Tag Archives: Hindi words and phrases
More Reading Comprehension in Hindi Posted by Rachael on Jan 17, 2018
This week, let’s continue to work on our reading comprehension skills with the third part of Mahadevi Varma’s (महादेवी वर्मा) short story, “Sister-in-Law” (Bhabhi/भाभी) from her collection of stories in Glimpses of the Past (अतीत के चलचित्र) (read parts 1 and 2 here). Like last time, try to read only the Hindi text first and…
Reading Comprehension in Hindi Posted by Rachael on Jan 15, 2018
This week, let’s return to where we left off last time with Mahadevi Varma’s (महादेवी वर्मा) short story “भाभी/Bhaabi” (“Sister-in-Law”), from her collection of memoirs entitled अतीत के चलचित्र/Ateet ke Chalchitra (Glimpses of the Past). If you haven’t yet read Part 1, you can do so here. Even if your priorities in learning Hindi do…
Mahadevi Varma, Revisited Posted by Rachael on Jan 8, 2018
जैसे आप लोगों को शायद याद है, कई महीनों पहले मैंने महादेवी वर्मा, एक बहुत मशहूर भारतीय लेखिका और कवि, के बारे में पोस्ट लिखा था (आप लोग इसे पढ़ सकते हैं, यहाँ) । लेकिन, महादेवी जी इतनी मशहूर हैं और इतने अच्छे तरीके से लिखती हैं कि एक ही ब्लॉग का पोस्ट उनके लिए…
The Freedom of a Child Posted by Rachael on Jan 6, 2018
Child labor (बाल मजदूरी/baal majdoori, fem. or बाल श्रम/baal shram, masc.) in India is a pervasive problem with a long history. In more recent times, this issue has come into sharper focus as developed nations have enacted stricter laws (कानून/kaanoon, masc.) against child labor, which often entail mandatory education (शिक्षा/shikshaa, fem.) up to a certain…
Levels of Language: Register in Hindi, Part 3 Posted by Rachael on Dec 29, 2017
In today’s post, I’ll be discussing the newest transformation that Hindi has undertaken: Hinglish. This term refers to a combination of Hindi and English vocabulary, syntax and, sometimes, grammar and idiom. It can refer to speech that includes a vast majority of English and a minority of Hindi or vice versa. But, for the purposes…
Levels of Language: Register in Hindi, Part 2 Posted by Rachael on Dec 23, 2017
In my last blog on the concept of “register” in Hindi, I discussed the more formal register of this language, which is heavily influenced by its “parent language” of sorts, Sanskrit. In this blog, I will delve into a more informal and colloquial register of Hindi: what is sometimes called “Hindustani.” “Hindustani” is a quintessential…
Levels of Language: Register in Hindi, Part 1 Posted by Rachael on Dec 17, 2017
“Register” simply refers to the various levels of speech that exist in any language––such as formal, informal/colloquial, slang, etc. Just as we have different registers in English, like the formal language you would use in a research paper or the slang terms you use when talking to a close friend, there are different registers in…