Learn about Hindi proficiency tests
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Intro |
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| Alisha: What are some common Hindi proficiency tests? |
| Shakti: And how do I choose the right one for me? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following scenario: Emma is talking to Khushbu Khan about her attempts to motivate herself to study Hindi harder. She says, |
| "I have to take the Central Institute of Hindi exam." |
| एमा: मुझे केंद्रीय हिंदी संस्थान की परीक्षा देनी है। (mujhe keNDriy hiNDii SaNSTHaaN kii pariiksaa DeNii hai.) |
| Dialogue |
| एमा: मुझे केंद्रीय हिंदी संस्थान की परीक्षा देनी है। (mujhe keNDriy hiNDii SaNSTHaaN kii pariiksaa DeNii hai.) |
| ख़ुशबू: कया केंद्रीय हिंदी संस्थान की परीक्षा? (kya keNDriiy hiNDii SaNSTHaaN kii pariiksaa?) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| एमा: मुझे केंद्रीय हिंदी संस्थान की परीक्षा देनी है। (mujhe keNDriy hiNDii SaNSTHaaN kii pariiksaa DeNii hai.) |
| Alisha: "I have to take the Central Institute of Hindi exam." |
| ख़ुशबू: कया केंद्रीय हिंदी संस्थान की परीक्षा? (kya keNDriiy hiNDii SaNSTHaaN kii pariiksaa?) |
| Alisha: "The Central Institute of Hindi exam?" |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: Hindi is the third most-spoken language in the world, and learning Hindi opens you up to all sorts of opportunities to connect with Hindi speakers around the world. Many Hindi learners, when they finally master the language, plan to spend time in India. If it is also on your bucket list, then you should know that, if you plan to apply to a university or land your dream job in India —or another Hindi-speaking country—obtaining proof of your Hindi proficiency will come in handy. |
| To show that you are fluent and that you will not have any problems in your daily life caused by the language barrier, you might be asked to present evidence of your proficiency in Hindi. |
| Hindi proficiency tests can serve as such evidence. In this lesson, we will talk about the most widely-accepted Hindi language proficiency tests and where you can take them. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Do you remember how to say "I have to take the Central Institute of Hindi exam."? |
| Shakti as Emma: मुझे केंद्रीय हिंदी संस्थान की परीक्षा देनी है। (mujhe keNDriy hiNDii SaNSTHaaN kii pariiksaa DeNii hai.) |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: And do you remember how Khushbu says "The Central Institute of Hindi exam?" |
| Shakti as Khushbu Khan: कया केंद्रीय हिंदी संस्थान की परीक्षा? (kya keNDriiy hiNDii SaNSTHaaN kii pariiksaa?) |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: The Central Institute of Hindi, also known as |
| Shakti: केंद्रीय हिंदी संस्थान (Kendriya Hindi Sansthan), |
| Alisha: has its headquarters on a campus outside the city of Agra. It is the biggest international center of Hindi teaching in the world, where foreign students are given intense training in Hindi. They have been conducting various Hindi language proficiency courses for international students since 1971 at both the Agra and the Delhi campuses. The institute also conducts similar courses in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. If you study Hindi at the Institute, you will also write the exam they offer at the end of your chosen course. It would be best to contact the campus personally for more information on their proficiency exams. |
| Alisha: However, there is no need to be in India to write these tests. In fact, you can simply do it online. By far, the most widely-accepted Hindi language proficiency test, is the ILTS TLP—or Hindi-061. It is a reputed language test conducted by the Illinois State Board of Education. ILTS TLP stands for "Illinois Testing System, Target Language Proficiency." |
| Alisha: Let us take a look at what the exam entails! |
| Shakti: There are three sections in the test. These are reading, writing, and oral. Each section consists of four constructed-response assignments. There are no multiple-choice questions in the test. |
| Alisha: As I mentioned, you have to take the test online, and the total duration is four hours. During the first 15 minutes, you will get to go through the tutorial materials, and after that is three hours and 45 minutes of testing time. To pass, you will need to score at least 240 points. |
| Alisha: So, what can you expect to see in each part of this Hindi language exam? Let us take a look! The first is the Reading Proficiency section. You can call it in Hindi |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] पठन प्रवीणता (pathaN praviinaTaa) [SLOWLY] पठन प्रवीणता (pathaN praviinaTaa). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: In this section, you will read some Hindi material such as a newspaper clip, excerpts from a literary book or magazine, or something similar. After that, you will write a summary or draw a conclusion based on the reading material. You can write your response in either English, Hindi, or a combination of both languages. |
| Alisha: Your response will be evaluated on three basic criteria: comprehension, inference, and analysis. Comprehension in Hindi is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] समझ (Samajh) [SLOWLY] समझ (Samajh). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: This means that you understand the main idea of the provided Hindi content. You might also be asked the meaning of any specific word from it. All in all, you should be well-versed enough to know the literal meaning of the content. |
| Alisha: Next, you may also be asked to draw a conclusion and analyze your inference. Since this section focuses on testing your reading skills, your preferred language does not really matter when it comes to showing your understanding of the context. What matters is whether you have the full meaning correct or not! |
| Alisha: After that is the Writing Proficiency section, or |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] लेखन प्रवीणता (LekhaN praviinaTaa) [SLOWLY] लेखन प्रवीणता (LekhaN praviinaTaa) |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: This second section of the exam checks your writing skills. Your response will be evaluated on four criteria. They are: purpose |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] उद्देश्य (uDDesy) [SLOWLY] उद्देश्य (uDDesy). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: organization |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] संगठन (SangathaN) [SLOWLY] संगठन (SangathaN). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: vocabulary |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] शब्दावली (sabDaavaLii) [SLOWLY] शब्दावली (sabDaavaLii) |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: and grammar |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] व्याकरण (vyaakaran) [SLOWLY] व्याकरण (vyaakaran). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: For this section, you may only respond in Hindi. They will give you an imaginary situation—for example, a social issue—which will be written in English. The purpose of this part is to check if you were able to properly address the specific idea and appropriate audience or not. |
