Colloquial Bengali: The Complete Course for Beginners

144 Pages·2009·94.22 MB·English

by  Nasrin Mithun

The Colloquial Series
Series Adviser: Gary King
“The following languages are available in the Colloquial series:

Base Slovene
Sern Spanish of Latin
‘Croutian Malay Thai

Batonian Polat Weish

COLLOQUIAL 2s series: The Newt Step in Language Learning

German (forthoming)

All these Colloguials are availble in book & CD packs, oF separ=
‘ately. You can otder them through your bookseller of via out webaite

Colloquial

Bengali

The Complete Course
for Beginners

Mithun B. Nasrin and
W.A.M. van der Wurff

RQ Routledge
ehanier cs wllve wots hee Resin Or Revealler evi

ISBAL3, So0-Ms a9 %.k fin CT)

Contents

Introduction
The sounds of Bengali

‘The Bengali script

4 aroma a Fe?
apnar nam kl?
What's your name?

2 wat SIMA RoE] Sy
era ki apnar mamato bhai?
Are these your cousins?

3 ear =a wet eee
‘anar kOeTa baRi ache?
Haw many houses does he have?

4 Sriateal cate Tre?
kalimendirTa kan dike? ;
In what direction is the temple of Kali?

B aah fe fe onerene
apni ki ki dekhechen?
What have you sean?

6 opts fe aca?
apni ki khaben?
What would you

7 sa Re sint ace?
apni ki ranna korchen?
What are you cooking?

27

39

50

61

73

a

97
vi Contents

8 orsicate
deckhabo?
Shall | show it to you?
9 fe coat fe germ are zm fice “he
ei cekTa ki ekhane kash kore nita pari?
Can | cash this cheque here?
10 awe cB wee He
ekhane keu thake na?
Doesn't anyone live here?
11 ores fe wr
tarpOre ki holo?
‘What happened next?

apnara skule ki
What did you study at school?

13 afk am crema omy fe <I wea?
jomi hal dewar jonno ki baebohar kOren?
What do you use for ploughing the land?

14 FAB aM gen DR OTT STS AA?
flaiT dOshTae chaRla kOTae riporT
Korte hObe?

If the flight leaves at ten, at what time
should I check in?

15 saacf aia @ A) eal air
AObobOrshe ar ki ki kOra hOe?

What else is done on New Year's Day?

Transliterations of Bengali-script texts
Bengali script ~ summary

Numbers

Bengali grammar ~ summary
Translation of reading texts

Key to exercises

Bengali-English glossary

Indax

08

120

131

144

186

168

180

191

203
212
216
221
231
234
257
279

Introduction

The Bengali language () (or:1-6

‘This book provides you with an introduction to Beagali, the lan:
guage of anglaclesh and the state of West. Bengal in india. fy may
be the ease Unit you wart Wy earn this largnage tor purely prastical
Feaanns, heswuss you Teed lo voramunicate with native speakers of
Bengali: in Bengal or elsewhere. Or perhaps you have become inter
‘ested in Bengali hun, culture and Titerstare through seeing films
hhy Satyajit Ray (pronounced shOwofit ae it Bengali), the director
wha vas awarded a Lifetime Achievement Oscur in 199%, or thraush
hearing about the posme and stories of Tagore, yamner of the
1913 Nobel Prize for lierature (Tagore’s Bengali name is actually
Rabind:anath Thakur, pronounced robindronuth, Thakur)
Whatever your motivation for leuming Bengali, se o2viously ced
to begin wath the bisies, Let's therefore start wih a simple senvence
(the earphones symbol (>) indicates that tis material appears on

the CD accompanying this book Histon to It 49 hear how this ven
tone is promouneedy

not —ie. L dou't know Rengaliy

ami bangle ja
(Bengali none

Ag you ean see, whore English puls the verb or verbs (don't
know’) iaunediately alter the subiect CP), Benge usually puts the
‘verb towards or ul the end of tae sentenes. Also note that the word
ly follows Use word to which it refers, 4.2. lam

