Review: Teach Yourself Hindi

Back in January I committed to buying and using a textbook for Hindi for the following reasons:

• Lack of solid and wholesome beginner-intermediate material
• Lack of focus 
• Desiring an offline source for vocabulary and reading practice

By the time I bought Teach Yourself Hindi I had already learned the alphabet, colors, numbers and a few greetings. This made the book very easy to slip into, as I already had a hold on the fundamentals.

Language Challenge Update

Due to moving I was limited in my language learning for about 2 weeks, with my practice being sporadic, but since then I've gradually returned to a regular schedule. Here's what I've been doing the past several days (the weeks before that I won't mention, basically because it was most vocabulary review).

Transitivity and Language Learning

Transitivity was a concept I struggled with in elementary school, and then promptly forgot about. Even when I began learning new languages, I was far more preoccupied with perfective verbs and tenses to even think about how transitivity may matter.

Language Log: The Objectives

Hi everyone! In mid-February I began my language log for this year on Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M). I have two language goals this time around, so I've decided to give myself plenty of time to work on them. This is partially because 1) learning two languages will make the process slower, and 2) I have work/life commitments as well. 

Here is the breakdown:

3 Amazing Instances of Cultural Exchange

An Arabic translation of a Greek text.

One of the most underrated joys, at least for me, is noticing the vast amount of cross-cultural sharing that exists in society. Modern views of "Globalism" that resound in the media tend to portray the topic as some mystical development springing from the advent of advanced communication. It's true that the internet has widened the scope of the world for the ordinary man, but cultural exchange has been around since the beginning of time.

Now, some may point out that cultural sharing can be the byproduct of violent colonialism. And that's true. But much of it also developed through other means, such as trade agreements or scholarship. Here are some of my favorite examples of successful cultural exchange.

Experiments with Hindi

After a few weeks of adjusting to the mid-tropical Pune environment, I revved up my energies to begin learning Hindi. This time, however, I experimented with two theories from well-known polyglots – I joined Tim Ferriss’ article How to Learn But Not Master Any Language In 1 Hour and Benny Lewis’ Fluent in 3 Months. However, I did have one handicap: I intended to continue working on my German. That meant I couldn't spend as much time on Hindi as other languages learners might on this sort of challenge.

Offbeat Bollywood: 5 Indian Films Americans Should See

Beyond extravagant sets, elaborate costumes, and upbeat dance sequences, there’s another Bollywood almost unknown in the US (movie buffs may be excluded). These five films diverge from the plot lines Americans expect, and reveal a whole new side of India.