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Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the northern and central parts of India and widely understood, not only in the rest of that country, but also in neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is also spoken by Indian emigres across the world from Europe to Fiji. Around 500 million people speak Hindi as their first language and about half as many again as a second language.
‘Article 343[1] of the [Indian] Constitution provides that Hindi in Devanagari script shall be the Official Language of the Union’.1
This page provides access to online courses, Hindi/English/Hindi dictionaries, current events, cultural information, grammar, vocabulary activities, alphabet / script / pronunciation help, tutorials, podcasts, Free and Fee-based software, other selected resources and general information.
If you are aware of other quality resources - courses or specific language aspects, let the webmasters know, so they can be considered for inclusion.
Hindi Language Courses
- A Door into India
‘Interactive, multimedia Elementary Hindi learning website, is on line and available now. We invite you to explore the website and try out the various lessons and learning resources’. - Free Hindi Lessons
‘Learn Hindi reading, writing and speaking with these Free Hindi words and sentences. Listen to the Hindi sentences by clicking on the play button. All are spoken by Indian natives and this should help you in learning the correct pronunciation’. - Hindi
69 lessons in 4 units with a fee now of US$5.50 per unit [US schools get them Free]. You can buy CDs. - Hindi : An Active Introduction
PDF student text from Foreign Service Institute Language Courses. Course link provided. - Hindi Language
‘Find useful resources to help you understand the Hindi Language better’. Basic vocabulary, language facts, grammar, phrases, more. - Hindi Language Tutorials
Basic lessons on alphabets, numbers, grammar, font help, pronunciation, words, phrases, quotes, video lessons, comprehension, Flash tutorials, more. - Hindi Lesson - Ukindia
Multiple lessons. Download the first 20 as a zip file. - Learn Hindi with Aarti
‘MP3 files. Click on the link and save the file to disk. The files are large, so download times are long’.
Language Tools
Alphabet
- Eden Golshani’s Indian Language Alphabet
Compares Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati consonants and vowels, using nominated groups. - Hindi Alphabet
Introduction, vowels, consonants, matras, number. Real Video files used.
Dictionaries
- Bab.La English-Hindi Dictionary
Multiple options for getting translations. There is also access to vocabulary, games, quizzes, a forum and much more through the site. - Digital Dictionaries of South Asia
A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi and English. Brings multiple responses, information on each response [e.g. happiness elicited 154 responses]. Help with fonts for Asian characters and diacritics. - Eng-Roman Script Hindi Dictionary
Has a speaking version from the same site. 15 500 words. - Free Hindi Dictionary
‘Use our search to translate Hindi to English and translate English to Hindi. More Translation means there is more than one translation’. - Hindi Electronic Dictionary
Includes transcription rules. - Hindi English Dictionary and English to Hindi Dictionary
- Hindustani/English Dictionary
- Lexilogos
Hindi to English, English to Hindi, multiple dictionary choices, links to vocabulary, more. - Shabdkosh English Hindi Dictionary
‘An attempt to provide users with easy access to an English Hindi dictionary. Provides the facility to search in English as well as Hindi. For English searches, standard interface is provided. For Hindi searches, we provide several keyboard layouts you can use’.
General Sites
- Digital Dialects : Hindi
‘Features Free to use online games for learning languages. Language resources include games for learning phrases, numbers, useful words, spelling, verb conjugation and alphabets. Games use Macromedia Flash Player’. - Free Hindi Lessons and Courses
‘We have gathered a number of Free language lessons and courses for those learning Hindi, with other Hindi language resources, such as online newspapers, dictionaries, internet radio sites, other sources relevant to the student of Hindi’. - Hindi Language Resources on the Web
- Hindi Pronunciation
Brief introduction. Links to tutorials, lessons, blog, dictionary, more. - Hindi Speaking Tree
language, alphabets, numerals, survival phrases, introducing yourself, meeting people, stories for beginners,, downloads, more. - Jim Becker’s Hindi Page
Collection of links for Hindi. Culture, grammar, games, dictionaries, search engines, more. - Learn Hindi
Mostly phrases and links to other information. - Phrasebase - Hindi
‘Conversational Foreign Language Learning Social Network And Personalised E-Phrasebooks’. Select Learning Hindi from the list available. - Virtual Hindi
Stories, videos, grammar, exercises, links. New York University. - Wikijunior : Languages - Hindi
Writing system used, how many people speak the language, where it is spoken, the history of the language, some famous authors or poets using the language, basic words in the language, a song/poem/story to learn in this language.
