hi, intro
I'm a native English speaker* trying to learn Hindi on my own, without an institutional course -- I'd love one, mind you, but there aren't any that are affordable in the Bay Area (California, USA). You'd think there would be -- the South Bay has a huge community of South Asian immigrants. But all that exists are a few "heritage" learning classes at community centers, and an extremely expensive ($3,200) class at the University of California-Berkeley.
So. I mostly use the Rupert Snell "Teach Yourself Hindi" books and CDs, Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur, online resources that I find -- Taj Afroz's "Door into Hindi" is a wonderful video series, BBC Hindi is always excellent, and Britain's School of Oriental and African Studies has some online stuff for Devanagari. Of course I also watch (and am addicted to) Bollywood movies and listen to music in Hindi, whether it's filmi music or not.
If there are people on here who are studying Hindi, or know Hindi and like to talk about it, I'd love it if you'd comment so I'd know who you are, on LiveJournal (you know, as long as LiveJournal continues to function). I guess secondarily... when I was talking with my sister about the Cal-Berkeley intensive course which I can't afford, she perhaps sensibly suggested I save up money and just go learn in India. Does anyone here have experience with language schools in India?
I'm interested in Urdu, also, but not so much in the writing system. I have a hard time with the Arabic alphabet, and have spent a fair amount of time on Devanagari, at this point.
Thanks, in advance -- I'm a bit surprised I didn't look for this community earlier.
*I'm fairly fluent in French and good in Spanish, also...
So. I mostly use the Rupert Snell "Teach Yourself Hindi" books and CDs, Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur, online resources that I find -- Taj Afroz's "Door into Hindi" is a wonderful video series, BBC Hindi is always excellent, and Britain's School of Oriental and African Studies has some online stuff for Devanagari. Of course I also watch (and am addicted to) Bollywood movies and listen to music in Hindi, whether it's filmi music or not.
If there are people on here who are studying Hindi, or know Hindi and like to talk about it, I'd love it if you'd comment so I'd know who you are, on LiveJournal (you know, as long as LiveJournal continues to function). I guess secondarily... when I was talking with my sister about the Cal-Berkeley intensive course which I can't afford, she perhaps sensibly suggested I save up money and just go learn in India. Does anyone here have experience with language schools in India?
I'm interested in Urdu, also, but not so much in the writing system. I have a hard time with the Arabic alphabet, and have spent a fair amount of time on Devanagari, at this point.
Thanks, in advance -- I'm a bit surprised I didn't look for this community earlier.
*I'm fairly fluent in French and good in Spanish, also...