one or two lessons from about 5 levels and then was typically able to test out. The biggest exception was the last two. I really struggled with those grammar concepts and even gave up a couple times because I was making so many mistakes.

But I made it and I am excited for the content to get more challenging and I think I will do several review lessons (the dumbbell in the bottom right corner).

My thoughts on the course.

Though it is officially out of Beta , I noticed a handful of errors or frustrating things.

'ne' is lacking an explanation.

It over and over expects uses to use Indian English, rather than American, which was quite frustrating for me. "You people do that thing," and leaving off articles were common. I've heard similar frustrations about other trees from bilingual speakers living in the US as well. Either way, the Hindi tree does feel like it was designed for Indian Hindi learners, which in the long run is great and I hope it will help with communication issues between states and help unify North and South Indians. So though frustrating, it could actually be good.

I also wish that there were grammar explanations for the more challenging concepts and more complete explanations for others. This will come.

A huge frustration is the Alphabet levels. They seem to be terrible. I have only passed one or two. I don't think I could have stuck with it if I had not tested out. I don't understand how they work or what is going on. I would highly recommend an app such as TenuguGo Hindi or even just making flashcards and memorizing before trying to use Duolingo before you know the alphabet. It took me two weeks (if I remember correctly) on TenguGo.

But my biggest complaint is that it's too short!!! I want more!!!

Conclusion

Overall, this is has been a great course and I will continue to use it. Being on my phone makes it so much more accessible than the other resources out there. Ans most of my frustrations will work themselves out, I'm sure...And if not, chalta hai, na?

Thanks to the volunteers! And good enjoy your studies!!!

How Do Keep Up With All Your Languages?

A friend who is fluent in Spanish (and let me tell ya, I am not close to 'fluent' in anything, so I'm always in awe of non-native speakers who acheive fluency) and she is quite an amazing and inspirational woman in general...any ways she asked me how I stayed up with my langnauges...well I don't, was my response...Which is true.

I don't but I do continue to dabble regularly, so here is where I am at with each langanuge and what I have been doing the last couple months (mostly the last week, since our foster placement left, FS13).

Hindi - I finished the Duolingo tree!!! This took me a while and here is my review. I only did it when I could use sound, so my main time to practice (at the Drs office or in lines, was not a Hindi option)

I have forgotten a lot of Hindi and am out of practice. I also get so shy when speaking, so texting is still my strength.

Urdu - I reviewed the alphabet yesterday with a group of Somali girls (one grew up in India and is half Indian and half Somali. And we were talking about the difference between Arabic and Urdu.

Português - Only duolingo (I completed this tree some time ago and am working toward completing level 2 on all leves. I also have played around some with our FS13 in Portunol, who speaks some Spanish.

Spanish - Our FS13 liked Spanish radio and it was a good go to when nothing else was appropriate.

French - I dabble in duolingo and sometimes text, mostly using a translator. I've also made it half way though Paul Nobles Learn French audio series while driving home from my chiropractor appointments.

Koine Greek - I was more excited about Hebrew than Greek for a long time, I think because the alphabet is more interesting to me. But a year or so ago, my pastor told me to learn Greek instead, so then I quit Hebrew for a while thinking his argument was valid (but didn't do much with Greek, just out of apathy toward the langnuge and lack of free resources for Greek and finding that my favorite ones were modern Greek, though my best Hebrew resourse was modern as well, I'm sure)...

...until now...

Greek is new to me. I found a great free resource, the Ginoskos app, and I have been taking it more seriously (lol for the last week since our kiddo left). But it has been a lot of fun to start to learn words and their Biblical significance <3 So far I've focused on relearning the alphabet (which I've failed at a couple times). I've copied a few verses and analized a couple others (taking notes from the same resource). I've listened to a couple videos. And I am working on biblical vocabulary. I'm not good at it but one thing that has made Greek fun, is that it's applicable to Biblical study and touches your heart even if you only know one word.

