**Hindi**

[**Elena**]

I have been learning hindi for one month, since 13th June.
I attend hindi classes at the indian cultural center.

Hindi is a rich and melodic language, spoken, written and studied widely throughout the world. Learning it will open the door to a fascinating and diverse culture that spans thousands of years of uninterrupted history. There is a well known philosophy that puts forth that when one meditates on the specific sounds of the Dev Naagari alphabet, the written forms appear spontaneously in the mind.

More than 600 million people speak the Hindi language, not only in India but also in almost every other country in the world. It is the primary language spoken in Northern and Central India, and has been chosen as the country’s national language, even though innumerable languages and dialects are spoken nation wide. Most schools throughout the sub-continent teach Hindi as part of their curriculum.

Pronunciation in Hindi is relatively easy since, unlike English, letters are always pronounced exactly the same way. Once you've learned the letters, reading is straight forward and simple.

Hindi shares with English and most other European languages the same ancestral roots. They evolved from a language thought to have been spoken in Central Asia around 5,000 BC, called by linguists the Indo-European parent language. For this reason (and because of the 200-year influence of the British in India), many basic words in Hindi are the same as or similar to their equivalent in English.

The primary source of Hindi is Sanskrit, one of the most ancient spoken and written languages in the world and one of the earliest members of the Indo-European language family. Like Sanskrit, Hindi is written in the Dev Naagari script, which is common to several other Indian languages as well. Much of the vocabulary of Hindi comes from Sanskrit, though Hindi also has a special relationship with Urdu. Their grammar and much of their vocabulary are virtually identical.

[**Elena**]

http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/mideast/hindi/stories.html

virtual hindi

[MissLT]

Letters? These are letters: धन्यवाद, शुक्रिया????

[MissLT]

The primary source of Hindi is Sanskrit, one of the most ancient spoken and written languages in the world and one of the earliest members of the Indo-European language family. Like Sanskrit, Hindi is written in the Dev Naagari script, which is common to several other Indian languages as well. Much of the vocabulary of Hindi comes from Sanskrit, though Hindi also has a special relationship with Urdu. Their grammar and much of their vocabulary are virtually identical.

Sanskrit and Pali are two languages among others that I'd love to learn when I get quite old and have everything settled down.

[sweethuman]

I know Hindi and Urdu however I am not Indian. I have learned it from movies and at school