In the past decade of teaching Hindi to university students, the ONE non-negotiable trait of all my best performing students was LOVE for the language! Hindi is my second language and I have immense admiration and love for its script (Devanaagri), poetry and beautiful word formations!!
I never realised teaching Hindi as a foreign language to international language learners could be so fulfilling! While getting trained in Linguistics (the science of how languages work), the opportunity of teaching Hindi forced me to look at my humble language in an objective way and dig deeper than a native speaker…
Since 2013, I have taught Hindi to American Undergraduate students at Five colleges (Amherst, Hampshire, Smith, Mt. Holyoke & University of Massachusetts) around the Connecticut Valley Area, USA as a Fulbright FLTA, and to several German and Korean exchange students at Delhi University’s Linguistics Department.
Here are my BEST FOUR tips to approach Hindi learning, (that can be mirrored to learning ANY language eventually):
Tip#1: Have a purpose!
I ventured into this super-exciting Hindi teaching challenge exactly a decade ago; the ridicule that I faced from (Surprise! Surprise!) INDIANS is still vividly alive in my memory:
“Why are you teaching Hindi??”
“Isn’t it better to teach a foreign language? Maybe Spanish, French or German?”
“Hindi? Who wants to learn Hindi?!?”
Well, lots of people want to learn Hindi and it IS a foreign language just as valuable as Spanish, French or German!
I sincerely hope that the native speakers of this language realise this fact and inculcate some pride towards the treasure trove that their language is! #InternationalMotherLanguageDay #21stFebruary #Ekushe
All my students had a purpose and motivation to learn Hindi:
· Some of them had Economics as their majors and wanted to take India as a case study for their higher education, so they needed to learn the language.
· Some of them were into nutrition and gastronomical studies.
· Some were third or even fourth generation heritage students of Indian origin who wanted to reconnect with their roots.
· Some were cinema and media students.
· Some were students of preforming arts pursuing Hindustani classical music and Kathak dance!
· Some were professional travellers and wanted to experience India as locals.
Having respect, love and curiosity for a target language is a non-negotiable pre-requisite for learning it. Having a well-defined purpose ADDS to the motivation!
Tip#2: Get your feet wet!
In today’s world, it would be a shame to let go of the astonishingly valuable language learning aid that is YouTube, OTT and other platforms of video content. To develop a ready ear for the sound patterns, intonation and sentence structures of the language, watching Hindi movies could and should be a superb choice!
However, you could benefit heavily if you have a system here instead of erratic binge-watching:
· Read the story beforehand, first watch it with subtitles so that you aren't completely lost.
· The next time, try to watch them without subtitles OR with Hindi subtitles if you know the script. You might want to break a movie in short 20–30 minutes of episodes (since a Hindi movie can be as long as 3 hours or more…!)
· Initially to get started, it’s ok to pick a typical Bollywood movie that interests you and if colour, music - dance and all the flashy drama is your thing :D
· Post that you should look at other movies that have extremely beautiful Hindi and very little use of English words. Here are my top recommendations (going from new to old): Drishyam, Queen, Lunch box, Barfi, Talaash (2013), Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Peepli live, Aarakshan, Pukar, Asoka, Lajja, Aa ja nachle, Silsila, Masoom (1983), Ek ruka hua faisla, Jaane bhi do yaaro, Sholay, Golmal(1979), Khoobsurat (1980), Chupke Chupke (1976).
· Bollywood is so much more than just flashy song and dance and if you pick the right movies, there's NO WAY that you can't learn good Hindi.
· Sometimes it helps to memorize your favourite lines and quote them verbatim in daily instances just to gain fluency ;)
Tip#3: Find a Teacher!
Once you have gotten your feet wet, comes the next part which according to me is absolutely inevitable: FIND A MENTOR/ TEACHER!
I CANNOT stress enough on the importance of this part. Sure, there are computer assisted language learning programs and we can easily access YouTube video tutorials for our target language but how would you know exactly what order to follow?
Or how to select out of the millions of resources available on the Internet today….
AAAaaand the most important one, do you have the discipline and commitment to practice the script and grammar on your own WITHOUT the presence of an actual language teacher??
I don’t think so!
The presence of a teacher is non-negotiable when it comes to learning a language. Also, it’s so much more valuable to be asking your doubts in Real-time!
Tip#4: Immerse yourself in the language environment.
Find a reason and purpose to visit India, meet people, make friends and get TALKING! Once you have learned the tonality, the vocabulary and grammar, the only thing left for you to do is to practice the language. Without an active involvement with the community, it is difficult to get to the next level of language learning.
I hope that these tips help you approach language learning in a fun and joyous manner. For any queries on language learning or Hindi language, please comment below or write to me at prachiwritescopy@gmail.com 😊
I appreciate every word written here by you. Learning is indeed a resounding virtue. Thank you so much.