HINDI FOR HERITAGE SPEAKERS II

This is a fast-paced course that compresses two years of Hindi into one year. It is for students of South Asian background who already possess limited speaking and listening skills in Hindi or Urdu. Non-heritage students who have some exposure to Hindi or Urdu and South Asian cultures may also take this course.

It begins with an introduction to the Devanagari Script, which enables students to acquire basic reading and writing skills. They then build on their listening and speaking skills. To achieve these goals, students are introduced to a variety of materials, including literature, newspapers, folk tales, jokes, magazine articles, films, songs, commercials, and other kinds of audiovisual materials. These texts are related to language functions in daily personal and social life situations.

It focuses on vocabulary enrichment by exposing students to a variety of cultural topics and developing knowledge of basic Hindi grammar. By the end of the semester, students will develop productive skills in reading, writing, and speaking and will be able to:

• speak about themselves and their environment, and initiate conversations on topics of general interest.

• Understand most of the basic sentence structures of Hindi in formal and informal registers.

• Write correspondence related to daily life, letters, short essays, and compositions on various topics.

• Learn some basic vocabulary related to aspects of Indian life, such as family life, social traditions, and education.

• Initiate and sustain conversations on a range of topics related to different aspects of Indian culture, social, and family life.

On the first day of classes, there will be an interview/placemat test to establish the proficiency level. Please come directly to class. If accepted, the department will register you internally.