Sign Language - I sign durring worship regularly (not up front, which requires more practice and learning). I also met with a woman at our church (enjoy this story about the impact this meeting had on our FS13) to plan a sign langangue lesson for a ladies nithgt with our church. I also found 2 new songs that I want to learn in ASL. There is also one that is really challenging that I've been practicing for over a year now. 

Living Hope - Phil Wickham

Long Live the Cheif - Jidenna

LeCrae - Indwelling Sin

It will be a while, but you can watch my video of Heathens by 21 Pilots (I dressed as Harley for a fundraiser, so I figured I'd record it since I knew it)

Arabic - I'm amazed by how many Islamic friends (mostly Somalian, new to America) use Arabic and I know the words from Urdu...Every week I meet with a group of Somali girls and learn and use new Quaranic Arabic words. If I learn or study a dialect, I think it will be Sudanese, but for now, I just review the alphabet and use what I'm around for basic greetings and phrases.

Somali - I listen but have not studied much. There is now a girl that joins the times I meet with the Somali girls who is half Indian, so when the Somalis switch to Somali, we switch to Hindi (or just continue in English) instead of practicing the Somali.

Lakota - not practicing.

Latin - not practicing (I completed my 25 hour goal, to work through scripture and I did it. The goal was largely to look through the book of John and see that has not been corrupted since the Vulgate...this gets into some nerdy apologetics stuff. But I think that will be the extent of my Latin for a long time.)
Italian - not practicing.
All Asian languages (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) - not practicing. I haven't done much with these, just played around with the alphabets and young children.
Hebrew - not practicing.
African Dialects (Haitian Creole, Patois, Krio, Naija English) - not practicing. Though I have used bits of Krio in chats with friends.

What Happens When a 5 on The Enneagram Studies A Language?

Lol so what does the secret stash of a 5 look like?

They say that those people who are a 5 on the Enneagram have many interests that only people who share those interests are really aware of how deep these hobbies go.

You guys tend to share my love of languages so you know all about it...But did you know that most of my friends have no idea how much I love languages, or that I can even speak multiple languages? 

Funny, I know. That is because I'm a 5, I guess. I have other secret hobbies too, but they are secrets for now.

As you may also know the first semi-secret language I studied obsessively was Hindi. 

So how did I study early on? What made my Hindi study obsessive? 

I created worksheets* from videos and a couple websites, basically making textbooks to study from and then I began (but we moved here and I never finished) filling in the Hindi script by hand. 

In one series I had 137 lessons that I summarized typed up and took notes (from Learning Hindi) and in another series maybe 20 (from a YouTube Series by Anil Mahato). I had a system where I did one lesson in the morning and a couple after Jim went to bed. 

I had created 30+ flashcards (before I began studying). One for each day and I created more as needed and repeated cards as well. 

I ended up being one of maybe 4 moderators for a Hindi learning group on Facebook (also ran by Anil Mahato). The group over 10,000 people and has grown to over 13,000 people. 

Let's not forget that I was very active in the Indian Student Association at the University of Wyoming. I was nominated for officer by the Indian student organization at UW (but we were moving so I never ran). I play(ed) cricket and was part of the Bollywood dance group. You can tell that I did not grow up with this style of dance and, I think it's fair to say that choreography is not my thing. I still had an amazing time and all the others spoke Hindi so I learned a ton! I have danced since then.

I also "analyzed" "translated" nearly 20 songs into English. This was simply a way to practice. I'm sure that I could have found the translations online but it was much more beneficial to go through the lyrics myself and see how words were used (knowing that Hindi, like the notorious Arabic, does not use proper grammar in songs).

At this time taught at an art center for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and taught Indian Culture and Art and then a Hindi class. So my work was also studying **Hindi.

So though people assume that I am a 4 because I am an artist and I am pretty sure that I do have a decent 4 wing, I have no doubt that I am a 5. I could offer more examples if you like...but if you dig online you may also find my other secret (or not so secret blogs and videos...trust me. I'm a 5).

