I was inspired by peliom’s web-2.0 Japanese flashcards, so I made some Hindi flashcards this weekend. Or rather, I made an open-source framework for javascript-powered flashcards called TikiCards, and pre-populated it with vocabulary words from the awesome Door Into Hindi lessons that I’ve been working on. I’ll work on adding more words and more languages soon. The code is checked in here.

Unfortunately, Firefox on the Mac doesn’t ship with a Devanagari fonts, and it doesn’t use the OS X system font, so all the characters show up as question marks. And unlike peliom’s Japanese flashcards that work great on the iPhone, the Devanagari characters show up as square boxes on the iPhone. So if you want to use these for Hindi, use Safari on a Mac or FF on unix.

Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think.

Filed under: code code, flashcards, hindi, opensource, TikiCards · 4 Comments

Did you know that Amit Gupta, who wrote the WP syntax highlighter that we use, also has a Hindi blog? Reading blogs is a fun way to practice Hindi.. I would start a Hindi blog too but typing in Devanagari is so hard!

Filed under: education, hindi · 0 Comments

I’ve been listening to this ridiculous podcast called Learn Hindi From Bollywood Movies… I love it! The guy who does it, Arun Krishnan, does a great job. I LOLed several times!

John Lennon had once said that ‘all you need is love’. In this matter, love is indeed different from orange juice. For there is many a breakfast we have had without orange juice, but seldom have we been able to enjoy an egg that has not been fried under the steady gaze of a soulmate.

Filed under: education, hindi, india, podcasts · 1 Comment

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