How to Learn Hindi in 2.5 Weeks

  Mussoorie, India
Thursday, August 30, 2007

Language training began on Monday, and so far it's going much more smoothly than I expected! 

Our group of 12 broke up into small classes of 4 people each for our Hindi lessons, so we all get lots of practice.  We have four 45-minute classes each day, each taught by a different teacher, with a lunch break in the middle.  Two teachers teach us grammar and vocab, and the other two teach us reading, writing and pronunciation.  The teaching structure at the language school is really interesting, since all the teachers use the same textbook, and each teacher picks up where the others left off. 

Hindi is, surprisingly, a very straightforward and intuitive language in terms of grammar and vocab.  Reading is not too difficult either, and I was surprised at the pace at which I could memorize the letters.  The hardest part by far is the pronunciation, since speaking Hindi takes a lot of tongue contortions and nasal sounds that we just don't use when speaking English.  Yesterday, we spent the entire last class looking at a picture that our teacher drew of a mouth and tongue and practicing the pronunciations of letters.

My teachers are, for the most part, good.  One of them has been teaching at the school since 1968 and has the whole textbook memorized.  It's amazing to me that he hasn't yet tired of teaching the same basic stuff at least 5 times a day for the last 40 years.

Other than going to class and studying a bit in my free time, I have spent much of the last few days marveling at the beautiful nature around me!  Because we're at the top of the mountain, it is extremely foggy here every morning and evening, with the sun popping through a bit during the early afternoon.  When the sun comes out in the afternoon, I grab my camera and race down to the road get a few shots of the amazingly beautiful cloud formations over the mountains.

Mountain View

 

Amazing Clouds

It's rained a bit over the past couple of days, and because it's so damp here nothing really dries completely.  However, yesterday, we were rewarded with an enormous rainbow that cut through the clouds after the rain stopped.

Before and after classes I've been taking lots of walks, exploring the area, watching the monkeys, reading, etc.  And today after class, I think I'll venture down the steep road into town to do a few errands.  Our group has been passing around a cold that I think I've caught, and I'm not the best sick person.  So I'd like to find some cold medicine down in town and buy some fruit and ginger to make tea...hopefully I'll get over this soon.

Not much else to report, but more to come in the next few days.