How to Learn Hindi - Learning the Devanagari Alphabet

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If you are starting a Hindi course, you will need to work on how to learn Hindi in its written form. The official way to write Hindi is using the Devanagari script. This alphabet is also used for other languages, including Sanskrit. It is its history as the alphabet used to write sacred texts in Sanskrit that gives the alphabet its name. The "Nagari" script was the alphabet used by the cultural establishment, leading to the use of the Hindi word for "urbane" to describe it. A variation of the Nagari script was the Devanagari, or the divine urbane script, meaning that is was the alphabet used by the cultural establishment to write about the divine. Anyone taking a Hindi course or traveling to India should consider how to learn Hindi in its written form.

Now, if you are reading this, then you have already been through the process of learning to read and write an alphabet at least once. Think back to that time when you were small. The advice that I will be giving you in this article is essentially to recreate the steps that you took in your successful effort to read and write English. You already know how to learn written English. So translate those skills into how to learn Hindi in the Devanagari script. Start now, even before you start your Hindi course, and you will find it that much easier to succeed.

Your first step in learning the Devanagari alphabet is to write each letter separately over and over again. Fill whole pages with it. While you practice writing each letter, pronounce its sound to yourself. That way, you will rehearse the connection between sight and sound of a letter. Get quite familiar with each letter before you move on to the next letter. Work your way through the entire alphabet this way, then do it again. It is only by consistent practice that you will get familiar with your new alphabet. When you are working on how to learn Hindi in its written form, nothing will replace the hours of practice that it takes to learn a new alphabet.

Once you are familiar with the alphabet, observe where you make mistakes. Most alphabets have letters that can be confused with others. Think about how many kids mistake "b" for "d" when they are learning the Roman alphabet. Once you have pinpointed what mistakes you are likely to make, concentrate on becoming very familiar with those letters. Practice them some more, writing them out while pronouncing the sound they make. The better you know each letter, the less likely you are to mistake it for another letter. This can only improve your chances for success in your Hindi course.

When you have gotten a pretty good grasp on the alphabet as individual letters, start transliterating English sentences into Hindi letters. Don't try to translate the words. At the beginning of your Hindi course, you won't have enough vocabulary for that. Rather, take the English word and write it in Hindi letters. It gets you very familiar with the sound that each letter makes and this is crucial in how to learn Hindi.

Finally, in your efforts to know how to learn Hindi in its written form, a great exercise is to take a Hindi text and read it aloud. You don't need to understand it. Just sound the letters out, like you did in first grade. You will have to go slowly at first. Knowing that your speed and fluency will improve with practice should make you want to work at it more. This will let you graduate from being able to read letters to being able to read words. It is imperative for success in your Hindi course that you learn to read the alphabet rapidly. And the only way to do that is by practicing.

Learning any foreign language can be daunting. But don't fret. You have already learned to read and write an alphabet. And it goes without saying that to be able to read and write a language you will need to be very familiar with the alphabet that it is written in. So, before you start your Hindi course, take these steps in how to learn Hindi in its written form.

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Source by Kathleen Hobbins