Fglish, but once you know ify there ix noth
ing diffieul about it, To fac, if we toll you that the Benyali word for
“am learning’ se shikhehd, you ry also be able to say the following,
sofa! sentence in Bengul

rm teaming Bengal
Introduction

Listen (o the CID to check whether sou have got it right
"You may algo Ive gusssed the scarce Hit you will be able te
truthfully once you have wack sour osey thruuh tis book

Ly

sr aangla

ami bangla

AT Rengali know — ie. Tinow Bengeliy

ror these examples, you will have gathered that, in Bengali
itzelt (and nowadays alza somerines in Fnglish). the biagusge 3
called! bangle, Tae word of course also exeps tp in the mame for she
region where it ig spoker, 1. Bengal, and in the name Ranglades',
which very appropriaicly means Tiingla Country” Caence ily variant
spelling, Bangla Desh)

‘This brimgs ta lo the matter of wards or voeabmlary. T cannot he
donisd that mastoring Bengali vocabulary like learning, he vocabte
Taty of ang language. sill ake 4 roul sort on your purt, Lossever
Ihere are two fuets ahour Bengali thet will go some way toward
easing the task of voustuluy aeyuibilion,

Two helpful facts about Bengali

‘The firse hetpfol aot. is hati Tagish said Bengali holon, lo the same
Tinguislic group, called le Indo-Luropeats Cunily of languages. This

Introduction

means that both Loglish aud Beng tand many other Tangnanes
spoken in Furoze and the souligen and western ports of Asia) are
Aoscenitanns of one and the same Language, which was spoken
some six thousand yeurs ago. In le course af time, the dialects ot
this Tanpispe have grown apwrt to such an extent thue they are mow
complately viflerent langiniges. Neverthsless, the distant. Riiship
‘means Ui. ete and there, recognisable simikuities vil exist betweet
Rglish und Bonaat

Thus. che Bengali word janiin che sentences given abuve is related
to the Fnglish word “know in spelling, you can sev lhe consonants
Fn corresponding to 'k-n" fn Bul, of sure, the ‘ke in “huis
not pronounced any mare, mukig the relatedness of che two words
somewhat hard co detect). And as vou probibly realised, the Bengalt
sword na is the sure as Paglish “no(t). Other examples sre mam
(name’, aT eight’). dat (root, da (doa?) and gOrom (91),
It fs true that the m:mber of similarsounding words like this #
hint large, yoe they ave very useful in the eucly capes of leaming the
Janguuage: they will help you realise tbat you are uot groping your
‘uy around in completely pnkuown lemitory there uresome shits
that you can slieady reeves

So un yon aness which of the following Hengali words eorres-
ponds to which Engiath ons?

pour
1Omba

naked
pipes)

ui bind
ero

moth,
thir

Tong
path

4A second fast about Bengali is ovan more helpful: dovens if not
hundreds of Renguli words will iao% very familar to you becuase they
as foanworts udopted from Daglish into Bengali, Thiv haprened
Suring the tong psvind of loss contact between Ihe twa langues
‘when nearly the whole of the Senrh Asin subeontinent was ueder
British rile As a resutt, it not toe dilicwlt to auese the meusings
of the following words, all of whieh are part ani parcel of everydsy
Bengal

cour, Tebll, kap, pele. gelash, oftehfapistupis
Introduction

Again, you should listen 1 the CTD Ws her hu these English words
sound when pronounced in Bengali. As (he last eximple shuws, There
ave somelimes various pronunciations in use fur sch Iaanwords

