Gori Girl

I have also recently begun to try to learn Hindi.  I am using a system that I think is similar to Rosetta Stone.  It's called Living Language.  I am visiting India (for the second time) at the end of October with my significant other.  I hope by that time I will be able to communicate more with his family, specifically his mother.

There was a website listed in my book that I found helfpul.  It was http://www.avashy.com/hindiscr…..ttutor.htm.  Hope that helps!

Amanda

I tried Rosetta stone and my boyfriend did not like it.  He didn't like how it was teaching CLASSIC Hindi. ie. shakepearan english.  In the first lesson you learn airplane in Hindi and he thought that no  one would really use that word and recognize the Hindi… so just say airplane.

I liked the Rosetta stone though and I thought it was kind of fun. It's not easy, you have to turn on your brain to use it, but it's not rocket science.

I gave up since the family would rather have me knowing Gujarati than Hindi.  It seems they move between Hindi, Gujarati, and English. I wish I could really learn them all together. My boyfriend just teaches me phrases. I need to work harder!

Wouldn't mind sharing my copy before you lay down the money. I torrented it.  I never torrent since or before.

Oh man Yall! Sometimes I wish that my boy spoke Hindi so it would be easier to get to all these learning programs! Its hard to find a "How to learn Punjabi for dummies" kind of book ya know? So at this point I am just trying to go by word of mouth. ..

And yes, I agree with heather when she says that R.S. only offers the "older" speaking style. I learned Italian on Rosetta and when I started learning Italian from my friends they taught me all different slangs and stufff, so much easier than the Rosetta Stone version! And also, Hindi/Punjabi/Indian languages are all in script, so that makes me very difficult to learn! Anyone agree?

Well I am determined to learn and be some-what fluent in punjabi when I return from my trip to India after I finish my studies. Or before I have kids because my boy wants our kids to speak english and punjabi. And Im not letting my kids say stuff I dont understand! LOL.

We had a similiar discussion and I've decided to learn Hindi, even though my husband's family never speaks Hindi at home, only Marathi. I figure there are enough words that are the same (or close to the same) that if I actually ever became fluent in Hindi, I could pick up some Marathi fairly easily.

R.S. does use the Devanagari script, but, honestly, I find that much easier than trying to use the transliterated phrases in another book I have. I mean, there's really no way to distinguish between the 4 "d" and "t" letters if you use the English alphabet.. and you really NEED to distinguish between them.

That being said, I don't really think anyone will ever get too far with R.S. – you learn how to describe events but not really converse with everyday language – at least, that's my feeling. However, I do think it is a useful starting-off point.

One thing we did was purchase a Hindi children's classroom poster with the alphabet at a store in L.A. (like the kind you would see in a kindergarten classroom "A" is for "apple" with a picture of an apple, for example, except that "aah" is for "anaar," with a big picture of a pomegranate). I hung the poster in my kitchen and my husband helped me learn some of the words… then when I sat there stirring food or whatever (i cook a lot) I would stare at it until it started to sink in. I found it very helpful.

I am sad that Rosetta Stone doesn't seem to have a Gujarati edition.  I would buy that, because I need to work on my vocabulary and grammar.  I'm at that awkward point where I can understand nearly everything everyone says, but I can rarely put a sentence together.  It's frustrating.

Been watching a lot of Hindi movies though, and I'm finding that I understand pretty well.  I think older movies might be easier to understand — at least, I'm having better luck with Sholay than I did with Dhoom 2.  Maybe movie characters used to speak more slowly or less slangily and that's why it's easier.  Makes it hard to switch back to English, though — last night I almost got in my friends' car and said "Maaf karo yaar, ham Sholay dekh rahe the to doorbell nahi suna."   Probably would have been ok, though — she speaks Hindi but I don't think he does.

I got to that point by actually taking a college class in Hindi, though, and there aren't any such classes available in Gujarati around here.  I am thinking of getting a weekly tutor after all the wedding stuff settles down.  My guy can help me practice, but he isn't a teacher, you know?