Customer Reviews

Hindi (Teach Yourself Book & Tape)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Teach Yourself: Hindi" provides an excellent introduction to the Hindi language, emphasizing the written language (it is a book, after all). The problem with the book is that the author uses the British sound system, and when a North American reads the vowel and consonant equivalents in the beginning, he pronounces a great deal (especially vowels) incorrectly. My Punjabi friend laughed at me. Supplimentary material will therefore need to garnered on the internet for non-Britons in order to correctly pronounce the Hindi. Sadly, most Hindi - English intructional books are similarly designed (i.e. for the Queen's English) and other dialects must rely on either native speakers for correct prononciation, or sound files downloaded off of the internet. Once the prononciation difficulties have been worked out, the book proceeds in a very logical manner, covering all elements necessary for communication in everyday Hindi. Special appendices are written to cover unique situations, and words used primarily in Urdu are indicated by the author. There are are eighteen units, each containing perhaps four or five aspects of grammar, and inadequate practice activities, so the learner must be willing to devise additional English sentences to practice his translation. For the money, "Teach Yourself: Hindi" cannot be beat. Hindi is not difficult (in comparison to French or Spanish) and is well worth the effort to learn the language.

So many readers giving 5 stars for a textbook is fairly unusual but this is so much better than Bhatia's "Colloquial Hindi" that it deserves it. The main difference is in the longer length and use of the (easy and logical) devanagari script. RS McGregor's Hindi-English dictionary and the (revised) Lonely Planet Hindi phrasebooks are an excellent accompaniement to this course. McGregor's grammar is also worth getting (better than Srivasta's) though it is a course of a kind itself rather than a reference grammar.

I am presently learning Hindi at a State Department school and this is one of our textbooks. Out of the several grammar books that I have, this is by far the best one. The explanations for grammar and sentence structure are very helpful and useful.

If you really want to learn Hindi, I recommend you this book! Nothing to do with all the other manual that I've found around, which were unclear and approximate. This one is complete, clear, step by step, and if you come over the initial difficulty of learning devanagari script, it really takes you further on in the practical use of the language. I have learned Hindi most of the time studying it on the train while going to work!

This is the best hindi learning book I've read. It's clear, the lessons aren't too long, it's going slightly harder as lesssons go by... And I'm very glad that you stop english translation from 6th lesson : it helps to learn the Devanagari alphabet. (With the translation beside, you can't help lookin' at it...) Very good job ! C.B

This is the best book for learning Hindi that I have come across. It may be a bit much for the absolute beginner, but it uses the Devanagari alphabet throughout, which aids in learning the language, and forces you to use what you have learned. Grammar and vocabulary are covered in detail and many conversations are recorded on the accompanying tape. This book contains the complete structure of the language. After this, all you need to do is to build up your vocabulary and you're ready for India!

So many readers giving 5 stars for a textbook is fairly unusual but this is so much better than Bhatia's "Colloquial Hindi" that it deserves it. The main difference is in the longer length and use of the easy and logical devanagari script. (The reviewer who objected to the use of the script will never be able to speak Hindi naturally).

Also on Amazon, RS McGregor's Hindi-English dictionary and the (now revised) Lonely Planet Hindi phrasebook are an excellent accompaniment to this course. McGregor's Hindi grammar is also worth getting (better than Srivasta's) although it is a course of a kind itself rather than a reference grammar per se.

while I sympathize with the Corning reviewer's accent problems, I'm surprised ANY Indian laughed at his pronunciation. Most people (even the allegedly grouchy French) are astonished as well as gratified by any American who seems to understand that it isn't the rest of the world's duty to speak English in their own countries. I wasn't surprised at the outstanding quality of this book, as I've had such good experiences with the whole series, hav ing used it to acquire fluency in Spanish and Swahili, and at least some knowledge of Greek and Arabic. I assume readers will judge the two negative reviews by their braying tone. That anybody would willingly remain illiterate in a foreign language, given the work involved in even semi-fluency, passes understanding. As somebody speaking seven languages fluently, I can't say too much for Teach Yourself Hindi.

I've bought about 10 books on how to "learn Hindi" over the past two years. This is by far my favorite "learn Hindi" book. This book gives you a lot of material to read that is in the Devanagri script.

Learning a language is not a trivial matter. There are lots of programs that promise that you will learn a language in some short period. This is pretty much false. You need to put effort into learning another language and this book will pay off if you put the effort in.

It is important that you learn the Devanagari script for this book. The book starts off with a chapter that summarises the script. This is sufficient but it would be a good idea to get a book like beginners Hindi script as well. After chapter 5 all of the Hindi is in Devanagari. Some reviewers complain about this, but I found that it kept me honest, and made me learn to read and write the script.

The book has a large amount of material but it also covers a lot of ground quickly. The other thing that is important is to use this book with some audio training.

So in summary, if you want to learn Hindi, be literate in the language and are prepared to work through each chapter until you understand most of it, this is a good book. Although, I highly recommend supplementary material to cover the areas that this book understandably leaves out.