Tag Archives: Hindi Language
Navigating Gender in Hindi (Part 2) Posted by Rachael on Jul 25, 2017
In part 1 of this blog series on gender in Hindi, I discussed gender as it relates to each word’s source language, with the language of focus being Sanskrit. In this post, I’ll talk about a few more source languages and how they dictate gender: Persian, Arabic and English! Persian and Arabic Nouns Persian and…
Navigating Gender in Hindi (Part 1) Posted by Rachael on Jul 17, 2017
Many languages have a system of gender, which is basically just an organizational tool for separating words into masculine, feminine and sometimes, neuter, categories. In essence, it is an attempt to further “anthropomorphize” language, which is already such an intimate human creation. If you have studied a Romance language before, for example, you’ll know that…
Portuguese in Hindi (Part 2): A Tale of Trade, Travel and Cultural Tension Posted by Rachael on Jun 7, 2017
Hello again, everyone! फिर से नमस्ते सब लोग/phir se namaste sab log or, as my Portuguese-speaking friends would say it, Olá de novo gente! That’s right, this week’s blog will be a continuation of where we left off last time: a discussion of the history and legacy of the Portuguese in India. If you missed…
The City of Dreams Posted by Rachael on Mar 6, 2017
The city of Bombay (बॉम्बे/Bombay or बंर्बइ/Bambai) officially renamed to “Mumbai” (मुंबई/Mumbai) in 1995, has loomed large in India’s popular imagination since its beginnings (शुरुआत/shuruaat, fem. noun). In the modern age, it is commonly associated with North India’s biggest film (फ़िल्म/film, fem. noun) industry, often known as “Bollywood.” Thus, it is the place where aspiring…
Family Stories (Parivaar ki Kahaaniya) Posted by Rachael on Feb 20, 2017
Most people enjoy listening to stories (कहानियाँ/kahaaniyaan, fem. plural noun. Singular noun: कहानी/kahaani) about their family (परिवार/parivaar, masc. noun), and I am certainly one of those people. I especially enjoy listening to my parents’ stories of when they were younger and, when my grandmother was still with us, I loved hearing her stories of growing…
The Strange One Posted by Rachael on Dec 6, 2016
Following on last week’s blog about the famous Hindi writer Mahadevi Varma (महादेवी वर्मा), I’d like to discuss another important Hindi literary figure this week: Nirala (निराला) (1896/99-1961). This writer, whose date of birth is not definitively known, was born Suraj Kumar Tevari (सूरज कुमार तिवारी) (later known as Suryakant Tripathi, सूर्यकान्त त्रिपाठी) into a…
An Homage to Mahadevi Varma Posted by Rachael on Nov 28, 2016
I had the good fortune to spend this past Thanksgiving week in one of the most beautiful parts (or the most beautiful part, in my opinion) of the United States: Vermont. Although I have visited Vermont several times before, I looked forward to this visit especially as it would be the first time I would…