Last week I brought Rupert Snell’s Teach Yourself Hindi, pictured above, after it had been recommended  several times by other Hindi learners and websites. I wanted to have a good read of it first before reviewing and recommending it here. 

Teach Yourself Hindi does exactly what you expect it to do; it teaches you Hindi! But it does this in such a simple and easy to understand manner you’ll be so surprised at how quickly you learn phrases, vocabulary and grammar. This book is even used as a course textbook for Hindi Language courses at colleges and Universities which really shows how good its reputation is. The author, Rupert Snell, is the Director of the Hindi Urdu Flagship at The University of Texas and used to work at the University of London School of Oriental and South Asian Languages. 

The accompanying CD/cassette tape fits in perfectly with the book and together they teach a full and complete reading, writing, speaking and listening course. The CD, which I recommend you listen to at every opportunity you get, is based on the conversations presented at the start of each chapter in the book, with comprehension style questions after. So make sure you buy either the CD or the tape with the book. 

The conversations in the book tell a ‘soap opera’ like story about Pratap प्रताप who goes to India to study Hindi, staying at the house of Kamala कमला and Prakash पकाश with many other characters being introduced along the way. There’s all kinds of plot twists and turns, which really make the learning interesting and fun. After the conversation at the beginner of each of the 18 chapters the book explains the grammar and vocabulary used in that conversation, going into considerable depth. You are then presented with many useful examples and exercises (with the answers at the back) to test and reinforce your understanding. 

Transliterations ('the Hindi written in English letters’) are shown for the first 5 chapters, which means those who don’t know how to read Hindi are forced to learn it! But with a full introduction to the Hindi 'alphabet’ at the beginning of the book, and a bit of practice, this shouldn’t be a problem. 

The book may only be 360 pages long, and in fact is quite small in size too, but it covers so much material it’s going to keep even the most keen of students occupied for months, if not years. Just about everything you can think of and more is covered. 

To anyone wanting to speak with confidence, have all kinds of conversations with Hindi speakers, be understood and get around in India this really is the book for you. I simply can’t recommend it enough. It really is the next best thing to actual language lessons! And believe it or not, it’s actually quite cheap! You should be able to buy it at any good book store or online shop. 

I may mention or refer to this book from time to time on this blog, in fact I already have, just because it covers information in more depth than I possibly could!