The University of North Carolina has a full chart of all the Devanagari letters available at https://taj. oasis. unc. edu/Hindi. Less. 25/wrtingsys. htm. Another chart with the letters divided into pronunciation groups is available at https://www. omniglot. com/writing/devanagari. htm. Practice a small group of 5 or 6 letters for a few minutes each day. When you can write those letters automatically, move on to the next group of letters. Remember to go back and review the letters periodically so you don’t forget what you’ve learned.
The strokes that you make are important. Doing them correctly and in order will make it easier when you start connecting letters together to write words. Your letter chart may outline the strokes to be made, or you can search online for other sources that give you the correct ordering of the strokes for each letter. The horizontal line at the top of each letter is always the last stroke to finish the letter. When you practice, try to keep the letters close to the same size, so this line is always at roughly the same height.
For example, अ is a short a, which has a sound similar to the a in the English word “about. " Add another vertical line after the first to make a long a, आ. This vowel has a sound similar to the a in the English word “father. "
All consonants are attached to a short a, unless specified otherwise. Therefore, the short a, or अ, does not have a matra, or dependent form. Each vowel’s matra is 1 or 2 strokes appended to the consonant the vowel is attached to. For example, the matra for a long a is ा (with the circle showing where the consonant should go). A long a attached to the letter sa would look like this: सा.
You might also practice the consonant with the different vowel matras, so you know how to write these syllables. Since Hindi is a phonetic language, this will help you when you start reading and writing words.
The script tutor available at https://www. hindibhasha. com/ is recommended by many university language departments for learning Devanagari script.
For some letters, such as the short a, the line isn’t over the entire letter. Keep this in mind when you’re connecting multiple letters together. [9] X Research source
For example, a Hindi word most people are familiar with is “namaste. " This greeting, written in the Devanagari script, is नमस्ते. Writing polite words and phrases is also important. For example, if you wanted to say “thank you” in a letter, you would write धन्यवाद.
You can find the words and script on many language learning websites. For example, many of the words for parts of the body included in the song are available at https://blogs. transparent. com/hindi/hindi-vocabulary-for-body-parts/. You can also use a Hindi-English dictionary to find translations for the words you need.
Start with a handful of large objects. Once you’ve committed them to memory, you can add a few more. You might also go from a large object to a small object. For example, you could label your bed (बिस्तर), then later add words for “pillow” or “blanket. " The University of North Carolina has an extensive introductory program on Hindi and the Devanagari script available online for free at https://taj. oasis. unc. edu/. This program includes lessons on Hindi grammar and vocabulary, as well as listening exercises and quizzes to test your knowledge. Many of the vocabulary words can be used to label items around your home.
For example, in English, you might say “these tomatoes are cheap. " However, the Hindi sentence would read “ये टमाटर सस्ते हैं।” The literal translation would be “these tomatoes cheap are. "
If you use a period rather than the purn viraam, most Hindi readers and speakers will understand the mark to mean the same thing. Hindi does not have a separate mark to indicate a space between words. Simply type a space as you would in a language, such as English, that uses the Latin alphabet.
For example, to write “What is your name?” you would write: “आपका नाम क्या है?” This literally translates to “Your name what is?”
Colorado State University has an extensive list of Hindi resources on the internet available at http://www. cs. colostate. edu/~malaiya/hindilinks. html. Reading children’s books is also a good way to become more familiar with the language and learn simple words and phrases. Check the Learning Hindi website for links to digital files of children’s books that you can download for free.
You can also read and write in various forums and social networks for native speakers and students learning the Hindi language. For example, Reddit has a Hindi language forum available at https://www. reddit. com/r/Hindi/.