The borrowing of words {ruin Euplise int Bes is still taking
place today. Kaulish is spoken as second of thied language DY
many Benguls und some of ther like ta pepper their Hengalt itl
English words, phrases or even vomplete sentences. Although perhaps
swe shouldn't be saying chis, sf ur any point you're searching for u
Reneali word but don't know or remember it. you could try simply
vsing he Enalish word. As long as you embed st proporly into the
engali pramumatical stewetuee, chanees are vo3 will be understood
‘You mighl, lor example, lry Ue following senlenve whenever you
gst tired of saying ‘I don’t lnow Bengub

fnglish jai

‘Of course. i is better still Lo we the Hengali word. ingell (acteally
this is just a more choroughly Hengeliied vervion of the same wort}
find say

ami nyt fant

Varieties of Bengali

[Refine we dassrihe the astaap and aims of this book and plunge right
jutu the Beuyali luugage, Where are # couple uf other things that
you should know aboul the different types of Kengui hat you my
feneaunrer. First, ke all other languages, Bengali has various re-
sional dialects. which diverge tw a ureater or lesser dlegree fram each
frher and from wast is esnadered by speakers of Benguli them-
Solves ia be “prianer” Bengali. Asa learns’ of the language. you are
probably best off steering clear of regional dialects and aiming for
‘proper’ Boagali, i. the Beagsli iat is spoken by educates speakers
and that docs not evoke negative reactions from olker speukers
This is the Bengali Unat you will fax in this boot.

However. “proper’ Bengal itvel? comes in (we typo% since the
is a standard Bengali in the West (Le. im the Iudiow slate of West
Tengal, whare the majority of the ¢. 79 milion speakers of the Tan-
_guuige are Hindu) and a different standard Bengal in the Fast (2. in
Bangludesh, where mnosl af tho e. 130 million speakere are Musliey).
Fach of those two standards evokes mildly negative reucioms from
Ue other grup, with the Western standard sounding over-refined to

Introduction

Bengal-Banpladesh and tha Indian state of West Bengal

fund she Kanter standard sountling rural or buch=
seard to, some Western cars (6 hapa we are attending nobody by
neve characlerisitions ~ us you will disenver, all types nf Bengal
actually sound extramely picasing und :melliuous). Tae differences
Tetween the two varieties are nor enormous, ur they can be found in
all areas of the lauuviage: pronuuciation, vocabulary and gramirar (in
particular. sord endinus). We will in all cases nute suck differences,
tating the lahels ‘Eastern’ and “Western’ (or simply "L" und “W"), No
that the W forme are ala often ured by Hindus living in Bangladesh,
"Another division is thal between wrincn and spoken Bengsli. You
will hive noted thal the Bengali words and sentences given so tar
Introduction

ntradtuetion

boave all been i the Roman phabst. Bul we san sue yu: Bengal
has a1 serip all ity cieu, ceveloped flor tke sume Souza a Iho
Aewanaygort viding aysteny of Sanskrit, she ancien’ language of Noth
Sen Talia As yon sil! find ont farther an in this honk. the Bengali
Script requires some effort to: master hue (ike Bengali pranenciation
find yrunmae) it no: shockingly difficult, and it dows a good job at
represculing clearly and unambiguously most of Pre sounds of the
lanpuage. ‘Lo give you a live tas.e of whut is ubead, we give here the
sentence "Lum learsing Benyal’ im Bengull seript. CUhe serps reuds
from lef to right.1 [io you remember how i ir pronounced!

af agen Frei

Finally, when sou know enough Bengali lo tackle lterasy teats
‘written roughly before the middle of the last century, you will en-
‘Sounrer thers a type of Rengali that shawes many old-fashioned word
Trrms and heavy ise of Sanskrit warts. This elevatod ancl slightly
artical vasiely of the Language is called shadbu bhasha, ie. “pure
language” Ie is important becuuss itis used in some of the writings
by Rahindranath Thakur an sther great authors of 19th- and early
20uh-centucy Bengali Etevatwve, Ta the same period, texts were also
‘sritten in a fess siylsed variety of Benyali: this is often called eal
(or colito) bhasba, 1s. ‘current lungeage’. since it was closer to the
prdinary spaken language. Presene-day writing ie Bengal! is mostly
in cither he Weswern or Lasiexn stindisd, depending on where the
author comes from. Ids n6. unusual, however. to nd Bangladesh
are that inelue seme Wesrsen farms

Learning colloq!

