Beginner's Hindi Script

by Dr Snell Rupert

This unique book opens the door to the fundamentals of reading and writing a language with a non-Roman alphabet. The interactive, accessible approach to learning presented in Teach Yourself Hindi Script guides you through lessons and exercises based on real-life situations and appeals to the student and tourist alike.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Reference, India

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2003

Reviews

[Claire S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! It held my hand as I was just first learning how to write Devanagari script, was very simple and reassuring. The only thing is, for the conjuncts, the presentation was much less useful. There were many of them in a small space, no information about how to draw them, not big enough (for me) to see clearly. So I was frustrated at that. But the handwriting samples at the back were great, etc.. - all in all a great investment.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rupert Snell's TEACH YOURSELF BEGINNER'S HINDI SCRIPT is a friendly introduction to Devanagari, the script used to write Hindi and Sanskrit. Whenever learning a language with a different writing system, I personally always find it helpful to use a separate preliminary book to get up to speed with the writing system, that way when I'm working with my main textbook, I don't feel like my unfamiliarity with the writing system is holding me back from fully absorbing the lessons. Snell's book works quite well as this initial step. He introduces the components of Devanagari step by step, with plenty of exercises so that the student can apply his knowledge and internalize the script. There are photos of signs from India, including some with errors so that the student can see how the script works in daily life. There's even a bit on handwriting, which is a nice touch.

And it's not just about Hindi! Devanagari is used to write Sanskrit as well, and Snell does cover the letters found in Sanskrit. If you want to embark on a Sanskrit course like Coulson's TEACH YOURSELF SANSKRIT, I cannot recommend enough that you use this first.

My only complaint about this book--and it may well be the unrealistic expectations of a linguaphile--is that it doesn't talk about how the Hindi script differs from other Brahmi-derived scripts. A short appendix along the lines of "If you want to eventually learn Gujarati or Bengali, here are some ways you can apply your knowledge of Hindi script..." would have been nice. Snell does of course talk about how Hindi's relationship to Urdu in being a sometimes mutually intelligible language but written completely differently.

[Mark A.]

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[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it, but I'm not finished with it. This is an excellent book on the syllabary, and I'll be studying it for quite some time.

[Sheila]

The basic syllabary is Ok but these conjugant consonants are very hard for my first attempt at language with a different script.