You may think that it is harder to figure out how to learn Hindi than it is to learn another, more familiar language. English and Hindi don’t share a lot of vocabulary or grammar. The languages are written in different alphabets. Maybe Hindi just seems too “exotic” to you. But learning Hindi is well within the realm of the possible. After all, millions of Indian children speak, read and write Hindi! If they can learn Hindi, you can, too. Here are some tips for your success. Here is how to learn Hindi.
First of all, start with a positive attitude. Remember that old quote by Henry Ford? “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Have you ever heard anyone say that they just can’t learn languages? When they think that, they make it true. I want you to think that you can learn Hindi. Then work hard at it. Don’t let any perceived obstacles stop you. You will succeed at your goal.
Break the project up into small tasks. Don’t think about learning the whole alphabet in a single day. Work on the first five letters. Do you have a vocabulary list of fifteen words? Work on the first half of it. Go back for the rest later. Understand that learning a language is a long process with successes coming every step of the way. Value each of those steps and, one by one, they will take you to your goal of speaking fluently and easily.
Entertain yourself and impress your friends by using as much Hindi as you have learned. Greet your friends in Hindi. Write or say a few simple sentences, just for practice. Then change the verb or the noun to prove to yourself that you can write or say even more than you thought.
Use good time management skills. It’s better to work a little on a new skill every day rather than it is to work for lengthy periods of time less often. In fact, try to schedule two study periods a day. In the first session, you learn new skills. In the second session, you reinforce them. Repeating material is a very important habit for how to learn Hindi. That’s why your teachers used to give you homework. You don’t want to progress too fast. You want to make sure that you have learned each lesson thoroughly. A short second daily study period will be helpful to you for that.
Reward yourself each time you reach a milestone. When you have finished a lesson, rent a Bollywood movie. When you have finished five lessons, treat yourself to a delicious meal in an Indian restaurant. When you have finished the course, book your trip to India!
At the beginning of your Hindi course, it may seem that you will never finish. You may think that you won’t ever be able to decipher the alphabet or understand the dialog that you hear in your audio files. But you can do it. Take the steps above and you will find that you know quite well how to learn Hindi.