I Bengali with t

book

So you want lo leary Renguti, You have just dseovered tbat you eam
already recognise same Rengali words, You have also leaned to say

“bum ji nl weak bala jun, Tow allthis book help you
to move from the fine sentence to the nvond one?

Fe will do s0 by offering yem a large amount of colloquial Bengal
a5 it wonid be used by ordinary speakers and writers oF various types
tind in satious situations, Line malerval hins been caretiTly graded
so that shut iy simplest and most useful for a learner comes fist,
and what ia more ditteult 6° specialised somes loter- In te frst tour
tunis, all dhe matetal ie iitimeainiely Followed by an Enalish Lraests~
(Gor aad inthe liter units, Hiss of vocabulary are given, su that Ue
meaning of uny dislugue or (eal will a.ways be ekear, The CL which

Forms an essential part of che book, allows you te bear whutl ine
material ia ibis howk would wetuully” sound Tks, snablng you to
Aovelop a “feel” fiw the spoken lanyuaee and ies pronunciation
fr addition. the CTP cnntains various Lypes of exersiaes. Care has
Jpeen taken to presene all this material fg a context Thae i ax natural
ae possible, so tt it provides you val 4 miewdel of 2c eo!Tequsal
Tengali that you will encouncer (and that yau ave aiming to pro-
‘Juex) serine a range of everyday settings and sluasions,

[Besicks the Rengali-languse material, togcsbor with anslatins,
this Boole also contains explunalious uf the rules (and exceptions)
Of Bengali grammar. Hawaver. the focus is always om grurtoar in
tise! partioular poinls are explained am the contest of the Bengal,
Uinlogucs or virtter woxts und the smphasie lee oa what you ean do
Goth the various gramenatieul forms, This is also rellacted in the
ature of tbe exetciscs in the hook, which invite you to understand
fr do things in Bengali cathor than produce isolated farms. 8
the exeieisae it provided al the hack of Tae hook, as is & summary o:
She main yrainmatieal puscems aud f glossary.

Practice makes perfect

Singe only pructive makes perfect, we would avise yom to regularly
repeal the fiaterial thal yOu hove leamed. If anyone should try to
oud Uns book (rom cover to cover in one 20, IN order le be done
with it quickly, we see lie prospect of them teaming much or
tenjoying the lenrning experience, A language guide simply cannot be
Toad lige a detective novel. So lo prevent this hook trem ending up
fon yor bookshelf with you none the wiber for it. you wall need
tke your time aver euch uait and to regularly go through earlier
finite again, This dacs not huve ws lake the torm of doing the same
things in the same way again ant agai. Insteaa, you could wars to
tan eurlee text and Iman (a1 with the book close, yo cou try
to memorize parts of texts; if you have a microphone yom could
ead out certain portions aed make a recording at yourself speaking
Lengaliy you enuld devise your own questions ur excreies to supple
ment those in Ths hook: you cauld copy texts anu pl tem on the
‘all next Le your bed and you could change dislogues by anaking. 2
Speaker oldcr or younger, or ay ahiflang veriain events feo the past
into the presen or faire snd vice versa, or by replacing the mention

Psingie objcets or people by several abjeces e= people (all of these
‘changes will affecr the grammatical forms r9 be used.
Introduction

For Tarthgr peice, try to vil the belp of a milive speaker
of Bengili, Oe go unliag: the Tolernict makes wvailasle a certain
Amonat of spaken Benpali. with evdlless possibilities Nor repetition
For instanes, a rhe time of sevting this honk, sews breacleusts it
Rengalt ae availafle a

hupatwsew.voagoulstren/ bong bteal> ond
+ -chuipufwsew.obe.co.tk/bengulludioluod! engali_ promo.shiml>.

