However, even if my new acquaintance doesn't know it, I know very well that there are big gaping holes in my vocabulary. I can make myself understood by beating around the bush and inserting an English word here and there, but I still have much, much to learn.

I've begun meeting with a language helper again, just twice a week for one hour. I don't always get my study time in as I should, but the accountability of meeting with her is helping me do more than I would otherwise!

This week we've been watching Aamir Khan's program on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/show/satyamevjayate?s=1). My language helper and I watch it together, and I stop it when I hear a new expression or a word that I don't recognize. One of us writes it down, making sure there is enough context to remember how to use the word. Either at the moment or later I explore the use of the word in different contexts:
-Is this a common expression? What do people usually say? How else could I say this? What other examples can you give with this word? Can it be used in a family context or just a government context?

My experience so far:

1) Each show covers one topic, so we stay within a certain vocabulary domain.
2) These are words that every Hindi speaker understands, even if they aren't used in everyday conversation (most of the words that were new to me were actually Urdu words).
3) The show is in segments, so I can complete one or two segments per lesson, even if I can't watch it all (I do about 15-20 minutes of the show in a one hour lesson).
4) Most of the new words were Urdu words, but my Hindi-speaking language helper understood them all and gave me the Hindi equivalent as well.
5) I am getting the vocabulary I need to speak about deeper issues. Some Stage 2 and Stage 3 Mini-Projects were difficult to do because my language helper was reticent to talk about them. This show will be covering 13 such topics, beginning with female foeticide and child sexual abuse. Because the show introduces the topic, not me, I find that it is easier to talk about the topic with my language helper.
6) My vocabulary is growing: statistic, depend, tribal, interference, topic, importance, emotions, develop, disturb, threat. (Words related to this issue, but with a wider application).
7) I am learning expressions, too: अपने हिन्दूस्तानी होने पर बड़ा फ़क्र (गर्व) होता है, बात की तह तक पहुंचना, किसी को कटघरे में खड़ा करना, इक्कयावन (51) बहू
8) There is great opportunity to USE what I learn, since many people are discussing this program!

http://www.syvum.com/learn/vocabulary/Hindi/ - This website has a pretty large pool of vocabulary for you to learn and practice.

http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/mideast/hindi/stories.html - This website has stories that you can practice learning, and it is broken down into beginner, intermediate, and advanced stores. You can listen to story, read the story, see the glossary of terms, etc.

Tulika Publishers has some excellent bilingual readers (English-Hindi as well as English-Bengoli, English-Marathi, etc). You can look at the options online at http://www.tulikabooks.com/ourbooks.php?mid=2&catid=2&sub_cat_id=10. They have a recommended age which can guide you in terms of how difficult they are. In Delhi the books are available at Full Circle Bookstore (Khan Market, and G.K. 1 N-block market).

Some of my favorites:
The Seed (Age 2+)
Grandma’s Eyes (Age 2+)
Takdir the Tiger Cub (Age 3+)
Where is Gola’s Home? (Age 3+)
Upside Down (Age 3+)
My Friends in the City (Age 5+)

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There are other books that are available in English and different Indian languages. You need to buy both books if you want to do bilingual reading:

My favorites:
All Free (Age 4+) http://www.tulikabooks.com/ourbooks.php?mid=2&catid=1&sub_cat_id=3
I’m So Sleepy (Age 3+) http://www.tulikabooks.com/ourbooks.php?mid=2&catid=1&sub_cat_id=5
Out of the Way! Out of the Way! (Age 6+) http://www.tulikabooks.com/ourbooks.php?mid=2&catid=1&sub_cat_id=1&page=4
What Shall I Make? (Ages 3+) http://www.tulikabooks.com/ourbooks.php?mid=2&catid=1&sub_cat_id=1&page=2
The Runaway Peppercorn (Ages 5+) http://www.tulikabooks.com/ourbooks.php?mid=2&catid=1&sub_cat_id=2

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Children's Book Trust has English and Hindi (and Urdu!) versions of the same book. They are available at the address below and are also for sale at the Central Cottage Emporium on Janpath (the top floor, near the toys). These are less expensive.

Children’s Book Trust
Nehru House
4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110002
Tel: 91-11-23316970-74
e-mail: cbtnd@vsnl.com

To help me become more familiar with the Devanagari script early on, I used this internet resource: http://www.avashy.com/hindibhasha/index.asp

I also downloaded a flashcard program: http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/
I've used this to create my own flashcards of what I'm learning to provide another way to keep vocab in front of me. Also, through the website, the vocab from Teach Yourself Hindi is available and already made into cards.

I spent two weeks there last month. I would recommend the following teachers from my experience:
Mr. Abdul Nasir - He is good at teaching the grammar points in a methodical and structured way.
Mrs. Jaswinder Garg - She is a great at giving drills which helps the knowledge of the grammar become more solidified through application.