*I'm attempting a similar worksheet series but will be much shorter (closer to 10 lessons) for Somali (there just are not many resources) and I'm not as dedicated to Somali so I don't know if it will happen. I have a video with all the languages that I've studied here.  

**I was actually hired to teach Spanish and Sign language (and later art). Keep in mind my average student was at a 3rd grade English level, I didn't need to be fluent. Since learning Portuguese, my Spanish is pretty awful. It tends to annoy native Spanish speakers and I can't understand Mexican Spanish at all so I just say I don't speak it. Here is a blog post from when I realized I didn't speak Spanish anymore.

Where Did It Go?

Where is my Spanish? Has it died? Or is it just gone?

Well, I currently cannot speak Spanish, though its the only foreign language I've actually taken classes in and given speeches in.

Long story short, I ended up at a factory in the middle of the night and needed directions.

The man I talked to was like "really you don't speak any Spanish?"

I responded "un poco..." awkwardly forcing the extra u and m out of the words..."mas...pero...." and switched back to Português.

He just shook his head as I continued to explain (in bad Portuñol) that I used to speak Spanish but now it's Portuguese.

It is very strange. When I began learning Portuguese, in Foz do Iguassu I desperately wanted rid of my Spanish and now that my Spanish is passed I am mourning the loss.

My Portuñol was so bad, everyone thought I was Argentinian except on the plane where the Columbian soccer player next to me successfully convinced the flight attendants I was his sister. This actually became quite awkward but helped me get through customs.

....and now I can't even cough up a tiny bit of travelers Spanish...though, I will say the Portuguese has made my Spanish reading smoother, which is actually not practical at all.

But I'm convinced that I still know Spanish even if no Spanish speaker believes me. I know it is in my brain somewhere just waiting to be resuscitated. 

Gali Gali Sim Sim Kids TV

Watching videos is an excellent way to learn a language after all listening and watching are two ways kids learn language and other skills. The Pimsleur method is even built upon the ways children naturally learn. More about that later.

I think that Sesame Street Hindi Style AKA Gali Gali Sim Sim is proving to be a fun way to practice and learn Hindi. Some of the videos are absolutely hysterical. I particularly enjoyed the two videos below.

I found these (go to the playlist for more) at about three months into my Hindi learning journey and can understand most of the words in the videos after watching a couple times.

Do You Mind Not Knowing What is Going On?

Show card for my Art in India exhibition.

A Nepali Indian friend asked if it bothers me ”when people just speak in Hindi?” She continued, “I think it would drive me nuts if everyone around me was talking and I couldn’t understand.” This is a good question…

The simple answer is “no, it has not bothered me yet.” I really enjoy observing and using these times to learn and listen. Every time I have wanted to understand more or need clarification I always ask.

So why does it not bother me? Haha probably because I am a bit socially awkward to begin with. I don’t mind observing nor do I mind that isolated feeling while in a large group, in fact I really enjoy it. I love people but am fairly introverted. That “alone in a crowd feel” can be incredibly nice…though I don’t really feel alone with my Indian friends. Most of the time I can pick up enough….though the times I am lost are nice too. Sometimes I just don’t talk even when I do know what’s going on. I suppose it’s less awkward to have the language “barrier” as an excuse.

The most important reason I don’t mind is the answer to the question “what is the best way to learn a language?” To go to the country…unfortunately I tend to do things backwards. I go to the country then a month after returning home decide to commit to learning the language. Spending time with people speaking the language you are trying to learn is really the only way to pick up a language…

The other friend in the car joined in and stated “they don’t do it on purpose, it’s just habit.” We continued the discussion for a bit longer (and by we I mean I continued to ponder over the question in my head…I will share my ponderings in future posts.)

I nodded in agreement as we continued to sing along to Bollywood music and drove off.