In the early stages of leurring, such material cquld bo used for the
purpose of boearsing farniliar with Ths sound at the lananape, while
At later stagas, it should he peasihle to ienlify specific words or
phrases and eventually work Gul the meuning of vomplele sentences
When it vores (a wrillen Bengal on the Internet, there is a much
greater wealth of material. Whichever way you choose to use i fan
Wwe provide some conerers snggsstians in later unit af this honk),
‘will reinfores the centes! messace of this book: colli Bengal is
something o be explored und enjoyed. We bope ws have whetted
your appetite for it

What you can do when you have worked
through this book

When you have sorked ubrowgh Ube snutenial ia thts book, you will
know snough Bengali to do the following things

+ Sosorite and talk about present sitions and activities
UGescribe and Lalk about situations ard events inthe past

+ doverine and talk ahont wishes, crmmands, expectations aed pose
bilities relating to the future
\Gescribe relations of wrious kinds betwoon things. people and events
express and asi abont a wide sange of Fecinys and opinions

+ report what wile people lave suid or howl

‘he wopies about which you will be able to communicate in Bengali
imelude matters as diverse as family eeladianships, jabs, travel, food
money, the seasons, aguicullure, schools and air travel, Ia audition,
you will be able (o read simple texts on these topics. You will also
have gained some experienee in reading more dificult texts, and be

dy t9 continue iraproving, your knowlses ard indersianding of
engali on your own,

The sounds of
Bengali

Although the pronunciation und seript af Kengali are nat extremely
difficult, they are both new ro vera, s0 we will sus in this section hy
just doxerihing the promumcialion of Bengali. To sopresent be sounds
OF tie hunguuage. we will une a system of ansliteration vehich (with
fone exception) cmploys the ordinary letters of the Risman alphabet.
tut ia the following, section, ws will also introduce the Rengali
writing syacem and vwll start using it in solected texts frost Unit 7
onwanls, The amount of Benyuli sexipt will gradually merouse sts
vou move furlict on. Hewisver, a transbiteratior. of all Rongatfserint
texts fs ven al tke bck of the hook, whieh also has a Bengali
Frglish plossary with each Bengali word given in transbleration

[But les frst consider the vounds of Mena, beginning seth the
‘vowels. In each case, we give 4 deserintion of the sound quaity, with
teferenee to-an identival or very similar sound in English ox ancther
Luzupean langungs, followed by some exuuzle words. Since describ-
ing sound quality on paper is notoriously dilleult, iis essential chat
you should listen (o the C1), on which cach of the Ioflowing sounds
fand words containing them: ean be heurd

Vowel sounds () (co1; 7)

Transticeration Quay Example wards
4 avin French gh & Wor ma mothe
Thalian mamma mia baba tater
i fas in French perry sar to i wha
Lnglish ‘see’, it without il elder citer
a finaly’ glide
. as in Eronch coup; similar 10 mul root
English ‘shoe’ but without day far
Dual lise
10

‘The sounds of Rengalt

The sounds of Bengali

Tronstiteration Fromple words
ke who

desh country

e similar 10
English pay’, but wizhout

tinal “y* glide

= sin English ‘back’, ‘mat’ Wwela sims period
ak one
° fas in French fone similar to tomar your
English ‘go? bul without hon sister
nal slide
o ay in English “pot KOI watertap

KOra to do
Now try to promosmee all sever vowels im yequenee.
a fu 6 # « 0

‘You can also pronounce seven meaningful words in this way but to
do co, sau mst Hist learn 10 pronounce the Rengali consanonant
kh, 1 i similar to ube inivad sound keard i English ‘cool’. oat’
and ‘cusheand-carry’, which have a “K sand followed by a put? of
Iproath oF aspirarion. Bhi the aspiration in Bengali kh is stranger
than in Faglish, resulting in something that may sound like 4° fol-
lowed by the ok neurd in broad Scoltish fovk or Germaam acht, acti

1 you-can make this sound kit (and there'll be plonty mors pacts,
Deomise there ase sevcial sounds in Bengali with such aspication),
you cam say Uke following seven words

hal canal khala to play
Khil bolt fof does) — bola open
uli cull khOI deceitful

helap detanl:ing.

|All the vowel of Bengali also oovur with slightly nusulised pro-
rnuncistion, which wo shall indiengs with a tilde (-) written aver the
sowel leer, Souse exuuples are:

bi Lelighand)
Seu high
We yee

‘he effect is us if there is an enpronocaced ‘a’ or ‘nx Tallowang the
vowsl in question, At an eailir stage of the langusge, there wan
inlosdl such a nasal consonant in most of Those words. Rastern Benga
bften kecps the nasil consonant or drops it altogether witheul any
rave being left (se you may hear bara aid ueu in Bangladesh.

