When I began to study Hindi, I was disappointed to discover that there is very little information about this language online. Thus, I decided to make a website dedicated to providing information about the Hindi language. Originally, I created a grammar reference. I wanted to provide a comprehensive grammar reference for the Hindi language. By the end of 2011, I had written over 90 articles about Hindi grammar.

In 2012, Aeterna Studio began creating a new site design.

Now, in 2013, the site has expanded beyond its original intent. I’ve added “notes”, lessons, vocabulary, a blog, and even more features.

I look forward to many new additions.

एक भाषा है जो किताबों में सिखाई और अख़बारों में लिखी जाती है, और दूसरी भाषा जो बोली जाती है.

उदाहरण के लिए, आम बोलचाल की भाषा में लोग अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों का बहुत इस्तेमाल करते हैं. कभी कभी लोग अंग्रेजी से मिली हुई हिंदी को ”हिंगलिश” कहते हैं. लोग अंग्रेज़ी से ना मिली हुई हिन्दी को “शुद्ध” हिन्दी कहते हैं (“शुद्ध हिन्दी” ऐसी भी तरह की हिन्दी की ओर इशारा कर सकती है जिसकी शब्दावली ज़्यादातर संस्कृत से आए हुए शब्दों से बनी है).

जैसे, कोई शायद बोलेगा कि ”मैने तुम्हारा फोन use किया था खाना order करने के लिए”.

कभी कभी लोग एक वाक्य में इतने अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों का इस्तेमाल करते हैं कि मुझे पता नहीं चलता कि वे हिन्दी या अंग्रेज़ी बोल रहे हैं.

बहुत सारे हिन्दी शब्द दूसरी भाषाओं से अपना लिए गए हैं, जैसे संस्कृत, फ़ारसी, और अरबिक.

अंग्रेज़ी से मिलने से पहेले भी हिन्दी की शब्दावली काफ़ी बड़ी थी.

मेरे खयाल से हमें हिंदी की शब्दावली की उपेक्षा नहीं करनी चाहिए. ऐसा नहीं है कि हिंदी की शब्दावली में कोई कमी हो.

मैं जानता हूं कि सब भाषाएं बदलती रहती हैं और दूसरी भाषाओं से शब्द लेती हैं. मैं उम्मीद नहीं करता कि हिन्दी बोलने वाले ”computer” और ”television” जैसे नए शब्दों के लिए अपने शब्द बनाएं. इस तरह के शब्दों को अपनाना बिलकुल ठीक है. लेकिन, उदहारण के लिए, उपयोग के बारे में बात करने के लिए कम से कम तीन विकल्प हैं: उपयोग, प्रयोग, और इस्तेमाल. लेकिन मैं अक्सर लोगों को ”use” बोलते हुए सुनता हूं.

हालांकि इतने सारे शब्द उपलब्ध हैं, लोग फिर भी अधिकतर अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों का इस्तेमाल करते हैं.

एक बार अपनी बीवी से बात करते हुए मैने बोला कि ”मुझे हिन्दी बोलने का और अभ्यास करना चाहिए”. उसने हंसकर समझाया कि हालांकि यह वाक्य बिल्कुल ठीक है, पर लोग सामान्य रूप से “practice” बोलते हैं.

यह बड़ी निराशा की बात है. पता नहीं क्यों. शायद इस लिए है कि मुझे लगता है कि अगर मैं अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों का इस्तेमाल करता हूं, तो मैं दूसरी भाषा नहीं बोल रहा हूं. या फिर शायद इस लिए है कि मैं हिन्दी की शब्दावली का इस्तेमाल करना चाहता हूं, लेकिन लगभग लगता है कि इन सब शब्दों का इस्तेमाल करना मना है. मैं जिस प्रकार अपने विचारों को व्यक्त करना चाहता हूं, मैं उसी प्रकार उन्हें व्यक्त करना चाहूँगा. शायद यह इस लिए है कि पश्चिमी संस्कृति के प्रभाव के कारण, हिंदी की शब्दावली उपेक्षा की जा रही है. या फिर इस लिए है कि अंग्रेजी शब्दों ने दुसरे शब्दों का स्थान लिया है.

मैं “descriptive grammar” में विश्वास करता हूँ यानि हमें यह समझने की कोशिश करनी चाहिए कि भाषा असलियत में कैसी है न कि भाषा कैसी होनी चाहिए. इसका मतलब यह नहीं है कि कुछ भी चलेगा. मुझे शायद इस तथ्य को स्वीकार करना चाहिए (या मुझे यह बोलना चाहिए कि मुझे इस fact को accept करना होगा).

कई तरीकों में यह बहुत अच्छी बात है.

अगर मुझे कोई शब्द नहीं आती तो मैं अंग्रेजी शब्द का इस्तेमाल कर सकता हूँ.

हिंदी बोलने वालों का दूसरी भाषाओँ के शब्दों को अपनाना यह दर्शाता है कि उनका रवैया व्यावहारिक है. भारतीय लोग आम तौर पर हिंदी सिखने वालों के प्रति बहुत दयालु हैं और उनको प्रोत्साहित करते हैं.

