Customer Reviews

Talk Now! Learn Hindi - Beginning Level [Old Version]

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Talk Now Hindi suffers from the flaw which affects most language software. The manufacturer uses an identical engine for all of their languages, so there is nothing in the program which would be unique to the Hindi language, and nothing culturally Indian. This also creates the amusing situation of having animated Europeans testing your Hindi (the blonde woman may be cute, but not the type of person you are likely to meet in an Indian bazaar!)

There are several good features of the program:

-Words and phrases are spoken by a male and a femal voice.
-You can choose from dozens of languages for the help language.
-Some of the games are actually quite fun (such as creating the Frankenstein monster while learning the parts of the body).

But the problems with the program are many:
-Sound is a bit muddy
-You can complete everything in about three hours of work.
-Symbols, pictures, hosts, etc. are all European.
-Because the software engine is generic, you learn a lot of words you would never use in India, or words for which Hindi speakers use the English word. For example, you learn that the Hindi word for "tie" is "tie" and "jacket" is "jacket". Even worse, "Mug" is "mug" and "bread" is "bread" even though there are commonly used Hindi equivalents for these: "pyala" and "roti" respectively.
-Some of the words are wrong or very rare usages. For example, the word given for grey is "bhura", which actually means brown. My guess is that whoever they got to give the Hindi words for things either speaks an odd dialect, or is not a native speaker at all.
-Many words are spelled wrong in the Hindi script. For example, Israel is pronounced "Israel" by the speaker, but spelled "Istrael" for some reason.

This program might be useful for you if you are a beginner at Hindi, and want something amusing to supplement your textbook study. But don't expect to learn all that much.

I bought this CD ROM because my boyfriend speaks hindi, and I wanted to learn to converse with him in his native language. I studied and practiced only to have him look at me and say "What?". The words are not accurate, they only provide the hindi spelling, not the english spelling, so learning the words and their pronunciation is VERY difficult. He laughed out loud when he checked it out. Don't waste your time and money!

Set up in a gameshow format, the topics include phrases, first words, food, colors, countries (who cares for that?), body parts, time, numbers, and shopping.

Each section has an introduction to pronounciation in male and female voices. A dictionary showing the object and phrase in Devanagari and english (useless unless you know Devanagari) is available. Two levels of testing : Easy and Hard and Pronounciation sections are available.

A "Memory" game shows objects on cards at the hard and easy level for each section.

There is an internet link to Indian culture and an online Hindi dictionary.

The countries are a useless section. Some of the words have their origins in the English language which is a waste of time : card, T shirt, Credit card, Strawberry, etc etc. The voices in the phrases section is too unclear to learn anything practical.

Who would find use in it? Hmmmm. A child in kindergarden or first grade or Maybe an older child trying to kill time since his or her video game system is down or a person hospitalized who has nothing but this program in their CD ROM drive. The entire program can be covered in 2 hours.

Marginal educational benefit is here. Other programs such as Hindi Guru and Rosetta Stone Hindi CD ROMS are more worthwhile. Even better are the books Teach Yourself Hindi and Colloquial Hindi.

I think that it is a good tool, but I wouldn't solely rely on it. The speakers are not completely understandable...i need my boyfriend to correct me when i hear it wrong...i sometimes use a book i purchased on amazon.com 'say it in hindi' to look up the pronunciations...I wish they would have a translation of what the person is saying in englsh so i could read it as i say it, but they just have the hindi writing (which i don't understand at all)...it is fun to use and i've learned a bit while just using it for a few days...in the sections of 'phrases' the speakers talk too fast and i have to play it many times to say the sentence once...:-/ so i'm just sticking to the one word sections :-P...i'm just happy to have any software to practice hindi with...

This is a fun program and keeps your interest to learn very basic words. Most of the books/programs I have used in the past jumped into complicated sentences and got very confusing for me. This is fun and simple. You will probably need to purchase another program to learn to converse after you learn the basic words. The program does require a microphone on your computer.

I think that it is a good tool, but I wouldn't solely rely on it. The speakers are not completely understandable...i need my boyfriend to correct me when i hear it wrong...I wish they would have a translation of what the person is saying in englsh so i could read it as i say it, but they just have the hindi writing (which i don't understand at all)...it is fun to use and i've learned a bit while just using it for a few days...in the sections of 'phrases' the speakers talk too fast and i have to play it many times to say the sentence once...:-/ so i'm just sticking to the one word sections :-P...i'm just happy to have any software to practice hindi with...:-P...n i'm even learning some stuff my b/f doesn't know...hehe

I absolutely love this program. They have a female and male speaker, just click on one or the other. It's very uncomplicated interface, easy to use. I think it's clear to understand the speakers. And most of all the games are fun to play. I've got Rosetta Stone which I like a lot, but think is harder and isn't as much fun; Transparent Languages of the World - I don't like the pronounciation but I like the conversational style; Vidyarambham Hey, you wanna learn Hindi which is also very fun excellent for kids, plus really good for writing practice also. Pimsleur is one I haven't tried - too expensive for me, but supposed to be a very good way to learn. Books and audio tapes are boring for me. Talk Now! Hindi is definitely my favorite - good for all ages. I can't wait to finish this and try their advanced World Talk Hindi!