Hindi

Hindi is the official and the link language of multilingual India. Its homeland is in the north of India, but it is spoken and widely understood in all urban centers of India. It is written in the Devanagari script which is phonetic and, unlike English, is pronounced as it is written. Hindi has a special relationship with Urdu because they have the same grammar and every day spoken vocabulary. On many college campuses in the US, Hindi and Urdu are taught as one language under the title Hindi-Urdu. The two languages, however, use different scripts and have different preferences when it comes to borrowing new formal and literary vocabulary. Although Hindi has many Perso-Arabic words, most of the recent borrowings are from Sanskrit in the written style and from English in the spoken style. Hindi is not only a language of communication, but also has a rich literary tradition which dates back to the eleventh century. Early literature, which was predominantly poetry, was written in a variety of Hindi dialects such as Braj and Avadhi. Modern literature is mostly written in Standard Hindi which has developed from Khari Boli, a dialect of Hindi spoken around Delhi and Meerut area. Hindi literature consists of all genres, such as poetry, drama, short stories, novels, and essays. Also, these days Hindi is the language of media and journalism with its many newspapers and magazines. The world of entertainment through its films and songs has made Hindi a very popular language at home and abroad. Many non-Hindi speaking young people learn Hindi through films for the purpose of watching films. Modern pop Hindi music is highly popular with Indians overseas settled in many countries of the world including Fiji, Trinidad, Canada, London, parts of Africa, and many countries of the Middle East. Film music has almost become an identity shawl for overseas Indians who love to sing and dance at the tunes of Hindi songs on Indian cultural and national holidays.

Beginning Hindi-Urdu: SARS 210 / 220, SARS 510/520 Instructor: Dr. S. K. Gambhir (sgambhir@sas.upenn.edu)
This course is a systematic introduction to Hindi-Urdu language and culture for true beginners. The course aims at developing listening comprehension and a real life interactive speaking ability to converse on a variety of everyday topics. Reading and writing are dealt with only at the basic level, and at this stage there is a relatively lesser emphasis on developing them as skills. The target language is presented in its total sociocultural context including body language. For achieving a meaningful and operational control of the language, students acquire basic rules of the language and the language use, and a basic vocabulary of about 1200 words. In addition, students learn two scripts: Devanagari script for Hindi in Fall and Nastlique script for Urdu in Spring. Authentic and simulated video materials are used to bring the South Asian culture live to the classroom. Class activities include watching videos, singing, role-playing, language games and group work. There is an emphasis on developing communicave ability which implies both linguistic and cultural appropriateness in the use of the language. There are weekly assignments and quizzes, a mid-term and a final examination. This is a 2 semester course with no prerequisites.
Intermediate Hindi: SARS 215/515 Instructor: Dr. Vijay Gambhir (vgambhir@sas.upenn.edu)
Description: In Intermediate Hindi the student continues to develop the four language skills, with an emphasis on real-life situations--through hearing and practicing conversation on everyday topics, reading a variety of authentic texts ranging from advertisements to short stories, watching segments of current films, and carrying out short research projects using Hindi sources. There is a strong emphasis on vocabulary development and on using contextually appropriate styles of spoken and written Hindi. Students who are willing to put in an effort will be rewarded by substantial gains in their Hindi skills. This is a 2-semester course and it presupposes the knowledge of oral and literacy skills covered in Beginning Hindi. In order to get a passing grade at the end of two semesters, undergraduate students must achieve a level of Intermediate-Mid in all the four skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). Graduate students must demonstrate Intermediate-High in at least one skill, and Intermediate-Mid in the other three. (This fulfills the University's language requirement.)
Advanced Hindi: SARS 214 / SARS 514 Instructor: Dr. S. K. Gambhir (sgambhir@sas.upenn.edu)
Advanced Hindi aims at systematically developing the higher level linguistic functions and cultural nuances. Students learn to describe, narrate and support their opinions in informal and formal styles. The objective of the course is to promote a meaningful interaction with written literature and with natives in a socially acceptable manner in a variety of simple and complicated situations. Students work for these objectives through natural means of language acquisition through greater attention to pronunciation, vocabulary build-up, grammatical accuracy and cultural appropriateness. A variety of authentic materials are used, such as short stories, plays, newspapers, magazines, videos, television and radio broadcasts, and interviews. Every semester the course materials and foci can vary depending on the needs and interests of students in the class. There are weekly assignments, quizzes, a midterm and a final examination. In addition, students do a project in the target language in an area of their interest This is a one semester course and can be repeated for credit. A minimum of two semesters are recommended for achieving a working or professional proficiency in the language. Prerequisites: Intermediate Hindi course or an equivalent of two years of formal language study.
Accelerated Hindi: SARS 216/516 Instructor: Dr. Vijay Gambhir (vgambhir@sas.upenn.edu)
This is a fast paced course for those learners who have some degree of listening and speaking skills in Hindi, but have minimal or no literacy skills. In the Fall semester, students acquire basic reading and writing skills and advance their speaking and listening skills. By the end of the Fall semester, students are expected to be able to read simple texts and converse on a variety of everyday personal and social topics in Hindi. Grammatical accuracy and sociocultural appropriateness of language is emphasized through out the course. In the Spring semester, students continue to advance all their linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) and functions (narration, description, supporting opinion) with a special focus on reading and writing. Students develop their formal vocabulary through authentic oral and written input that is rich in content and culture. The course evaluation is based on weekly tests, assignments, class participation, mid-term and final examinations, and a course project. Since Accelerated Hindi is a one semester course, new students can enroll in the Spring semester. However, those who join in the Springmust demonstrate a basic proficiency in reading and writing Hindi. Please note that most students who take two semesters of Accelerated Hindi are able to pass their Hindi proficiency examination.