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HINDI in NS MONTES aaccs Post oF OFFICE aes SIMPLIFIED LANGUAGE COURSE hugo Hindi in Three Months Mark Allerton, A DK Publishing Book www.dk.com (2a) A DK PUBLISHING BOOK ww vndk.com First American Edition, 1999 10987654321 Published in the United States by DK Publishing, Inc. 95 Madison Avenue New York, New York 10016 Copyright © 1999 Mark Allerton All rights reserved under Intemational and Pan-American ‘Copyright Conventions, No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior ‘written permission of the copyright owner. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allertom, Mark, 1960 - Hindi in three months / Mark Allerton. Pp cm,— (Hugo) “Hugo's language books.” Includes index. ISBN 0-7894-4427-5 (alk. paper) ISBN (-7894-4436-4 (w /cassette) 1. Flindi language-Study and teaching. |. Title. IL Series: Hugo Geries) PK 1931473. 1999 491 4'382421 — de21 98-31748 cre Set in. 10/12pt Palatino by Alastair Wardle Printed and bound by LegoPrint, Italy Contents Introduction How to use this book What about the grammar? Pronunciation Vowels, Nasalised vowels, Consonants Reading Hindi script Chapter 1 In the Tea Shop 11 Hello, excuse me 1.2 How much is tea? 13° Numbers 1-10 14 Isee/Really?/Ts that 60? 15. One tea, please 1.6 What is this? 17 and 18. Fine/All right/Correct/OK 1.9. brother, sister 1.10 yes, no; and use of fii 1.1 What...2 1.12 Negatives 1.13 Would you like anything else? 1.14 needed/wanted? 1.15 That's enough, thanks 16 is/are Get to know India! Tea Chapter 2 Who are you? 2.1 Do you speak Hindi? 2.2 Where are you from?/I’m from ... 23 How do you like India? /We like 24 What's your name? /My name is... 25 Whereis ...2/... isin Get to know Yudia! Where is Hindi spoken? 10 W Chapter 3 Greetings 9 3.1 Greetings 3.2 How are you? 33. Tm fine, and you? 340... isn't right/... isn't comrect 35 That's good!/That's ... 36 Oh dear! 3.7 Terms of address 3.8 Rhyming (nonsense) words Get to know india! More about grectings and gestures Chapter 4 Shopping 9 4.1 Which ...2 4.2 How much is/are ...? 43° Yeah? /lsu't it? 44 More numbers 45 Fractions Get to know Fadéal Haggling in Mindi Chapter § ‘Transport 59 5.1 Is this the Delhi train? 52 this, that 53 Adjectives agree with nouns 5.4 ‘people’ (for ‘we’) 5 Where are you going?/We're going to 6 One ticket for Delhi, please 5.7 When will the train go?/... get to ..? 58 What's the time?/f's ... o’elock Get £0 know Inia! Trains in India Chapter 6 More about yourself 68 61 Are you married? 6.2. Do you have any brothers or sisters? 63° Tow many ...2/Big, small, young, old, ete 64 Father/mother, ete 65 Sorry, I don’t understand 6.6 What job da you do? 67 How old ate you? 68 Questions Get to know India! Hindi versus Urdu. Chapter 7 Your trip in India 7. When did you ...?/How did you ...? 7.2 We/l came a week ago/Periods uf time 73 Teame by .. 74 Tow long...? 75 Why? 76 What have you . 77 Where do you . 7.8 Future tense 79 Puture in questions Get to know India! Buses in India Chapter 8 Revision Get to know Indiaf Culture, customs and special words Grammar Hindi verb wheel Key to Exercises Mini dictionary Hindi-English English-Hindi Index 142 Introduction This book is for travellers who want to be able to talk to the people they meet in India in the local language - even if such conversations are conducted on only a very basic level. Itis designed to cover many of the dialogues that are likely to take place between an Indian and a foreigner, in peobable situations such as in a shop or on a train. A foreigner in India will invariably be asked, either in Hindi or English, the same handful of introductory questions “Where are you from?”, “Are you married?” and so forth. So, by learning, these and their variations, you can gain an excellent foothold in Hindi and thereby build up the confidence you need to say more. To learn gramatically correct Hindi, and to speak it fluently, is an inunense task which this book will not attempt to address. However, to be able to chat to people is not so difficult, and it is hugely rewarding, Indian people who have never spoken to a foreigner hefore are often very eager to do 80, even if they don’t have a word of English, With a bit of Hindi, and the correct attitude, you can go right off the tourist track to villages where you will encounter the famous hospitality of the ‘real’ India, Here, the people are interested in you rather than your money (as is often the case in the cities). Without any doubt, if you can speak just a little Hindi, it will improve your time in India out of all proportion to the effort required in learning. Tlindi is the link language of most of India, being spoken as a first or second tongue by virtually all of Northern India, from Goa up to Kashmir, and across to Calcutla. As the ‘official’ language of around 700 million people, it ranks third in the world (after English and Chinese), although many of that number would not claim to be fluent in it Mother-tongue speakers number some 204) million. Hindi in Three Months is divided into two parts: the first consists of a simple guide to elements of the everyday spoken language, together with