I’m going to India soon, and I know a bit of Hindi, but I usually become frustrated when trying to remember a word in the middle of a conversation and switch to English. Years ago I learned a bunch of German conversation snippets that I still remember, so I’m going to try the same with Hindi. I’ll add more and get Hindi translations as soon as I can figure out unicode..

• Door Into Hindi
• More Hindi videos
• HiTrans transliterator
• Hindi Type Pad
  

Food:
Conversations with my mom often go like this:

• Would you like more sabji?
• No thanks!
• How about some more rice?
• No thanks, I’m full!
• Then how about one more spoonful of dal?
• ….
  

• A polite way to ask for boiled water..
• Where is the chai store? – चाय की दुकान कहाँ है?
• More chai please!
  

Buying things:

• How much does this cost? – यह कितने का है?
  

(इसका दाम क्या है?)

• Can I pay for things in dollars? – क्य मै डॉलर (dollar) मे सामान खरीद सख्ते हुँ?
  

(Advice from dad: only shop where they accept dollars)

• Can I pay in dollars? (instead of rupees) – क्य मै डॉलर मे पैसे दे सख्ते हुँ?
• How about I give you X rupees for it?
• Ok, we’ll settle on Y
• Is there an ATM near here? क्य कोई ATM (pronounced like ETM) पस मे है?
  

General:

• Can you repeat that?
• What time is it?
• Do you have a map of Delhi? – क्या आपके पास दिल्ली का नक़्शा है?
• I’m hot/cold/tired.
• Can I borrow a blanket?
• Are there any internet cafes near here? – क्य कोई internet cafe पस मे है?
  

Emergency:

• I am sick.
• I need a doctor.
• I need to get to a hospital.
  

Vocabulary:
नक़्शा = map
दाम = price

Filed under: all talk, excursions, hindi, india · 4 Comments