Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Hindi Conversation

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

 

 

This CD offers clear and copious listening practice to comfortably paced conversations between Hindi speakers. I give it only three stars because the amount of spoken English and music on the CD becomes a distraction after repeated listenings.

The whole first band contains information, introduction, and instructions read aloud in English. Although it can be skipped over, it is not necessary to have it on the CD in the first place because most people can read that information in the accompanying booklet.

After that, each individual conversation is preceded by arpeggios and bursts of music, then by a description of the setting read aloud in English. These cannot be skipped over and must be listened to repeatedly.

I think that the music should be eliminated and the setting information should be given in the booklet so that these do not have to be heard multiple times. In this way, a listener could experience continual immersion in the target language without distraction.

Other than the two drawbacks, the quality of the CD is excellent.

This is fantastic. I already know all of the grammar covered in it, but it is great for revision. I listen to it during my daily commute and on my evening walk. It is enjoyable because it follows a loose storyline, and has touches of humour as it goes along.

The way the first two CD's work, is that there will be a conversation given, with a track explaining vocabulary, grammar, etc. There are opportunities to join the conversations sometimes. It is not a "total immersion" program, like Pimsleuer. But I think it is better for it. Because it gives explanations, the grammar can progress much more than it does on 10 CD's of the Pimsleuer method.

It teaches grammar as it goes along, covering the major tenses, in aap and tum forms, nouns and adjectives, as well as postpositions and how they change nouns and adjectives. The major gaps I noticed are that it doesn't cover "tu" forms, and it doesn't have subjunctive verbs. But it can't have everything!

One great feature is that it has sections covering aspects of pronunciation as it goes along. Very helpful for refining how you speak.

The final CD has conversations for listening practice, without much help as to meaning. It is useful for learning to understand the gist of things without knowing all the details.

Other reviewers have complained about the amount of English, but the point of this course is that you don't actually need to use the booklet. I think it balances everything quite nicely.

One warning, it moves relatively quickly, and unless you are really good with picking up languages, you will need to use a textbook as well, both in order to understand the whole course, and to go beyond the course.

All in all, it is a wonderful supplement to any textbook, but most people will not be able to use it alone.

Anything written by Rupert Snell is a best bet. His other books in the Teach Yourself series are wonderful, especially the Beginners Hindi. I agree with the other reviewer that the repeated music between sections becomes quite annoying, but this is true for the entire new conversation cd series. Nevertheless, this is a fantastic addition to your Hindi learning materials.
It is also important to note that the booklets only use Romanized writing, so don't expect the "real" Devanagari script. The series is meant primarily for auditory comprehension, but it would have been nice to see the words in the original writing system.

If you're traveling to India for two weeks to two months, then this is the course for you! The conversations teach you what you need to know to meet people, eat, drink, and shop. I agree with the other reviewers that the music and English get redundant after repeated listening, but they're necessary if you want to learn in your car or some other place where juggling a book is inconvenient. Also, there is less and less English translating as you get farther into the dialogues. A little more meat to the book(grammar review, gender patterns for nouns and adjectives, glossary, etc.) would have been nice. Use this with "Teach Yourself Beginner's Hindi" and you'll really be communicatin'!

If you want to go to India to have an everyday conversation, this is definitely not the right resource. I have been going to India for 3 years now for work and have been there more than 10 times, so I didn't want to be lost in Hindi conversations anymore. I have several Indian friends who are fluent in both Hindi and English, and when they heard the conversations in these cd's, they laughed. They said although it was indeed understandable Hindi, people in India would make fun of me if I spoke like this. So I immediately sent it back. I ordered a couple of other books and cd's, and the only thing they approved of was the book "Say It in Hindi (Dover Say It Series)" since it has small useful phrases. I have yet to find a good audio reference for Hindi.

I was able to get this book and Teach Yourself Beginners Hindi Script for a great deal and I've used them so many times I've had to glue them together! I wanted to learn Hindi to learn Devanagari and Sanskrit and this booked really helped. There are simple conversations as well as quizes and vocabulary lists that will help you learn Hindi. And the speakers on the CD speak fast, as they do in normal conversation!

The Rupert Snell Teach Yourself Hindi books are a great addition to any Hindi learner's library; just remember, they are paperbacks and can't replace either the classroom or cultural immersion.