Grammar
- A Short Introduction to Hindi
Pronunciation, syntax, pronouns, verbs, nouns, postpositions, adjectives, different words, adverbs, more. - Hindi Grammar
Syntax, verbs, nouns. Brief presentation. - Hindi Grammar Tree
‘Presented in a simple form. Just read it to find similarity with English/your native language’. - Virtual Hindi Grammar Lessons
5 lessons covering all aspects.
Other Resources
Culture
- Hindu Culture
‘I have attempted to introduce the concepts/ideas/contents of Hindu Culture’. Links to those who speak Hindi. - India.gov - Know India
‘The ancient land of India portrays a landscape of vibrant cultural heritage and spiritual mysticism’. Kids Corner, Photo gallery, Culture & Heritage, national symbols, Official Language, while you can also find out about the Official Language Status and Languages with official status in India [Wikipedia], here.
General Sites
Devanagari
- Devanagari
Origins, principles, letters, transliteration, encodings, keyboards, software, references, bibliography, links. From Wikipedia. - Devanagari [2]
Introduction and 5 lessons. - Hindi Script Tutor
Introduction, consonants, vowels, conjuncts, tests, extras, reset. - Unicode for Devanagari
- Hindi
Etymology, history, vocabulary, dialects, phonology, writing system, grammar, literature, common phrases, Hinglish, references, links to courses, resources, more. From Wikipedia. - Hindi Kids
‘Our mission is to create a series that kids and parents would enjoy and at the same time learn about their language and heritage, to teach children in a fun way and hold a young mind’s attention so they can learn naturally’. Fee-based - Hindi Language
History, current use, Hindi and Urdu, phonology, writing systems, grammar, literature, references, links, more. From Wikipedia. - Hindi Links
Links for language, dictionaries, culture, news, software, more. - Learn to Speak Hindi
‘Learn Hindi online by practicing with a native speaker who is learning your language. Write or speak Hindi online to improve grammar or conversation. A language exchange complements other forms of learning because you get to practice all you have learned with native speakers in a safe and supportive environment’.
As with any Pen Pal process, take care and ensure safeguards are in place.
Podcasts, Blogs, Videos
- HindiLearner News
Multi strand coverage. - Hindi on Facebook
Multiple presentations. Check which are useful.
You need to be able to log in to access this site. - HindiPod101.com Blog
‘Learn Hindi with Free podcasts’. - House Full
‘Learn Hindi from Bollywood Movies Podcast’. 90+ episodes. - I Speak Hindi
‘Learn a little bit of Hindi each and every day’. Try their Hindi Podcast which is quite extensive. - Learn Hindi
Podcast format through Twitter. Multiple episodes. - Learn Hindi 001
‘Invitation and introduction to learn Hindi, the language spoken and understood by 700 million people in India’. YouTube video[s]. Other videos in the series, and others related to Hindi, are found listed at the right. - Learn Hindi Blogs
Done via Google. - Namaste Dosti
‘The Learn Hindi Podcast’. Not touched for a while.
Software
- Baraha
‘Transliteration based application which converts ‘Indian language text written in English’ to their own respective scripts’. - Devanagari Fonts
‘The Devanagari script is a Brahmi-derived writing system used originally to write Sanskrit. It is used in India and Nepal to write many languages’. Multiple sources and fonts. - Hindi Dictionary
‘A dictionary for English to English and English to Hindi. It has a large database of words. [A] few important features are : English to Hindi, English to English, and Minimise to system tray’. - Hindi - Languages of The World
Fee-based program. - Let’s Learn Hindi
Software, text. - Microsoft Indic Language Input Tool
‘Microsoft Indic Language Input Tool helps you enter Indian language text [including Hindi] easily into any application in Microsoft Windows or on any page on the Web. The primary input mechanism is transliteration. Additionally, it provides a visual keyboard to assist with editing words that do not transliterate properly’. -
The Phonetic Hindi Writer
‘Allows you to type in Hindi without having to remember a new keyboard layout [no font installation required as it uses the built in Indic language support provided by Windows]. It works in all applications that support Unicode - including Internet Explorer, FireFox, Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, Notepad, Explorer’. - Virtual Hindi Keyboard
Online version. Select from the list provided.
References
- 1. Know India - Official Language. Part of the National Portal of India. Retrieved 11 March 2012 from National Portal of India.