| Your work should be well-sequenced and make sense, as they will be looking at the flow of your writing. The vocab will cover colloquial Hindi expressions and test your overall command of them. |
| Alisha: The next section is Oral Proficiency or |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] मौखिक प्रवीणता (maukhik praviinaTaa) [SLOWLY] मौखिक प्रवीणता (maukhik praviinaTaa) |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: Here, you will be evaluated on the same criteria as for writing skills, plus pronunciation. The question sheet will contain an imaginary situation written in English. You have to read all of it carefully. Then, you will be given two minutes to think it through, gather your thoughts, and construct your answer in Hindi before writing it down. |
| Alisha: In the end, two more minutes are provided to record your response on tape. The purpose is to check your ability to address the exact topic in an accurate manner. This section evaluates your sense of understanding, your language fluency, and your pronunciation. If you are articulate and have a rich vocabulary, all the better! |
| Alisha: Well, now that you know what the test content is, we should talk about how the scoring works. There are four constructed-response assignments. So, based on your response, the scoring is done on four different levels. What are these score points and what does each one indicate? |
| Shakti: Four is the highest and, if you manage to score a four in each section, it shows that you have an excellent command of the language. So, that is the one to aim for! |
| Alisha: Three points are given if you have exhibited adequate knowledge, but there are a few mistakes in comprehension. |
| Shakti: Two points means you have limited knowledge of Hindi, such as using only simple words, not understanding the objective of the assignments, and making frequent grammatical errors. |
| Alisha: If you get a score of one, this is the lowest score. It indicates poor language command and lots of errors in the assignments. |
| There are also two other possible grades. It is possible to get a 'U' for 'unscorable'. This will only happen if you are not well-prepared and miss the exact context of the assignment and respond with an answer completely unrelated to the topic. Of course, if you respond in some other language, you will also get a 'U'! But you are not going to do that, are you? |
| Shakti: Lastly, in case no response has been given to an assignment, you will get a 'B'. |
| Alisha: Well, that's it! Now, all that is left is to do is some stress-free preparation. We recommend reading as many books, newspapers, or magazines in Hindi as possible. It is even better if you read them aloud to practice speaking like a native. To make your reflexes faster and flawless, it will help if you have a Hindi friend to practice with. |
| Alisha: Another tip is to practice with sample tests. This is a great way to boost your confidence and help you to feel prepared. Our final bit of advice is for the test day. First, read the test guidelines thoroughly. Second, before attempting the exam, skim through all the questions as fast as possible. Remember that you only have the choice of using English in the reading section. You must use Hindi for the other sections. |
| Alisha: Okay, now let us take a look at two other Hindi exam options you could consider. The first one is The Hindi Computerized Assessment of Proficiency, or 'Hindi CAP'. This is an online language test done through the University of Oregon. The test measures students' proficiency in Hindi, and is free of charge. You will be tested on these four skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. This test provides a general overall estimate of your proficiency. It is not designed to test specific grammar points and vocab, but it provides real-world contexts to see how you would perform. Hindi CAP is scored per skill, meaning there is no aggregate score for the test as a whole. |
| Shakti: Then, you also have the option of an Oral Proficiency Interview, or OPI, which is conducted by ACTFL, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. It is an organization of more than 13,000 language educators and administrators who are dedicated to expanding language learning throughout the US. This test is considered a valid and reliable way to assess how well a person speaks Hindi. |
| Alisha: There are two ways you can take the test. The first is a 20 to 30 minute one-on-one interview between you and a certified ACTFL tester. The interview is interactive and continuously adapts to your interests and abilities. When you have finished the interview, you will get an official ACTFL Oral Proficiency Certificate stating your proficiency level. There are five major levels of proficiency: Distinguished, Superior, Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice. |
| Shakti: The alternative way of taking this test is called The OPIc, which is the same test, except that the delivery of questions is through a computer program, and via a virtual avatar. This assessment emulates the live interview. You can take this test at any time you want, as long as it is convenient for both you and your proctor. |
| Alisha: The goal of both tests is the same: to obtain a sample of speech that can be rated. The rater will evaluate and compare your sample to the Proficiency Guidelines. From this, they will assign a rating. These guidelines are a description of what the learners can do with the language in terms of speaking, writing, listening, and reading in real-world situations in a non-rehearsed context. |
| [Summary] |
| Alisha: In this lesson, we had a look at the most common Hindi proficiency test, which is the ILTS TLP, and what its content looks like. We also learned that the Central Institute of Hindi offers Hindi courses and exams for students wanting to learn in India. Finally, there are two other online tests you can do. They are the Hindi CAP online test and the ACTFL oral proficiency interview. |
Outro |
| Alisha: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shakti: फिर मिलेंगे! (phir miLenge!) |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
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