Colloquial Hindi, 2e: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series) [Audio Cassette]

Tej K. Bhatia (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415110890 | ISBN-13: 978-0415110891 | Publication Date: January 31, 1997 | Edition: Pap/Com/Ca

This is a thoroughly modern and accessible course in Hindi. The author is a highly respected scholar and teacher of the Indic languages. Hindi script and Romanized script is taught.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tej Bhatia is Professor of Linguistics and Director, South Asian Langs at Syracuse University. His areas of specialism including bilingualism, second language acquisition and the structure and teaching of English and South Asian languages.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Routledge; Pap/Com/Ca edition (January 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415110890
• ISBN-13: 978-0415110891
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,922,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Books on Cassette > Languages > Vietnamese
  • #13 in Books > Books on Cassette > Reference > Vocabulary
  • #51 in Books > Books on Cassette > Children's Books > Languages

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

136 of 137 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I beg to differ! Best book for Beginners out there!, March 22, 2002

By 

Neil (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Colloquial Hindi, 2e: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series) (Audio Cassette)

I have been learning hindi for the past two years, and I have been using many books in the process, including Snell and Weightman, an older book by Misra and Fairbanks, another book by Surendra Gambhir, and this one by Bhatia. For those starting from scratch, this book is the best option.

Snell and Weightman move way too fast and you quickly find yourself in way over your head (unless you already have a background in hindi). I found this Bhatia's romanization excellent because it emphasized the difference between english and hindi sounds, and most importantly, Bhatia was consistent throughout (though hopefully some of the typos towards the end will be fixed in a future edition). His pronounciation introduction is also the best I've seen as far as emphasizing and drilling Hindi vocal nuances. The pacing of the book is very comfortable for the complete beginner.

Bhatia also does not take anything for granted. A lot of important questions left unanswered by other books are treated thoroughly in this text (like the compound use of "lena", "jaana", and "dena"; the frequent ommision of the "a" sound in the middle of words; and the fact that words like "mahal" and "kahana" are pronounced "mehel" and "kehena"; just to name a few...) You are really able to digest everything as you go along. Bhatia's word list and grammatical summary in the back are god-sends, and his mnemonics like "nerd nouns" and "laal adjectives" are clever and effective. He also puts his lessons in a cultural perspective that is crucial for using your hindi socially.

One criticism I would make is the lack of emphasis on the devanagri script. If you use this book, you should really take the initiative and learn the script. It will help you as you progress to more advanced books.

It seems like the few who gave this book a bad wrap are educators who are used to hindi being taught in a certain way. I think the things that make this book different also make it the best.

My recommendation is start out with this book, then go through Snell and Weightman, using the early lessons as review, then go through Surendra Gambhir's pricey but excellent "Spoken Hindi" set. All these books have their lessons on cassette. I transferred all the lessons to CD, which made my studying much more efficient. Also get McGregor's beautiful Hindi-English Dictionary which will be a cozy campanion throughout. If you can even find the Misra and Fairbanks book, don't bother. It is quite antiquated and impractical, and the tapes are a nightmare. Happy studying!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book great, cassettes okay..., July 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Colloquial Hindi, 2e: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series) (Audio Cassette)

This book is clear and comprehensive, yet simple enough for a complete beginner. The reader can choose to learn just spoken Hindi or to also learn to read and write since all of the dialogs are written in romanized Hindi as well as in the Devanagari syllabary. The cassettes are necessary, but poor compared to the cassettes from other courses. The dialogs are read only once, very quickly, with almost no opportunity to practice repeating what you hear. The leftover space on the tapes are filled with discussion in English of questionable utility.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Off to a great start, and it IS Mac compatible!, November 10, 2009

By 

V. Norton (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Colloquial Hindi, 2e: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series) (Audio CD)

I just received my book and CD set and am enjoying working through the lessons with ease. So far what I've noticed is that the author has created realistic verbal exchanges that represent the etiquette present in the culture. Also, he has given examples of greetings that can vary between regions and/or religion. Addtionally, the accent being taught is that of "educated" Hindi; the accent college professors and newscasters use. Maybe now my Indian friends will understand me.

I am no expert in the field of languages, but I've got to say that this course already has Pimsleur and Byki beat hands down and the CDs play just fine in my Macintosh! Love the light use of humor as well.