informative notes, which will give you enough to get by on; while the second is a more detailed grammar section, which provides extra tuition if you feel like it How to use this book Adults acquiring a foreign language usually spend too ong learning things theoretically and not long cnough on the repetition of speaking and listening exercises, which is the only way to be able to hear and speak fast enough. It is vital, right from the outeet, to learn to say phrases so fast that you can spit them out without consciously thinking: about them. All languages are spoken extremely quickly: it is only because you can understand English that it doesn’t seem fast. We are not suggesting you should leam loads of phrases, parrot-fashion; you need to know what it is that you're saying, and to translate the probable reply. The speedy delivery isn’t meant to impress your listeners, but it should help them to understand what they hear. If you speak very slowly, albeit ‘correctly’ in terms of sentence construction and so forth, they are less likely to cut through ‘your accent and grasp your meaning. To speak simple and effective Hindi quickly, you need to learn a small number of key phrases fluently. To do this ‘you should follow the three separate stages given below, in each chapter: + Read each dialogue aloud, to see how the language “svorks) * Repeat the phrases again and again, as fast as possible, toachicye a natural sound, and to be able to understand the words when they ate spoken at a natural speed. * Learn how to use each key phrase to make your own sentences. To do this, you must work very hard at all the exercises in the book. These are generally tole-plays between an Indian and a foreign tourist. At this stage it is essential to use your imagination — to pretend that you are actually speaking in a real situation, and not just, reciting strange Hindi words. If possible, de these exercises with a partner; if not, imagine thal you have one. If you have the tape, listen to it over and over again, and repeat cach phrase in the pause that follows, When you can do this casily, try to repeat it at least twice. ‘As soon as you fcel that you have mastered a chapter ~ which means that you can say the phrases without having to think - you should by out what you have learnt. If you are already in India, visit a Hindi-spcaking shop-owner and use your newly acquired phrases without lapsing into English. Nothing will improve your confidence more than actually placing a Teal live order for something to eat and drink in a tea shop. Do it politely, confidently, and watch the shopkeeper’ surprised and irapressed face as he or she serves you. If poseible, choose a small, quiet shop where foreign tourists don’t go and where English isn’t spoken. ndian people who do know English will ueually insist upon using it.) Of course, if you're not yet in India you might have to resort to your nearest Indian restaurant or shop, but check first that the staff speak Hindi rather than Gujarati, Punjabi or Bengali So, don’t try to learn too much, too fast. Learn Chapter 1 thoroughly before moving on to Chapter 2. In this way, you should be able to communicate well in Hindi from the very start, and will have the confidence and motivation to go on. Apurist might say that you aren't speaking perfect - or academically correct ~ Hindi, but as long as you can express ‘yourself and understand most of what is said to you, does ihat really matter? What about the grammar? Jn Hindi, all nouns are masculine or feminine (with no logic to decide which), They can be singular, plural, honorific or ‘oblique’, and their endings change accordingly. Similar changes apply also to adjectives and verbs, In commonly spoken Hindi, though, such rules are blatantly disregarded, and all nouns (apart from a few obvious ones) are consid- ered to be masculine singular. That is how people speak, and the dialogues in Hindi in Three Months are weitten in this informal style. It is a lot easicr to learn, of course, but it can be technically incorrect; if you want to learn a Bittle of the formal language, refer to the guide to essential ‘hard’ grammar towards the end of the book. Formal Hindi is heard on news broadcasts and is spoken by a tiny minority of richer, well-educated Indians; in self- study courses based entirely upon the academic language and written by such people, you may find numerous polite expressions which you'll never hear spoken. For example, the man in the street won’t say the Hindi equivalent of ‘Very pleased to meet you”, but rather “Alright, brother” Learning formal Hindi will put you in a Catch 22 situation: you won't be able to use it to talk to well-educated Indians, because they speak very good English and insist on using it; but nor will you be able to speak to the other 90 per cent of the population, who use only ‘common’ Hindi. Hindi in Three Months is designed to be as user-friendly as possible, It sacrifices ‘perfect’ grammar in onder to make the language easier to learn. By cutting corners on grammar {as many Indians do), and by not attempting to achieve perfect pronunciation, you'll find that ITindi becomes much easier to speak. Good luck !