HINDI LESSON 1 (Devanagari Script)

[aksasa32]

achahi



[VobisPacem]

The biggest problem I have is the combination of two syllables without using the connector sign. There are hundreds of possible combinations! I wonder if Indian children learn those hundred combinations in elementary school, or even kindergarten. arh... well, I'll learn anyway. just takes some time.

[CrazyLassi]

@VobisPacem Actually it's not that difficult as you say. I know what you mean though. The most important is to learn the irregular conjunctions such that involve conjunctions with ru/roo etc. The easiest way to learn these things is to read a Hindi text that comes along with Devanagari and its English transliteration and it happens AUTOMATICALLY.

[sheru7mera7naam007]

thanks for this upload brother....was wondering if u could help me with a question...

what is the difference between the letter "ष" and "श"... do they both make the "sh" sound or is there a slight difference?

[karyrose0811]

wooo is my first time trying this... i hope this wont be such as dificult :P yeah as spanish speaker, i have same problem with fricative sounds but let's see! :):)

[CrazyLassi]

@karyrose0811 Best of luck to you and I can assure you that Hindi isn't that hard at all!

[chrissomerry]

Since the concept of aspiration (th vs t bh vs b etc) is hard for me, is it OK to think of it like "t + english th (tth)" and "b + a sort of English "v" sound with both lips (bv)"?

Otherwise if I try making a short "h" sound after them, my "th" and "dh"s etc sound the same....

[CrazyLassi]

@chrissomerry I think it might be easier if you could think of Hindi "letters" as syllables in a language such as Japanese. So if you want to pronounce T or TH, you just have to aim to pronounce a very clear "TA" and "THA". I am not sure I can get what you mean by pronouncing "bv"...But, I think, whatever trick you use and as long as it sounds like Hindi TA and THA, I think that's fine. By the way, try Rupert Snell's Devanagari pronunciation game. Google "avashy".

[chrissomerry]

@CrazyLassi Thanks for the reply, I guess I'll have to listen over and over again until I can get the right sound ;) (by "bv" I meant making a small bilabial fricative sound after the b, but I didn't want to use my pseudo-linguistics vocab since most people I mention that stuff to look at me like I'm describing a medical condition :P). Cheers again!

[CrazyLassi]

@chrissomerry LOL I guess I'm one of those people who look at you as if you're describing a medical condition, although I too like language books (although I'm just an amateur).

[thomaskpappu]

why did people make many languages???? there should only have been one language in de world n that would be english...anyway thnx....i have a test 2morow AND IF U WOULD PRAY 4 ME IT WOULD BE GREAT....pls give ME a thumbs up if u think i can score 10/10..

[CrazyLassi]

@thomaskpappu I think there is only one language but many dialects. I gave you thumbs up.

[thomaskpappu]

@CrazyLassi thank u...

[RABIAH44]

@thomaskpappu how was ur test and do u speak bengali?

[thomaskpappu]

@RABIAH44 it was so awesome n easy...today i got my resultts and i scored 10/10...thank u 4 asking....by the way no, i don't speak bengali

[chrissomerry]

@thomaskpappu Because everyone wants to speak their own way ;)

[ColoradoShogun]

It sounds like a lot of these vowels and consonant-vowel combinations are dependent on long vowels vs. short vowels. Am I correct in this assessment?

[CrazyLassi]

@ColoradoShogun Yes. They probably are. I am not sure I can understand what exactly do you mean but I can only say that every independent consonant in Hindi script comes with a short "a" at the end, so you don't need to write short "a" in a word कमल (kamal - lotus), you just need to write the "consonants". The major differences between Hindi sounds are caused by "long vowels" and "short vowels". There are no in between sounds. Anyway, if I didn't answer your question, please write again.

[macassans]

是簡單在哪裡阿 怪異到極點

[CrazyLassi]

@macassans 这是什么意思？

[DrSAM69]

Sorry to disturb...but you missed a few consonants I found here and there.

ञ ऩ ऱ ळ ऴ क़ ख़ ग़ ज़ ड़ ढ़ फ़ य़ (some of wich are almost never used i heard)

and also theese vowels

ऌ ऍ ऎ ऑ ऒ ॠ ॡ

Would you mind explaining them?

