r/Hindi

I’m a foreign born Indian but I spent 1st through 10th grade in India. So I learned the language in school and used it to communicate with school staff and with one of my friend’s outside of school hours all the time. I didn’t have an accent and spoke it normally. I had decent grades in it in general.

Since then… about 15 years ago, I moved back and basically never used it as my family doesn’t use Hindi, only Punjabi and English. For like the last 7-8 years I barely used Punjabi (only when I visit my family on rare occasion mixed with English) I still thought that I retained the language like I can understand Bollywood movies and such.

But… while traveling I tried using it and got told I speak at an 8th grade level and have an accent. I don’t get why I have an accent in Hindi but not in Punjabi.

And it’s true I do have an accent in Hindi. I generally have trouble speaking clear Hindi but no issues with Punjabi.

Like obviously I can pronounce words unaccented words in Punjabi so why does Hindi have a weird American accent. It makes me feel really self conscious. This contributes to the awkwardness I feel speaking it.

I still don’t have anyone to practice Hindi with. I can still read it for the most part but I forgot how to write a lot of the letters as well.

Are there any resources that I can use to fix the regression? Is ChatGPT a good conversation partner?

Hi! I was just wondering if there were any names that are said differently in Hindi. For example, Alexander the Great is सिकंदर (Sikandar), and Aristotle is अरस्तु (Arastu). Are there any more examples? Like, I know that they are the same name, but they are just a little different, and I just find it very interesting. Thanks!

So I mostly watch Hinglish videos and I noticed people say "bari factory" instead of "bara factory". There's "-ing" ending as in "Konsi party se funding aati hai tumko". People also say "meri state". Are there any others that I'm missing? It seems like it's always something ending in -y, -e, -ing. But then I came across "purani bus", so what are the English in Hindi that don't end in a -y, -e, -ing but are still female?

तुम कहते हो, खुद को मेरे हवाले मत करो

पर मेरे प्रियतम, तुम्हारे साथ रच चुकी हूं मैं एक नया लोक, नई स्मृतियां और कुछ स्वपन।

तुम कहते हो आहिस्ता चलो

पर मेरे प्रियतम, मैं कर चुकी हूं 7 परिक्रमाएं तुम्हारे कांधे के तिल के।

मेरे प्रियम, तुम कहते हो मुझसे...समय हमें पास लाएगा

पर मैं तो कब का, मन की गीली मिट्टी पर लिख चुकी हूं तुम्हारा नाम।

तुम कहते हो खुद को मत खो मुझमें

पर मेरे प्रियत, तुम हो मेरा दूसरा संसार और मैं उसमें करती हूं दिन रात भ्रमण

तुम जो कहो वो सब सही,

तुम बनाओ मेरे मकान को एक घर और फिर एक उजाड़ जंगल, वो भी सही

तुम दो कदम बढ़ाओ या शून्य, वो भी सही

पर मेरे प्रियतम, मैं बेआवाज़ रो पड़ती हूं जब हाथ झटक के जाते हो तुम,

अपनी बातों में किसी और स्त्री का ज़िक्र लाते हो तुम।

~ तुम्हारी प्रेयसी

I always wondered what maska is or how different it is from commercialized butter (makhan) and Malai. What would be its benefits. Like the people now are craving for **Bun Maska**.
Anybody who can shower some light into this.
Thank you.

Jab mrityu lene aayi mujhe

Darwaza is baar maine khud khola.

Vah chupchaap khadi thi

na kapde ka rang

na chehre ka aakar

sirf ek thandi upasthiti

“Chalo,” usne kaha.

Maine poocha,

“Ab yaad aayi tumhe?”

Vah dheere se muskurayi.

“Main to hamesha paas thi.

Tumne hi pehchanna der se seekha.”

Maine kandhe jhuka diye.

“Dard ka hisaab laayi ho?”

“Tumhare paas hi tha,” usne jawab diya.

“Main to sirf antim rekha hoon.”

Maine apne haath dekhe

jin par adhoori ichchhaon ke nishaan the

“Kya main asafal tha?”

Vah mere bilkul saamne aakar ruki.

“Tum jeena nahi chahte the.

Tum bas sabit karna chahte the.”

“Par kisi ne samjha nahi,”

maine dheere se kaha.

“Tumne khud ko samjha tha?”

uska prashn tez nahi tha

par kaafi tha

Mere paas uttar nahi tha.

Usne meri chaati par haath rakha.

Dhadkan dheemi thi.

“Yeh dil kab se sirf farz nibha raha hai?”

“Bahut pehle se,”

maine sweekar kiya.

“Tumne kab khud ke liye dhadakne diya ise?”

Main chup raha.

Chup rehna hi mera sabse bada hunar tha.

Vah meri aankhon me jhanki.

“Dar lag raha hai?”

“Mujhe jeene se zyada kabhi dar laga tha,”

maine sach kaha.

“Tumse nahi.”

Vah pehli baar thodi si jhuki.

“Tum log mujhe galat samajhte ho.

Main dard nahi deti.

Main bas use rok deti hoon.”

“Phir der kyun ki?”

“Tum ab tak toot rahe the.

Ab kuch bacha hi nahi.”

Mere seene ke andar

ek halka sa khinchav hua.

“Yeh kya hai?”

“Tumhari aatma,” vah boli.

“Thaki hui hai.

Chalne layak bas itni hi.”

Maine poocha,

“Wahan shanti milegi?”

Vah chup rahi.

Uski chup

mere sabhi prashnon ka uttar thi.

“Wahan kuch nahi hai,”

maine khud hi kaha.

“Bilkul,”

usne sweekar kiya.

“Na yaadein

na afsos

na sapne

bas samaapt.”

“Main bhool jaaunga?”

“Tum to pehle hi khud ko bhool chuke the.”

Usne haath badhaya.

Maine dekha

meri deh kursi par baithi thi

jhuki hui

jaise soch me doobi ho

“Yeh sab kab hua?”

“Har baar jab tumne apni awaaz dabaayi.

Har baar jab tumne socha

tum kaafi nahi.”

Maine aakhiri baar kamre ko dekha

deewarein

aaina

woh bistar

“Kisi ko pata chalega?”

“Thodi der ke liye,” vah boli,

“phir sab saamanya ho jayega.”

“Jaise main kabhi tha hi nahi?”

“Tum the,” usne kaha,

“par dheere dheere kam hote gaye.”

Maine apni aatma ko

uske haath me halka sa hilte dekha.

“Ab?”

“Ab chalna hai.”

“Kya wapas aa sakta hoon?”

“Tum kabhi poori tarah the hi nahi

ki wapas aa sako.”

Usne mujhe apne saath kheench liya.

Na roshni thi

na andhera

na sukoon

Bas ek lamba

rekhaheen shunyata

Aakhiri baar maine poocha,

“Main sach me jeeya tha kabhi?”

Usne dheere se kaha,

“Tum jeene se zyada

bachne me vyast the.”

Aur phir

sab awaazein band ho gayi

Na dard

na rahat

Sirf

samaapt

I am a native tamil speaker who is learning Hindi and I learnt that ड़ ढ़ are not the same as ड़ ढ . I looked up many guides for it online but I don't understand any of them. Everyone says that it is the "retroflex version of र " but when I retroflex र , it becomes ष . If they mean the retroflex of English "r", it becomes a retroflex approximate (ழ/ഴ).So I am so confused on the pronunciation of ड़ and ढ़ . Some say it's in Water when said fast but it is aleveolar soo?