videos

A Hidden Gem for Language Lovers and Learners

This article presents a unique approach for intermediate to advanced (and beyond) learners of many languages to gain exposure to interesting material in their target language(s). It has to do with a very popular website that features short (usually less than ten minutes) presentations by some of the world's greatest and most famous minds (not always both ;) on their specific areas of expertise. It's called, simply, TED, and the presentations are called "TED Talks".

The TED website itself is not geared towards language learners or educators yet is useful for both. It is especially useful for English learners, as all the talks are in English. But it's also useful for anyone learning most of the world's most-spoken languages (as well as numerous lesser-spoken ones) who want to simultaneously watch inspiring, funny, courageous, fascinating, informative, persuasive, ingenious and often jaw-dropping presentations about technology, science, entertainment, design, business and global issues - all while gaining exposure to their target language. Here's how and why...

Summary

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About Rosetta Stone

From the site:

"We are happy to announce that “A Door Into Hindi,” the interactive, multimedia Elementary Hindi learning website, is partially on line and available now. We invite you to explore the website and try out the various lessons and learning resources.

By the terms of our Department of Education Grant, this entire site is available to anyone in the world, at no charge. You are encouraged to use any of the materials in this site in your Hindi classes and we ask you to send us your feedback and your students’ comments.

The site will ultimately consist of 24 video-based lessons with accompanying scrolling texts, grammar notes, glossaries, cultural notes, “video-professors,” and other learning resources. All 24 lesson videos were filmed in India and Pakistan over the past two years, and editing is currently in progress. The lessons are coming on line over the course of this year, with approximately one new lesson coming up each week. Lessons 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are ready now. Lesson 7 will come up this month. The review lessons (4, 8, 12, etc.) are not available yet, but these do not include any new grammar information. Additional learning resources and exercises are being added on an on-going basis."

Comments

This site has some pretty good videos for people to get acquainted with some basic conversational Hindi.

There are some dead links and some pages that don't work, but the lessons that do have videos are worth checking out, especially if you are a beginner.

There is also written materials available, including some matching games and other such activities.

Visit A Door into Hindi.

From the site:

"This site is geared toward students at the beginning and intermediate level. It includes several sections:

1. Stories – mostly popular stories from the Panchatantra, retold by members of the South Asian community in New York City, collected by students from the Hindi classes at NYU. Every story has a series of pictures depicting major events from the plot, as well as a basic glossary list and the text of the story in audio and script. In addition, every picture has an additional audio file, which contains a loose description of the image and a small text file related to it.

2. Reference Grammar – including explanation and illustration of the most basic grammar of the Hindi language.

3. Exercises – intended as a student workbook for practice.

4. Student Projects and Work

5. South Asian Community Feature Magazine

6. Links to useful Hindi language-related sites"

Comments

There is a whole lot of really good content here. Stories with audio and visuals, videos, grammar, exercises and more. The site is very easy to navigate and has a clean feel.

This is top notch site for learning Hindi online... for free!

Visit Virtual Hindi from NYU.