Bengal ulso has sever diphihenygs, which vonsit of unit of hey
vowels, dhe second one being a for € The iain Bengali diph
thongs ares

Aramstveration — Quutty Eeumpte wrrds

ai ean Lnplish ‘my Ue? Ie Lent

font bere isa
(asco)

a similar to af ue the sccond —khae sihe exes
part is more open than ae amhe gets
faim fae an enue

a usin Laglish ‘loud’ und law gourd
“down-and-out ‘kau sour pouch,

20 simitar to au ne the sseand— khao you.
vuwel suunds Eke rather ime Gamal) boat
haw

a ‘asin English “suy’ when shed unt

rononneed sith an
eauplatic finaly" ylide

tel there fan’e

of the vows! e immediately boi book
followed hy a “y" sound oi I say

Oe the vowel O fallnwad ye; shfmOe time
he sound differs Irom vi nO nine

in being much more epen
ou the vowsl @ flowed hy an hom brids
eruptiatic Gaul "sound could fourtoce

Tn some words, nwo identical vowels tollow such other, We use
hyphen la make this clear: ov “tha mug girldanghter’. They are
sometimes pronounced with a fight y sound ia tbe middle: ceye,

Consonant sounds (} ‘c01;9)

In the example words given so fur. you kuve aleeudy seen and heared
4 Tair number of the consonants of Bengal in giving w full lis itis
convenienl ( present then in ytoups of four of five, sine their dtfer-
fences and somilaraties are brought out most cleazly in that way. We
stare with ehe group of velar sounds:

1k _asin Fglish keen’ and “kind”, but
WITHOUT any aspiration

ou someone
akcash sky

@
(cor
2 ‘The sounds of Bengal ‘The sounde of Bangati 12
kh asin English ‘koon’ und “kind?, but with hum eurysiope pronouncing these zeirollex ccmomunts. the cin of the tongne does
Sirong aspiration (oretiines sounding ektbaue his Foe Louch die teeld but is pulled ack a Tile to touch the ridge a
Tike "followed by efeof Soctsh foot) the yuris. The elect is hal of English" of a in words like “ty
gts in Figlish "go! and “la? gal cheeke and “dey': if sou suy these Lagisl words in alow motion and si
rg uae Jel before reaching Ue sound “:. you have hi the Bengali veiroilen
ih like g but Followed by wspination ghOr ranm sounds I und D spot on. To ai English enc. the Rongali reivoilen
Agha « blow consonants may sound very similar to dhe devfal ues, but ia Benga
fog in Lnglish ‘king™ and song" FOng colour they areas difforene az" ancl “Ih te ia Enis (haere “i total
anggul Linger/ive all he same ae thin’) Sa rey 1a slstingwsh tbese Bengali demtl and

pairs From the beginning, even i a 8 daft

‘hese are all culled velar sminds becuse, in pronouncing them, che
je touches the buck of the f0oF of the mouth (le the veh

tong mi. Yas English ‘ein *try' and ‘tree’, bor Taka taka, muuey
without any following aspiration, and the pair kh and gh, followed ‘Th T followed by aspiration Thikana address
cath 8 pk ad pes day soul eben D wiagi! ney maine Be anes
sa atthe upper to Phat ka
{he Eiht and tt we te es Again. the conssaats'T ‘Thand Bh noed se te carefully snide
tp ef the tongue more to the front, at seven ‘The following gritus is called palatal. ince lhe front of the toseuc 4
Se WIIMOET Show pratt
end ILOLT Jamowing a at chin touches the palite when pronouncing cere sound cot,

DI: T3} gush chem from the deneal sounds { and d) is called retrolles. Tr ihOhor news
“

D1: 15)

O

pit?)

