Learn which languages are similar to Hindi
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Intro |
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| Alisha: What languages are similar to Hindi? |
| Shakti: And are they mutually intelligible? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation. Ben Lee is a college student and he is in a cafe with his friend, Khushbu Khan. Ben overhears some people speaking Urdu at the next table and says, "Hindi and Urdu sound so similar." |
| बेन: हिंदी और उर्दू सुनने में एक जैसी लगती हैं। (hiNDii aur urDuu SuNaNe men ek jaiSii LagaTii hain.) |
| Dialogue |
| बेन: हिंदी और उर्दू सुनने में एक जैसी लगती हैं। (hiNDii aur urDuu SuNaNe men ek jaiSii LagaTii hain.) |
| ख़ुशबू: हाँ, लेकिन ये अलग-अलग वर्णमाला का इस्तेमाल करती हैं। (haan, LekiN ye aLag-aLag varnamaaLaa kaa iSTemaal karaTii hain.) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| बेन: हिंदी और उर्दू सुनने में एक जैसी लगती हैं। (hiNDii aur urDuu SuNaNe men ek jaiSii LagaTii hain.) |
| Alisha: "Hindi and Urdu sound so similar." |
| ख़ुशबू: हाँ, लेकिन ये अलग-अलग वर्णमाला का इस्तेमाल करती हैं। (haan, LekiN ye aLag-aLag varnamaaLaa kaa iSTemaal karaTii hain.) |
| Alisha: "Yes, but they use different alphabets." |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: The Hindi and Urdu languages indeed sound very similar. Occasionally, there may be some words or terms that Hindi and Urdu speakers find difficult to understand mutually, but they can still interact with each other easily. A Hindi speaker can easily understand a conversation between two Urdu speakers, and it is the same for an Urdu speaker to understand Hindi conversations. Furthermore, there are many words used in spoken Hindi that have been borrowed from Urdu. For example, in our sentence, we had this word |
| Shakti: इस्तेमाल (iSTemaal). |
| Alisha: This means "use."and |
| Shakti: लेकिन (LekiN) |
| Alisha: means "but," They are both borrowed from Urdu and are commonly used in daily Hindi conversation. There are many other words too, and these words have become an integral part of spoken as well as written Hindi. |
| Shakti: Yes, both Hindi and Urdu share the same grammatical structure and basic vocabulary. This means that, if you hear our example conversation in Urdu, the pattern of the sentence will be the same. |
| Alisha: Yes, in fact, for simpler sentences, even the vocabulary will remain the same. However, both languages use a different alphabet and script. Urdu is written from right to left and uses a range of different alphabets. |
| Shakti: Hindi is written left to right using the Devanagari script. Let's hear this once more: देवनागरी (DevaNaagarii). |
| Alisha: In other words, if you are learning Hindi, you get an additional bonus! That is, you can interact with your Urdu-speaking friends too! How about we take a look at the use of some Urdu words that are commonly used by Hindi speakers in their daily conversations. Let's start with something about news! How would you say "Today's latest news"? |
| Shakti: आज की ताज़ा ख़बरें (aaj kii Taazaa khabaren). |
| Alisha: Now, is this how a Hindi speaker would say it or an Urdu speaker? |
| Shakti: Both are most likely to say it the same way! The Hindi word for "news" is समाचार (Samaacaar), but in conversations most people will use the Urdu word ख़बर (khabar). |
| Alisha: Are there any other Urdu words in the sentence? |
| Shakti: Yes! Even the word ताज़ा (Taazaa), which literally means "fresh" is taken from Urdu. |
| Alisha: Yes, but these words have become such an integral part of spoken Hindi that even Hindi speakers consider these as part of their own vocabulary. How about we take a look at some more Urdu words which are commonly used in Hindi? Then, we can also take a look at some sentences which can be used by both Hindi and Urdu speakers. |
| Shakti: Sure! Let's try the word आज़ादी (aazaaDii). |
| Alisha: This means "freedom," Let's try this again. |
| Shakti: आज़ादी (aazaaDii). |
| Alisha: Now, this is the Urdu word which is commonly used by Hindi speakers in their conversations. But what is the Hindi word for "freedom"? |
| Shakti: स्वतंत्रता (SvaTaNTraTaa). |
| Alisha: Let's hear this one more time. |
| Shakti: स्वतंत्रता (SvaTaNTraTaa). |
| Alisha: How do you say "life" in Hindi and Urdu? |
| Shakti: The Hindi word for "life" is जीवन (jiivaN). |
| Alisha: Let's hear this one more time. |
| Shakti: जीवन (jiivaN). But the more commonly used word, taken from the Urdu language, is ज़िंदगी (ziNDagii). |
| Alisha: Let's hear this one more time. |
| Shakti: ज़िंदगी (ziNDagii). |
| Alisha: How would you say, "My life is going well" in Hindi and Urdu? |
| Shakti: मेरी ज़िंदगी अच्छी चल रही है। (merii ziNDagii acchii caL rahii hai.) |
| Alisha: The vocabulary and the grammatical structure will remain the same for both Hindi and Urdu speakers. Let's hear this one more time. |
| Shakti: मेरी ज़िंदगी अच्छी चल रही है। (merii ziNDagii acchii caL rahii hai.) |
| Alisha: Now, let's take another simple sentence. How would you say "Where are you off to?" |
| Shakti: आप कहाँ जा रहे हैं (aap kahaan jaa rahe hain) if you are addressing a male and आप कहाँ जा रही हैं (aap kahaan jaa rahii hain) if you are addressing a female. |
| Alisha: Let's try this one more time. How would you say it while addressing a male? |
| Shakti: आप कहाँ जा रहे हैं (aap kahaan jaa rahe hain). |
| Alisha: How would you say it while addressing a female? |
| Shakti: आप कहाँ जा रही हैं (aap kahaan jaa rahii hain). |
| Alisha: So, the grammar and the vocabulary remain the same in both languages. Both languages follow the Subject-Object-Verb order in sentences. This means that, while forming sentences, the subject comes first, followed by the object, and the verb comes at the end. In both cases, the gender of the verb may change depending on the gender of the person speaking or the one you are addressing. Let's try one final sentence which will remain the same in both languages and see how it changes depending on the gender of the speaker. |
| Shakti: मैं घर जा रहा हूँ (main ghar jaa rahaa huun). |
| Alisha: This means "I am going home." You will use this sentence if you are a male. Let's hear this one more time. |
| Shakti: मैं घर जा रहा हूँ (main ghar jaa rahaa huun). |
| Alisha: Now, let's see how the verb changes if you are a female. |
| Shakti: मैं घर जा रही हूँ (main ghar jaa rahii huun). |
| Alisha: Let's hear this one more time. |
| Shakti: मैं घर जा रही हूँ (main ghar jaa rahii huun). |
| Alisha: Now, keep in mind that this change in verb gender will happen irrespective of the language you are using. That is, the verb will depend on the gender of the speaker in both Hindi and Urdu. |
Outro |
| Alisha: In this lesson, we learnt about the similarities in the grammar and vocabulary used in Hindi and Urdu languages. However, they both use different alphabets and script. While Hindi is written from left to right, Urdu follows a right to left script. If you are learning the written script, you will have to learn a completely different script for both languages. If you are trying to learn the alphabets, you will need to learn a whole different set of alphabets for both languages. However, if you are learning spoken or conversational Hindi, you will also be able to interact with Urdu speakers because of the similarity in grammar and vocabulary! |
| Alisha: That's it for now! Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shakti: फिर मिलेंगे! (phir miLenge!) |
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