My friends who also studied at Landour would recommend the following teachers:
Mrs. Urmila Raturi - I believe she is the head teacher. She is great for teaching the grammar, from what I've heard.
Mr. Habib Ahmad - Good for drilling and teaching, from what I've heard.

When it comes to signing up for classes the best bet is to do so before noon the on the Wednesday before the week you plan to be there. This will give you a better chance to get the teachers you desire. The schedule comes out at noon on the Friday before each week of classes - any changes at that time would need to be discussed with the office personnel.

The observation and interview questions are in English, so you will have to use your language skills to put the questions in Hindi or Urdu. Don't get overwhelmed by doing all the questions for one project!

There are several places you can stay, but only a few options are within easy walking distance of the school (which I assume would be more important to you since you would want to be close to your children). Others who have been there more recently will have to comment on that. If you contact the school they can also give updated recommendations.

Do a listening drill with word pairs that are different in only one sound (if possible, or at least very similar words): R and L, or L and D.

(1) Listen to the L column, then the R column.
(2) Listen to the word pairs.
(3) Have your helper "test" you with random words, and you point to the ल and र letters.

After you are able to successfully hear the difference between L and R sounds, then you can work on pronunciation. I am attending a language learning conference next week, and I will ask people with more experience in this area.

Because the MSSH book you got in Stage 1 is made for English speakers, it does not have drills for L and R, which are difficult sounds to distinguish for Chinese speakers, so here is a list of words to get you started.

ल / र / ड़ / ढ़
लौटा / रोता
लूट / रूट
लेखक / रेखा
लस्सी / रस्सी
प्लान / प्राण
मुल्क / मुर्ख
खिलाया / किराया
उल्लु / गुरु / / गूढ़
साली / सारी / साड़ी /
पलती / परती,पार्टी / पड़ती / पढ़ती
सलाम / शर्म
तोलना / तोरना / तोड़ना
कमला / कमरा
कलम / गरम
मोल / मोर / मौड़
बाल / बार / बाड़ / बाढ
बल / भर / बड़ / बढ़
उबलना / भरना / बढ़ना
लज्जा / राजा /
गाली / / गाड़ी / गाढ़ी
मेरा / मेला /
गोली / / गोड़ी /
काल / कार / / काढ़
कल / कर
पल / पर

Thanks a lot

Best Wishes,
Doris

I want to ask all you language-walas about best practices concerning Landour Language School. We are thinking of spending a few weeks or even some months there this summer for drilling and grammar. What advice can the community concerning best teachers, when to sign-up for classes, etc.

We also are curious what would be some decently priced accommodations for a family of 4 (2 kids). Have any of you couples out there tried doing Landour Language School together with two kids? I assume this takes some schedule juggling!

Thanks for all the advice in advance.

CL

Related topics: transportation, driving, traffic rules, accidents

From the IRF India chapter: AAFSOS, about road safety (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bb5xvgNySs). Search for "aafsos".

Related topics: phone conversation, accident, emergency, help, family

Also from IRF: EHSAAS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYILMJaHcqM). Search "ehsaas drink drive".

Related topics: alcohol, drunkenness, driving, hospital, police, responsibility

Related topics: problem, traffic, working together

SHARED EXPERIENCE story about being honest with one another. It has English words, but can be understood without the dialogue.

Related topics: engagement, marriage, friendship, truth

Also can be used for projects or stories related to life cycle or life stages, and reincarnation.

Useful for a SHARED EXPERIENCE story, or a launching point for other mini-projects about marriage symbols, widowhood, or death.

With just a few phrases I could engage with people even when I didn't understand anything they said.

Thankfully I know a little more than this now. But it was a helpful start!

Other resources are cartoon VCDs in Hindi. You can watch them together as a family. My recommendations are:

(1) Kipper (my favorite)
(2) Oswald
(3) Bob the Builder

(Tom and Jerry, though very popular in India, is not very helpful as there is hardly anything spoken!!)

On occasion I've found them in stores, but I just looked on http://www.flipkart.com (search under the "Movies and TV shows" category for "kipper hindi"). Flipkart has a cash on delivery option--the timeliness of the delivery depends on your local courier service, but in my experience in Delhi it has been satisfactory.

Flipkart has about 8 Kipper VCDs in stock at the moment. Each VCD has 4 15-minute shows--a great length for language learning since you can watch them repeatedly! In my experience young children love them. Though it is not culturally Indian, it is helpful for basic communication as it is pre-school level and spoken slowly and clearly.