[Desi4evah]

@DrSAM69 Those are equivalents of Urdu/Farsi/Arabic consonants. And yes, they are used in Hindi, only by those users who wish to emphasize that the auntenticity/origin or the words are Urdu/Arabic/Farsi.

For example, God is خدا in Urdu/Farsi. If a regular Hindi speaker were to write it, it would have been खुदा. However, this is technically wrong. It should have been ख़ुदा (w/a dot underneath).

Those characters are all guttural sounds. The one with a curve on top are acute sounds.

[xMeroMusicTvX]

I think it's a very difficult language to learn.

[VendPrekmurec]

@xMeroMusicTvX yes Sanskrit is quite hard to learn it. It knows also Dual form (between Singular and Plural)- for conjugation of verbs (my language is slovenian and we know dual also; both languages with sanskrit are still very similar sometimes)

[reva12]

@SexySomaliG

I am Indian and "studied" Hindi for 6 yrs in high school. I still cannot hear the difference between the sha (श) at 3:46 and the sha (ष) at 3:51. However, I have no trouble with ka vs. kha, ta vs.tha., etc.

I think he fudged a bit on the ण pronunciation, which is there in Tamil too.

[Desi4evah]

@reva12 He's screwed the Sha and SSha pronunciation too.

[harimenon12]

"Ta" as in "Justice" ...."Tha" as in "Bastard" ( the "Tha" is harder sounding, with more expulsion of air)

"Da" as in "Dick" ... "Dha" in "Daddle" (with more expulsion of air)

The next "Na" sound is not available in the English language.

[harimenon12]

"Ta" as in "a Spanish person sayin the words unos dos TRES"

"Tha" as in "Thankyou" ."Da" as in "width" .. and "Dha" "Dhoom" ( with more expulsion of air).."Na" as in "do you wanna" ...

"Pa" as in "Parrot".."Fa" as in "Fuck".."Ba" as in "Barb wire".."Bha" as in "Bhang" (more expulsion of air)."Ma" as in "Mango"

"Ya" as in "Why".."Ra" as in "Rail".."La" as in "Love".."Va" as in "Vicky".."Sha" as in "Shame"..The next Sha is similar to the previous "Sha" .."Sa" as in "Same".."Ha" as in "Habit"

[harimenon12]

The difference between the similar sounding letters is that one is softer ....the other one is with more expulsion of air from your mouth.

Keep the palm of your hand 2 inches away from your mouth. Now when you say "Ka", you cannot feel the air from your mouth hitting your palm. But when you say "Kha", you can feel the air hitting your palm. 

[ijkl2008]

@SexySomaliG Kha is aspirated while ka is without aspiration. The same goes with the other pairs Gha , Ga, Ta , Tha, Da, Dha etc.

[karlkarlkarl1234]

This is so cool. Definitely going to the learn Devanagari script off by heart!

[latenchita]

omg i found these videos very helpful... thank you so much! shukriyaa!

[latenchita]

omg i found hese viedeos very helpful... thank you so much! shukriyaa!

[ingleward]

@SexySomaliG Since most Sanskrit based languages have inheriant vowels they have little symbols for example the second line after the letter a (uh: Very lightly pronounced) That second line in aa makes it from being a (uh) to aa. That second bar line is what makes the difference. I am talking about the second letter in the hindi vowel order. So for each of the other vowels the little symbols that are added is what makes the sounds different. Hope it helps. Sorry to confuse you if I did :(

[SSunshower]

this is helpful

[firestormrex]

I'm sure I use all the sounds here every day, but I just don't think about it. Perhaps that's the key.

[CrazyLassi]

@firestormrex Everything is possible with a little bit of practice. If it seems complex, I would suggest to leave the sounds alone and move on to other things like Hindi phrases and vocabulary. Also, as a foreigner you are allowed to do pronunciation mistakes in the beginning and you'll still be understood according to the context. I would also suggest watching a lot of Hindi movies or Hindi news to get used to all the different sounds, and then you'll be pronouncing correctly without knowing.

[firestormrex]

I understand the difference in sounds. It's the placement of the tongue. However, this is QUITE complex to an American.

[simplicitykitty]

@firestormrex my parents spoke one of the many indian languages at home and truthfully it's very important to *see* the speaker as there is a subtle difference in the pronounciation of each letter/vowel - trust me there are many americans who speak hindi much much better than i could ever dream of.... take private classes or group classes if u can.. and good luck!!

