Learn Hindi?

Question

My wife (american) wants to learn Hindi. She thinks writing is a bit intimidating but would like to learn how to listen and speak.
Is that even realistic or is reading/writing a must?
Can you suggest any good books/software/online classes etc?

Answer 1

Rosetta Stone software is good for listening and speaking. If you want the writing too, "Teach yourself Hindi" by Rupert Snell has been very helpful. I'm currently learning the language too

Answer 2

Yes, as an Indian who lived outside of India my hindi writing and reading are weak but my speaking is great - learning to read/write isn't necessary at all - infact you must know how to speak it before reading/writing it.
Might I also suggest that your wife listen to hindi songs after she has a basic grasp of the language - it will do more good for her vocabulary than any classes or software she uses.

Answer 3

it's nice to hear that btw way let me clear something about hindi langauge.

the major diff btwn English and Hindi is the

according to English grammer sentence strucure is like this

Subject+verb+object

but in hindi language it's quite diif
it's like

Subject+object+verb.

so 1st thing ur wife should be change her way of thinking as u know for any languagne thinking is the most important thing. tell her to orgnise the sentence like this....and other in English we hv 26 alphabat but in Hindi 48 btw it's not very hard if she will try, tell her to find some online friend on SKYPE it would be best way and help her, so she can chat and know...

Rosetta Stone software is good for listening and speaking. If you want the writing too, "Teach yourself Hindi" by Rupert Snell has been very helpful. as being an Indian i think for foreigner this is the best book to learn Hindi

btw best of luck (convery her my wishes)
if u need any help from me feel free to contact me. or shoot email to my id [e-mail]

Answer 4

the resources listed above are all good. Pimsleur has some CD/tapes that you can listen to in the car and practice. Lots of repetition -- greetings, directions, etc. There is a smaller course with 10 lessons and I just found a level 1 comprehensive course with 30 lessons. A bit pricey, but handy for audio learning when you can't read a book or play with the computer.