‘The sounds of Bengali

hh followed by aspisition bhato good
sgobhir d

asin Lnglisn ny and “emmy”

“The alder prvaunciativa of £ wis the sound p followed by aspira-
tion; this eam still ho heard, especially in West Pongal. ‘The sound bt
has a common variant which as a soul of ¥-sonrd ax i Lmlish,
‘very ara “ver”, Int wich the Lower lip nearly touching the upper ip
ruther thua the upper tth,

This leaves fe consonants thar do not fil neutly ints 2 group.
First, Rongali also his the sounds Tand it, which are ewsy to prom
pono heoanse they are just like Eaplish "F ancl ‘h’. Bue be sure to
make the Bengali 1 always eleue — it should sound lke The tirst
(oot tbe second *P) in Fiplish tte”. Examples are:

fal red at baud
aly potato bibaho marae

Next, there is the fseyuent sound ah, which is very similar to Prnglish
ssi" as in "shoeshine’ and sk", exeepe Mar Bengali sh Eas mo lip
roursding, When sh is followed by deal (rth Th the same word.
itis promouaced more like English “say in ‘sister’; we wil ase the
Symbol sto roprosent (his sound, TL alse occurs im foumowords frat
Euylish and Arahis. Sore exam:

shal year Stet wife
a0sh ton sincama cinema: film
fish to cgme maser ener (Muska nme)

faste corny

As we saw above, the sound 6 is ulse used iu Raster Bengali as a
onsible prouuutiatiou of eh, resulting 1m pronunciations such 28
Sele and Kinu (for Weslern Mengal eee boy" and biehu ‘somethin’.
Ta this book, we will represent such woxtls with the 3ymbal eh ~ bul
remember tht ere ea be a difference aa proounciation of hese
swords between Lust ane Wesl Bengal

Bengali ¥ iy somewhat different frum English °F: it is a tilled
scund, which is sinilar to the r in the broad Scottish promurciation
OF Marae ABeroken alg the ¢ ie Spanish (Ria Grande oe feanbre
Some words sith # ure

kha amar hw
lepul ome exshrow

The sounds of Bengali

engali his # sevonel “r sound, for which se use capital R, Tis
retvollen sound, male by curling back the tip oF The tanaise aed
producing a short trlled or Mapped“, The effect ie semexchat sim
fine lo Ut of # stsuuse Arete t', a you could Ieper by ainsi,
for Ui soul, Soave words with ase:
bak ta
Tonge quskly

taRiDhaRash
‘ads"s finger

‘Yors have now sor ard hoard all the eonsonents of Bengal. There

fs just ane moire fat about chen thar you aged t9 know: same words

hive lou, oF double wonsunits, This iy he ease in wins such as
Dolo sho said abba
fara innther (Rastere)— Mhapga

famher (Rasrerny
foruns

Tn the fest 160 words, ap extra-long Lor m sound will be heard. ‘The
third ud fourth word may sound as if semeane has rouble pro

nouncing them and. ap it ware. gels suck on the sound b or g {o> &
moment before marsigiag to linish thom,

Practice

Tis high time Tar some practice now, 9 familiarise you with al
these sounds. Uo shicpen your ear for the distinctions sanomy them,
and to gst yon started on protounsing them mm the best Beng
that you ean musta ar this moment, Do nar fargze asa 19 do the
exercises om the CD

Exercise 1

Hore are some pains of words thut ditler only in one sit gle souua
Firat real them nit, king care 29 indooe distinguish thera properly.
When, Jor each pair, anake a short sentence ia hich von correct.
somsons who hss mispronounced them. For the first pair, your
seuleuce wold be:

ras Tean"t No, noe am: ram!"

1 mange am measles
2 jal net hal hot, spicy
2 Dal brmch Dhal sone

4 shalti sari Gwora by women) — shri Tine, queue
5 kOl watertsp ROL deceitful

16