Something I've Realized

In these past few weeks, I haven't written anything new. But actually, I have been kind of busy. For the first time since I've been here, I feel like there is a lot for me to do. In this time, I am still desperately trying to learn Hindi, but I can sadly say that it has hardly improved since the day I arrived here. We tried to find a class or a tutor, but nothing existed in the city. And the Hindi teacher at my school flatly said "No" when I asked for help with the language. So as I've been picking up a few words here and there, I realized why it is so difficult for me to learn!

First of all, it seems that Hindi consists of every phonetic change that makes foreign languages difficult for us Americans. What I mean is that, like German, V's and W's are switched, like Spanish, R's are rolled, and like no other language I've heard, B's and P's are usually followed by a semi-silent H sound, which is nearly impossible for me to recreate. Secondly, there are about three different ways in Hindi, to say any one English word. Lastly, words that sound the same to me, have entirely different meanings! For example; "kela", "kala", and "kaala" respectively mean "banana", "black", and "art"!

My goal, before I left for India, was to be able to order in Hindi at an Indian restaurant when I came home. I'm sticking with that goal. I'm confident that this level of Hindi proficiency can be attained by April! I think in this case, setting my goal quite low to begin with was a good thing, because I know I will not be disappointed in myself!