Customer Reviews

Learn Hindi (New Enlarged Edition)

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

 

 

The editorial review says that this volume is designed for Indians living abroad and want to learn Hindi, but it could be also useful to English speaking people to learn Hindi easily. I totally disagree with the last part of this statement. First of all I cannot imagine studying from this book without any assistance from an instructor. The devanagari letters are quite big and boxed and you could probably master the writing using this book. However, I believe that's all this book is good for. It is not structured into lessons. Instead it has numerous tables and lists of words, them long lists of idioms, and finally a selection of dialogs. In the very end, the book presents essays and poems in Hindi. But it is hard to understand what is the way to achieve the knowledge of the language good enough to read and understand those selections. This volume looks rather like a reference or a travelor's book, but not a useful manual. Behind the pedagogical features so highly praised by the editor, I do not see a clear learning concept or good organization. I actually regret that I purchased this book.

This book is filled with wonderful insights into Indian culture. The combination of depth and simplicity in structuring the lessons is unparalleled among language books. Thank you, Mr.Shah for enriching my life by making this book available to myself and my family.

What a great way to learn Hindi! I have been searching for a way to learn this language at my own pace for quite some time, and have tried a number of other do-it yourself Hindi courses, all to no avail. This one makes sense to me, and is a pleasure to work with. The writer knows how I learn, and is helping me do so! Thank you, Kirit Shah!

It seems that this book pre-supposes that you already know a wealth of hindi words and basic grammar. This is an excellent book for learning the devangari script, but if you want to actually learn the language from scratch you'd have to get another book for that. Any book that has an auido accompaniment is probably good. I enjoyed the Colloquial Hindi pack and thought that it was well-structured.

My wife and I are American. We wanted to learn Hindi. We got this book not knowing ANYTHING about Hindi. I have found this book to be Great. I love how it tells you the Hindi letters and then a word in English to compair the sound. My wife and I learned to read and write in Hindi in two weeks. If you are trying to learn Hindi, you must get this book.

This book is not for the absolute beginner. Having some knowledge of Hindi helped me. It is a useful book to have in conjunction with an audio software like Rosetta Stone, as it is not very helpful in learning how to pronounce. If you look to this book to become a conversationalist, you will be disappointed.

I bought the CD only to findout that it does not run on Mac. So buy this only if you have a PC. I was not told that it does not run on Mac. I wish they had made it clear.

This is great for people that did not grow up around the Hindi language. It helps them to pronounce the hindi words the way it should be said.

For those who wish to explore and learn, this book is the only tool you will need. The book is setup so that you learn the Hindi language at your own pace. It is concise, and well produced, and I must say, a lot of fun to work with. Mr. Shah is a masterful author who makes the student feel confident with the material and comfortable with the speed of each lesson. I have recomended this book to those I know interested in Hindi. Well Done!