Learning Hindi

Ahh, Hindi is tricky! First you have to learn a whole the Devanagari script which is confusing. Especially when they start forming conjuncts with letters! Some letters end up just being represented by a dot!

Then there's several different sounds for "d" One made using the teeth, one with the teeth and aspirated with an h, one made in the back of the mouth, and then that is aspirated! And you're supposed to hear the difference when someone's speaking it! Well, so far I can't tell the difference!

It's interesting to see how the formal class system affects the language as well. English really only has one 'you' form; German has the polite 'Sie' form of 'you'. Hindi has 3 or 4 forms for 'you.' In addition, to show respect you might add 'ji' to the end of someone's name or title.

Well, I'll keep plugging along at it. But I know I'm gonna end up speaking German to some poor, confused Indian person!

Soon-to-be Ex-pat

One of my goals was that at some point I wanted to be an ex-pat; this will become a reality in about 3 weeks on Aug 15th! I have my research visa and plane tickets and will be spending 9 months in Ahmedabad, India on a Fulbright grant to study urban planning. Some of you have been asking whether I'll be blogging while there, so here is where it will go down! And I know that I will be much more dilligent at keeping this up than the last few blogs I've tried...I promise!

Right now I'm trying to learn a bit of Hindi before I leave, but I know I am going to confuse a lot of Indians when I try to speak it because I'm sure I'll mix in some German! I just wish I could roll my r's! I've tried and tried - how is it that English is one of the only languages that doesn't have this sound??

But I'm very excited (albeit right now also very nervous) about getting to spend a pronlonged period of time in India! I was there for about a month in February of 2005 as part of BSU's CapAsia field study which led me to apply for the Fulbright. But even at that, I barely scratched the surface, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the country and also to seeing friends I made there.

Ok, well I just wanted to get this started! I'll post more about my project soon!

Chalo!

Lindsay