You must figure out a way to 'do language' and be a family simultaneously. If you don't fuse them together, one or the other will be sacrificed (or at the very least feel that way). I believe many call this concept synergy. For us this means, (especially my wife) we seek most of our quality relationships and language opportunities around our neighborhood. We were intentional about renting a flat where we would be living in close proximity to others. If you live behind gate, be sure there are other Indian families behind the gate you can seek relationship and language with. Everyone's situation and circumstances are different, but we've found invaluable having our landlord's family and their tenants near. We learn tons of language and culture from them. (the hard way and the easy way).

Other than that, here are a few other small things we are trying to do to mix our language time and family time together:

1) Tulika Book Publisher's have some great bilingual children's books. I don't know how old your kiddos are, but we just ordered some of these and are really enjoying reading them to our children. We spend quality time with them and learn Hindi!

2) Try to live near a park or open field where tons of people 'hang out' and play cricket. We have a vacant field right across the street from our flat and try to get the kids on it everyday. Our oldest (3 years) it still trying to figure out this whole thing. We get her exposure to 'Indian' playing, and we go out and listen and speak Hindi.

3) You're in Stage 1 now, so a lot of what your getting is survival. You are building a base vocabulary and getting some necessary frozen phrases. Right now, it is all planned out for you basically, but also consider what things are going on in your life in the next 2 weeks. What language do you need for your children's birthdays? Think about what's going on in the next few weeks and grab some words and phrases associated with that. If your language is learned in real life events, I think it has a better chance of being more meaningful and sticking.

4) Hire a maid who speaks the language you want to learn. It's it kind of like trapping a native-speaker! Ha! She'll help you out around the house and cook some meals. She can teach you the language associated with her duties: cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc. Spend the money here. This is especially beneficial for wives, I think. They have so much on their plate as it is, freeing up time for them is a must.

5) Go as far as you can into the community, language and culture BUT always come up for air when necessary. Don't destroy your family for anybodies sake. Over time, if you stick it out, you will find yourself enjoying life in India, enjoying the people, never considering for one minute that it was not all worth it!

-CL

For those of us who haven't discovered these great audio and video resources yet, click on the following link to find a list of five different podcasts: http://hindiurduflagship.org/resources/podcasts/

The podcast that has been one of my favorites is The Spoken Thesaurus (http://hindiurduflagship.org/resources/learning-teaching/spoken-thesaurus/)

This is one of the ways I'm trying to be intentional about being a better listener of Hindi. Try it out!

CL

Because I'm a visual learner, I made a chart (looks like a mini-calendar) in a word document. I've kept it as simple as possible. This is our language helper schedule. We meet with our language helper in the evenings, so we know what we cover will need to be learned and practiced in the morning and afternoon before our next meeting. Before we begin the new 'material' of each day, we are sure to review and recount the previous day's topics, stories, mini-projects and grammar. Here's an example of the first 2 weeks:

Monday: Topic - birthday celebration; Function - handling a wrong #; Grammar 1.1
Tuesday: Interview - Daughter's 1st Bithday; Topic - train travel
Wednesday: n/a (don't meet with our language helper on Wednesday's)
Thursday: What happened? - Delhi/Goa Trip; Writing - Selah's birthday invitation
Friday: Function - Respond to an Invitation & Inviting; Grammar 1.2
Saturday: n/a
Sunday: n/a

Monday: Topics - Wedding; Storytelling - Treasure Hidden in a Field
Tuesday: Topics - Directions; Writing - Directions; Participant Observation - Wedding (prep); Grammar 1.3a
Wednesday: n/a
Thursday: Participant Observation - Selah's birthday party (prep)
Friday: Writing - chai recipe; Grammar - 1.3b **Hindu Wedding**
Saturday: n/a
Sunday: **Selah's Birthday Party**

After each week with our language helper, our plan is to make sure what we've learned and practiced in the community has stuck. We use Saturday's to do this, because we have other responsibilities that don't allow us to have a full language day.

I think the main thing is foresight. What is happening in your life the next 2 weeks? Center your stories and mini-projects around those events! After answering that: What is priority for you? What must you learn?

So far, I love the variety of Stage 2, but I can see how it could be frustrating for those who aren't as planning-minded. I hope what I've given helps!

CL

The following article in last Sunday's "The Hindu" is a good starting point for a mini-project INTERVIEW on school discipline, or LIFE STORY about being punished in school (your story, your friend's story), a PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION before visiting a school, or a WHAT HAPPENED story about school punishment in the news.

The pictures are a helpful launching point into the topic.

"We were pranksters..."
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article2861010.ece

This is the chai and chat forum and here you can talk about anything that is not language learning related. This is a place for us to meet our fellow OSLS students and we can ask any questions or share experiences about life in India.

You can start new threads for new topics of conversation.

Whether you have a question or insight about travel, shopping, renting, driving, surviving, thriving and connecting in India, don't hesitate to write a post and share with us here!