तो मैं क्या बोलूं? शायद हम एक समझौता कर सकते हैं: हम अंग्रेजी से मिली-जुली हिंदी का इस्तेमाल करते हैं पर हम हिंदी की बड़ी शब्दावली की उपेक्षा नहीं करते हैं.

English Translation

It must seem to Hindi learners like me as if Hindi is not one, but two languages.

There is one language that is taught in books and written in newspapers, and another language that is spoken.

For example, in colloquial language, people use a lot of English words. People call Hindi unmixed with English “pure Hindi” (“pure Hindi” can also refer to the kind of Hindi whose vocabulary consists primarily of words that have come from Sanskrit).

For instance, people might say “main tumhara phone use kiya tha khaana order karne ke liye”.

Sometimes, people use so many English words in one sentence that I don’t know whether they’re speaking Hindi or English!

Many Hindi words have been borrowed from other languages, such as Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic.

Even before being mixed with English, Hindi had a rather large vocabulary.

In my opinion, we shouldn’t neglect the vocabulary of Hindi. It is not as if there is any deficiency in Hindi’s vocabulary.

I know that all languages keep changing and take words from other languages. I do not expect Hindi speakers to make words for new terms like “computer” or “television”. It’s certainly appropriate to adopt these kinds of words. To talk about usage, there are at least three options: उपयोग, प्रयोग, and इस्तेमाल. However, I often hear people saying “use”.

Although so many words are available, people nonetheless mostly use English words.

One time, while talking with my wife, I said “mujhe hindi bolne ka abhyaas karna chahiye”. She laughed and explained that, although this sentence is completely correct, people usually say “practice”.

This is very disappointing to me. I don’t know why. Perhaps it is because it seems to me that if I speak too many English words, then I am not speaking another language properly. Or maybe it is because I want to utilize Hindi’s excellent vocabulary, but it is almost as if using these words is forbidden. I want to express my thoughts however I choose to express my thoughts. Or perhaps it is because, due to the influence of western culture, Hindi’s vocabulary is being neglected. Or perhaps it is because English words have superseded words that come from other languages.

I believe in “descriptive grammar”, that is, that we should try to understand how language is in reality, not how it “ought” to be. But this doesn’t mean that anything goes! Perhaps I just have to accept this fact (or [same sentence, using English words])!

In many ways, this is a good thing.

If I don’t know some word, I can use an English word.

Hindi speaker’s adoption of words from other languages indicates that their attitude is practical. Indians generally are very kind to people learning Hindi and encourage them.

So what should I say? Maybe we can compromise: let’s use Hindi mixed with English, but let’s not neglect Hindi’s vocabulary.

Thanks to Aeterna Studio for adding this new feature! Please visit their website.

Currently, I have made Devanagari text slightly larger so that it will be easier to read.

Browse a few pages and notice the new appearance of Devanagari text.

There are two blogs: an English blog and a Hindi blog.

The English blog is written in English, and the Hindi blog is written in Hindi.

Each Hindi blog post has vocabulary and grammar cross-references, so even beginners can use it.

I’d like to thank Aeterna Studio for developing the blog. Please visit their site.

Anki is software that helps its users to remember large amounts of information in an efficient way. It can be used to learn many things, but it is especially useful for learning vocabulary.

An SRS is an efficient way to learn vocabulary words. In Anki, you can create “decks” of “cards”, metaphors taken from traditional “flash cards”. On each card, you can enter information, including the word or phrase that you want to remember (i.e., the “front side” of the card) and its translation or meaning or an example (i.e., the “back side” of the card).

For instance, you could enter “खुश” one the front side of a card, and “happy” on the back side, or you could enter “X को Y पता होना” on the front and “for X to know Y, e.g., मुझे यह पता है” on the back.

However, Anki is far more efficient than traditional flash cards. When you study using Anki, the software presents a card to you, and you can rate your confidence (e.g., “I have no idea” / “I know that” / “I know that very well”). Based on your rating, Anki adjusts the cards it will present in the future. Anki uses a statistical algorithm to select which cards to display. This is vastly more efficient, because Anki will only present a small subset of the words to you each time, and it presents the words that you need to study the most. Thus, you spend your time studying what you need to study, and you don’t spend too much time studying. The idea of spaced repetition is that the better you know words, the less often you need to study them. Anki exploits this fact to make studying more efficient.

Anki can be fun – it’s almost like a game, and the sessions don’t last very long. There’s no need to stare at long lists of vocabulary for hours.

Anki offers a lot of additional features too. It can be used online, and you can synchronize decks across multiple computers, for instance.

I’ve enjoyed using Anki so far. Here’s one way that I use Anki: I read news articles online, such as BBC Hindi, and I enter any words that I don’t recognize into Anki so that I can learn them. I also enter some words that I know but that I want to remember. I typically do this in the mornings, then review in the evenings.

There are many other SRS available besides Anki, but Anki is very popular.

Try Anki, and let me know how your experience is.

