Hindi (Teach Yourself)

This is the best book for learning Hindi that I have come across. It may be a bit much for the absolute beginner, but it uses the Devanagari alphabet throughout, which aids in learning the language, and forces you to use what you have learned. Grammar and vocabulary are covered in detail and many conversations are recorded on the accompanying tape. This book contains the complete structure of the language. After this, all you need to do is to build up your vocabulary and you're ready for India!

If you really want to learn Hindi, I recommend you this book! Nothing to do with all the other manual that I've found around, which were unclear and approximate. This one is complete, clear, step by step, and if you come over the initial difficulty of learning devanagari script, it really takes you further on in the practical use of the language. I have learned Hindi most of the time studying it on the train while going to work!

So many readers giving 5 stars for a textbook is fairly unusual but this is so much better than Bhatia's "Colloquial Hindi" that it deserves it. The main difference is in the longer length and use of the (easy and logical) devanagari script. RS McGregor's Hindi-English dictionary and the (revised) Lonely Planet Hindi phrasebooks are an excellent accompaniement to this course. McGregor's grammar is also worth getting (better than Srivasta's) though it is a course of a kind itself rather than a reference grammar.

I am presently learning Hindi at a State Department school and this is one of our textbooks. Out of the several grammar books that I have, this is by far the best one. The explanations for grammar and sentence structure are very helpful and useful.

This is the best hindi learning book I've read. It's clear, the lessons aren't too long, it's going slightly harder as lesssons go by... And I'm very glad that you stop english translation from 6th lesson : it helps to learn the Devanagari alphabet. (With the translation beside, you can't help lookin' at it...) Very good job ! C.B