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Learning to Communicate in India

     By WooJin

We can see and listen anywhere, on billboards, when we go to shops, in taxis: they always talk in Hindi. Perhaps you can speak some words, like hanji, tikke, achha, and namaste. But Hindi looks like a pictograph and is generally very unfamiliar to foreigners.

On August 22, 2010 I interviewed the Hindi teacher, Ms. Tewary. I wanted to interview her, because I live in Delhi and I’m curious about Hindi. Usually we use English in school, but outside of school we can hear Hindi.

--WJ: Is it difficult to learn Hindi?
--Ms. Tewary: No, it’s not. You can learn Hindi easily, because we just learn how to connect with people.

--WJ: How do you teach easily?
--Ms. Tewary: We usually learn how to communicate with people and I use symbols, and show real things to students, like vegetables or fruits. So, students can understand much easier.

--WJ: I think it’s hard to read and write. Is it better to speak first?
--Ms. Tewary: Yes, because I’m not teaching reading or writing actually. Just we use English to write. We learn how to communicate with each other.

--WJ: Who invented Hindi? For example, Korean is made by King Sejong 500-600 years ago.
--Ms. Tewary: But, it’s an old language, so I don’t know about it. I have to check one more time. Ha-ha.!!

--WJ: What is Hindi’s origin?
--Ms. Tewary: Hindi is Sanskrit by Punjabi. It’s all different, because India is such a huge country. So, they use other languages in the same country.
    

If you are interested in learning more Hindi, join the after-school activity called "Street Smart Hindi" on Thursdays in Room M14.