Studying Hindi

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Abner, Mar 14, 2018.

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  1. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Does anyone know where I can study the Hindi language via distance? The guys at the Circle K always speak it in front of me! I have no idea what they are saying. I am only bilingual in Spanish.
     
  2. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    Nahi.
     
    Abner likes this.
  3. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Maybe Johann can weigh in?
     
  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    How do you know they're speaking Hindi and not Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, or some other South Asian language?
     
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  5. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    I am not sure to be honest!
     
  6. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Interesting! I was not aware that there were so many languages. Thanks! It's sort of like how Spain has many official languages includin Valencian, Castillian, Catalan, etc. I guess it's best not to assume!
     
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

  8. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Good site to get a feel for the number of languages / families involved. http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Home.html

    Abner - I suggest when you find out for sure which language is involved here, (maybe ask - I would) just Googling around will lead you to sources. Maybe you want a book/cd combo - you have to hear the language.

    Interesting stories I have read re: Indian languages. As most of us know, Roma (Gypsies) originally came from India. A large number left India about 1,000 years ago. The Indian connection was originally deduced back in the 1700s by a student at U. of Leyden in the Netherlands. He heard some Indian students talking and found he could understand them pretty well, as he could already speak Romani, having learned it from Roma in Holland.

    Fast forward to modern days. I've read that many Roma in eastern Europe like Indian "Bollywood" movies. Reason - knowing Romani means they can understand about 70% of the words in Bollywood (Mumbai) movie dialogue.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2018
  9. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    To show the connection, here are the numbers 1 to 10 in Romani, and then in Hindi. There are about 250,000 Roma (Gypsies) in the U.S. and more than 25,000 here in Canada.

    Romani
    • 1 - yek
    • 2 – duy
    • 3 – trin
    • 4 – shtar
    • 5 – panj
    • 6 – shov
    • 7 – efta
    • 8 – oxto
    • 9 – en’a
    • 10 – desh

    Hindi
    • 1 - ek
    • 2 - do
    • 3 - teen
    • 4 - chaar
    • 5 - panj
    • 6 - chhah
    • 7 - sat
    • 8 - aath
    • 9 - nou
    • 10 - das
     
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  10. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Whoa, that really is similar! TIL!
     
  11. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Thanks to you, Steve, I now know what TIL means. We both learned today. And if you look closely at the Romani or Hindi numbers, you'll see some similarities to Latin, Greek and modern European languages. That's why we speak of Indo-European languages. Many words travelled a v-e-r-y long way to get to Europe. I remember learning about Ukrainian history (and pre-history) and there were Indo-Iranian speakers involved in settlement there, about 3,000 years ago. We know that from the very few names that have been recorded - inscriptions etc. I can remember "Sandakhsatra" was one of the names. Can't remember others. Class was a long time ago (1987).

    I remember regularly tuning into a locally-produced Iranian-Canadian TV program for a couple of years, some time ago. The music was terrific. I find Iranians are an intensely musical people, highly skilled in both Western and Eastern music. (One Persian king, centuries ago, is said to have employed 10,000 Roma (Gypsy) musicians at his court!) First things I noticed, after the music were the commercials, where phone numbers were being given out. I thought "Holy Moly, these people count almost exactly like Roma." I looked up Farsi numerals later and they're very, very close to Romani. On their way from India, it appears many Roma had a very long stay in Iran, up to 2-300 years, perhaps. I believe Greece, in the 1300's was their first entry-point into Europe.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2018

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