वर्ष २००८ में Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) के द्वारा किये गए शोध के अनुसार, उच्च माध्यमिक विद्यालयों (हाई स्कूलों) में सिखाई जाने वाली मुख्य भाषाएँ स्पेनिश, फ्रेंच, जर्मन, और लैटिन हैं. शोध में यह पाया गया कि ९३ प्रतिशत विद्यालयों में स्पेनिश, ४६ प्रतिशत में फ्रेंच, १४ प्रतिशत में जर्मन, और १३ प्रतिशत में लैटिन सिखाई जाती है. विद्यालयों में सिखाई जाने वाली अल्पसंख्यक भाषाओँ में चीनी, इतालियन, जापानीज, हिब्रू, नेटिव अमेरिकन, ग्रीक, अरबिक, और रुसी शामिल हैं. इतने कम विद्यालय हिंदी सिखाते हैं कि हिंदी शोध में ज़िक्र भी नहीं की गयी थी.

गूगल का इस्तेमाल करते हुए हिंदी सिखाने वाले विद्यालयों को खोजने पर मैंने पाया कि बहुत ही कम विद्यालय इस भाषा को सिखाते हैं. एक ऐसा विद्यालय Edison High School है, जिसने आस-पास क्षेत्रों की बड़ी भारतीय आबादी के कारण हिंदी भाषा को सिखाने का निश्चय किया.

जब मैं छात्र था, तो केवल दो विकल्प उपलब्ध थे, स्पेनिश और फ्रेंच.

हालांकि यह निराशा की बात तो है लेकिन आश्चर्य की बात नहीं कि इतने कम विद्यालय हिंदी सिखाते हैं. अंग्रेजी के अलावा अमेरिका में सबसे अधिक बोली जाने वाली भाषा स्पेनिश है, और फ्रेंच भाषा ने अंग्रेजी भाषा पर बहुत प्रभाव डाला है, इस लिए आश्चर्य की बात नहीं है कि ये दो भाषाएं सबसे अधिक सिखाई जाने वाली भाषाएं हैं. अमेरिकन जनता यूरोपीय भाषाओं से जितना परिचित है हिंदी से उतना नहीं.

मुझे आशा है कि भविष्य में और भाषाएं सिखाई जाएं, जिन में हिंदी शामिल होगी.

English Translation

Although Hindi is one of the most widely spoken and understood languages in the world, it is nonetheless taught in very few schools in America.

According to a study conducted in 2008 by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), the primary languages taught in high schools are Spanish, French, German, and Latin. The study found that Spanish is taught in 93% of schools, French in 46%, German in 14%, and Latin in 13%. Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Hebrew, Native American, Arabic, and Russian are among the minority languages taught in schools. So few schools teach Hindi that Hindi was not even mentioned in the report.

Upon searching using Google for schools that teach Hindi, I found that very few schools teach this language. One such school is Edison High School, which decided to teach Hindi because of the large Indian population in nearby areas.

When I was a student, only two options were available, namely Spanish and French.

Although it is disappointing that Hindi is taught in so few schools, it is not surprising. Besides English, the most widely spoken language in America is Spanish, and the French language has greatly influenced the English language, so it is not surprising that these two languages are the most widely taught languages. The American public is not as familiar with Hindi as they are with European languages.

I hope that more languages will be taught in the future, including Hindi.

Vocabulary

हालांकि X … पर Y – “although X … Y”
दुनियां – world
सबसे अधिक – most
बोलना – to speak
समझना – to understand
भाषा – language
फिर भी – nonetheless, regardless, even so, etc.
सिखाना – to teach
वर्ष – year
शोध – (research) study
के अनुसार – according to
मुख्य – main, primary
पाना – to get, obtain, find
प्रतिशत – percent
विद्यालय – school
अल्पसंख्यक – minority
शामिल – included (X में शामिल होना = to be included among X)
ज़िक्र – mention (X ज़िक्र करना = to mention X)
इस्तेमाल – usage (X का इस्तेमाल करना = to use X)
खोजना – to search
आस-पास – nearby
क्षेत्र – area (both spatial, e.g. the area near the school, and abstract, e.g., the area of education)
भारतीय – Indian (adjective)
आबादी – population
के कारण – because of
निश्चय – decision (X का निश्चय करना = to decide X)
छात्र – student
केवल – only
विकल्प – option, alternative
उपलब्ध – available
यानि – namely, that is, etc.
निराशा – disappointment
बात – matter, thing, saying (abstract word, like “thing”)
आश्चर्य – surprise
के अलावा – other than (i.e., in addition to)
प्रभाव – effect, impact, influence (X पर प्रभाव डालना = to have an effect on X)
परिचित – familiar (X से परिचित होना = to be familiar with X)
आशा – hope
भविष्य – future

Grammar

There are many participles in this blog post. For instance, “समझी जाने वाली” in the first sentence, and “किये गए” in the second sentence. Read the articles about participles, and then see if you can identify the participles in this post.

The passive voice was used in this article many times, for instance, “सिखाई जाती है” in the first sentence.

2012 was a good year for hindilanguage.info

The site received 62,316 visits, 379,383 page views, and 1,569,784 hits.

Thank you for using this site!

I look forward to adding lots of new features in 2013.