Keeping Hindi
🎯 Build the habit, and know where the exams lead.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- हिंदी में इसे क्या कहते हैं? — Hindi mein ise kya kehte hain? 🔊 HIN-dee mein I-say kya KEH-tay hain What is this called in Hindi? The question that keeps teaching you.
- धीरे बोलिए — dheere boliye 🔊 DHEE-ray BO-li-ye Please speak slowly. -इए is the polite command ending: बोलिए, सुनिए, बैठिए.
- अभ्यास — abhyaas 🔊 abh-YAAS practice From Sanskrit. अभ्यास ही सफलता की कुंजी है — practice is the key to success.
- करत करत अभ्यास के जड़मति होत सुजान 🔊 karat karat abhyaas ke jadmati hot sujaan By doing and doing, even a dull mind becomes wise. A famous couplet attributed to the poet Vrind — the Hindi answer to 'practice makes perfect'.
- कोशिश करते रहो — koshish karte raho 🔊 KO-shish KAR-tay ra-HO Keep trying. Said to anyone who is struggling.
- शुभकामनाएँ — shubhkaamnaayein 🔊 shubh-kaam-na-AYEN Good wishes! Said before an exam, a journey or anything that matters.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 The fastest path for a non-Hindi speaker
Hindi is unusual among these courses because you are surrounded by it. Film, song, signage and street conversation are free lessons, and they work better than study if you use them deliberately.
- Watch one film a week with Hindi subtitles, never English ones.
- Learn the lyrics of one song properly — the words stay for years because the tune carries them.
- Read shop signboards aloud. Devanagari becomes automatic within a month.
- Speak badly, on purpose, every day. Indians are generous to anyone trying.
🌍 Among the people
Hindi examinations run through the CBSE and state boards, and the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan and Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti offer Prathmik, Madhyama and Rashtrabhasha certificates recognised across India.
🔁 Practise today
- Read Lesson 1 aloud in Devanagari, not in the roman spelling.
- Write five sentences a day about your day, verb last.
- Teach the three levels of 'you' to somebody else.
