iSpeakHindi.com - Raw Hindi #001 - Family Structure: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4)

Father – पिता
Mother – माता or  माँ
Paternal Grandfather – दादा
Paternal Grandmother – दादी
Maternal Grandfather – नाना
Maternal Grandmother – नानी
Brother – भाई
Sister – बहिन
Elder Sister – दीदी
Son – बेटा
Daughter – बेटी
Husband – पति
Wife – पत्नी
Mother-in-law – सास

The Internet is host to such a giving culture.  I would like to point out all the free services and tools that have been used so far to make this site.

First, what you are looking at right now, is WordPress.  This is a freely available, open source tool that allows for people to manage their own blogs.  Be sure and check it out at http://www.wordpress.org

Second, I got the PodPress plug in that is used in conjunction with WordPress and is meant for people that have a PodCast.  You can check it out at http://www.podpress.org/  There are several other things around podcasting and using WordPress for podcasting there.

Third, the theme that you see cam from http://themes.wordpress.net/other/rounded-corners/3996/surprising-sunset-10/  There are many other themes that are freely available there.

Now, these tools here are built on PHP and MySql.  If you are interested in learning more about these, checkout http://www.php.net and http://www.mysql.com

 Now to record and edit the program, I am using Audacity which you can get from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.

 Then to do the MP3 encoding, I am using the LAME MP3 Encoder http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php

To write up the scripts and produce the PDFs, I am using Writer from Open Office http://www.openoffice.org

For stats, I am using Google’s Analytics:  http://analytics.google.com.  For Email, I’m using Google’s Gmail service:  http://www.gmail.com  Also, in the hopes of bringing in some revenue to offset the cost of hosting and eventually hopefully to pay for my time and the time of the people that help me with the site, I am using Google AdSense at http://Adsense.google.com

Now, I need some software to organize the audio clips that I get and ideally some workflow type of software that could manage ideas for sessions, gathering the words and definitions, writing the scripts, recording the scripts, editing, and posting.

And in terms of services, I hope to use Cafe Press (http://www.cafepress.com/ ) to offer T Shirts, buttons, and CDs.  Hopefully this will help with the revenue side as well.

 iSpeakHindi.com - Essential Hindi #001 - Hello and Goodbye: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10)

So, how do you start a conversation?  With “Hello”.  Then you move on to “My name is…” and “What is your name?”  And then you end the conversation with “See you later.”  And this seems like a good place to start with your Hindi lessons.

Click on the “Play” button below (or one of the other play options) to hear the audio cast.

Words coverd in this session:
Hindi Transcription Meaning
धन्यवाद dhan-ya-vad Thank You
नमस्ते namaste Hello
मेरा नाम <name> है Mera naam <name> hai My name is <name>.
आपका नाम क्य है? aapka naam kya hai ? What is your name? (formal)
फिर मिलेंगे phir milenge See you later

Essential Hindi #001 – Hello and Goodbye – Script

This is a site dedicated to learning Hindi.  The main service of this site is a daily podcast covering parts of Hindi.  The podcasts come in several levels such as Essential Hindi which are key phrases that you would be expected to know in any language.  These are the sessions you want to listen to first, and before your trip to India.  The Beginner Hindi session are for those that are serious about learning Hindi and are just getting started.  These sessions start out with the Hindi soud system and alphabet, move on to basic sentence structure, basic grammar and basic vocabulary.  The Intermediate Hindi sessons are the next level of learning Hindi.  These sessions look at more complex sentence structure, some exceptions to some rules, and more complex vocabulary.  These sessions are probably 50/50 in English and Hindi.  Then the Advanced Hindi sessions are for those that have a good understanding of Hindi.  These sessions are almost completely in Hindi.  We talk about more advance Hindi using easier Hindi.  We only revert back to English when it is not possible or pratical to discuss the Hindi subject in Hindi.

There are also “Raw Hindi” sessions.  These are generally unedited sessions where we just sit around and discuss a Hindi topic.  We can answer your questions in these sessions as well.  Post a comment or question and we can address these in a “Raw Hindi” session.

We also catagorize the sessions by the speakers and actors that are on the session.  So, if one of the voices are easier for you to understand, it allows for you to quickly find all the sessions that he or she is in.

There will be cultural lessons as well.   These could cover social practices in India, regional differences, food, history, polical system, and any other subjects that are Hindi related.

With many sessions, we will be including a script, list of words that are introduced/used, quizes, puzzles, and activities that will help you learn Hindi.

We will also be developing online language tools such as quizes, dictionary, grammar tools, etc.

Please let us know if you have found sites and tools that have helped you to learn Hindi.  Also, let us know if you would like to have any changes to the site.  We can use any type of help.  If you have some suggestions for a session, just post it as a comment to this message or if you are interested in creating a script other tools, recording, editing, etc.  Or if you can help with the maintenance of the site such as graphics, moderating comments, or programming, let me know that as well.