[CrazyLassi]

@SexySomaliG I think it's not hard - it's unusual. Actually all these sounds are different although some of them can sound the same. It takes time to recognize differences between "Ka" and "Kha", "Ga" and "Gha" etc You should still continue with your Hindi and you will be understood even when you pronounce something wrongly. If you say "Muje (instead of mujhe) nahee pasand yeh kaanaa (instead of khaanaa) while eating, everyone will understand that you say "I don't like this food".

[shadaraj]

@CrazyLassi yes taht surely is teh case..but the key to learning hindi is that you need face to face learning or it wont help..as these sounds just cant be written in english...when we pronounce it, ka is pronounced as (KU) whereas 'u' is liek umbrella..khha is the secnd consonant...pronounced as kchha in espanol..it is tough learning a language throuhg a video but i surely appreciate the nice try to make it :)

[Theshoesaremine]

What's the diffrence btw Ta in 2:14 and ta in 2:39 ?

[CrazyLassi]

@Theshoesaremine The "ट" in 2:14 is a retroflex sound, where you have to put your tong quite back in the mouth (while pronouncing an English "T", your tongues touches your upper teeth only). "थ" in 2:39 is a completely different sound made of T + H (in Hindi "H" is pronounced and TH is never one sound like in English "THere" etc. It's like "K" and "H" in a surname "KHAN" which would be pretty different from "KAN" or "GAN".

[ingleward]

@Theshoesaremine Sorry to reply if you already have learnt it, but the difference is that the pronunciation is Ta, (heavy T with a light uh) and Tha. There is an H sound but should be pronounced shortly and lightly. Like how you would pronounce Thyme, use the Th sound and add the uh --> ( should be a short uh sound) Hope it helps or else really sorry to confuse. The Alphabet in most Sanskrit based languages are organized in the ways our lips and tongue move.

[ranjeetdubey]

@Theshoesaremine

The Ta in 2:14 is equivalent to phonetics of T in english. e.g. sound of "t" in cutlery

The other ta has not got an exact equivalent in english, rather it is equivalent to Spanish "t"

[ranjeetdubey]

@Theshoesaremine

The Ta in 2:14 is equivalent to phonetics of T in english. e.g. sound of "t" in cutlery

The other ta (at 2:39) has not got an exact equivalent in english, rather it is equivalent to Spanish "t"

[negroadam]

please see uniscript.webs.com

[TractorTheBassist]

WoW!

[wafflegal101]

yeah the kha and ka and da and dha things are really hard to distinguish

[canaan1967]

How many consonants are in this alphabet? YOu only have 30 but I understand there are as many as 46 consonants alone.

[CrazyLassi]

There are 33 consonants in Devanagari alphabet, however two or more joined consonants makes a new character. Keeping in mind all the "essential conjuncts"  it becomes about 100 letters.

[ThePooja05]

Franchement c'est très ben fait cela m'aide beaucoup

[mercuryprophet]

Hi, I've just started learning Hindi and seriously struggle to differentiate the sounds in for example the pronunciation of ka and kha, or da and dha. Have you any tips as to how to get round this, or is it simply a matter of practice and gradually familiarising oneself with the language?

[snowman733]

@mercuryprophet

Try making it sound like a "h" is in the letters such as dha (sounds like da-ha but fast).

[RABIAH44]

@mercuryprophet i also have started learning hindi.did u speak english before?

[CrazyLassi]

@mercuryprophet Yes it is a matter of practice. They are not that difficult, just add 'h' in between, which you pronounce like in 'hot' or 'khan'. We will make some videos on that but it's pretty much easy to get use to them.

[Luckxx0]

how would you prononce the name "archit"?

[CrazyLassi]

Ermm, how can I write that? Ar - chi - t (just like you write it)...Short A, Italian R, english CH (cheese) and T as in TO.

[harsh240690]

you are wrong dude -

corrections -

ऐ is pronounced as ai (अई)

and औ as aau (अउ) in alphabet

but while speaking there sound differs in some parts of india..

and you forgot am अं and aaha अः

second mistake you have made in pronouncing N (ण) its a retroflex, you haven't made the sharp sound

[deepam08]

@harsh240690 ऐ is like ae like in ek or cake औ is like au in auricle or australia

[CrazyLassi]

You're very welcome!

[ayeshaashraf]

thanx for the video:)