Language - Hindi | School of Culture, History & Language

As the fourth most-spoken language in the world, learning Hindi offers links into diverse networks, cultural enrichment and unprecedented career prospects.

Less than 10% of the 1.8 billion people who live in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) speak English. A large majority of South Asians speak Hindi or one of its sister languages, such as Urdu. Learning Hindi gives you direct access to the current lives and historical experiences of one quarter of humanity and to hundreds of years of cultural, religious, and artistic traditions. For example, Hindi, or Bollywood, films are popular globally and they are much better understood in Hindi directly. Speaking Hindi will also give you an understanding of Urdu. Both of these languages are amongst the fastest growing languages in Australia and Indian communities worldwide. The Indian diaspora globally has a diverse history that is often tied together by languages like Hindi. Learning Hindi through ANU would be the perfect complement to students also studying: global health, international relations, political science, development studies, economics, linguistics, law, trade and the arts.

Program

The ANU Hindi program is designed to be student-centred, flexible, and supportive. Hindi is an accessible language for English speakers. It is an Indo-European language that shares a common heritage with English. If you want to learn an important Asian language without a steep learning curve, then Hindi might be a good option for you. You’ll learn to read and write in the Devanagari script which will give you access to written Hindi. It is also the script used for other languages in South Asia like Nepali, Marathi, and Sanskrit. In the first year, we start out by equipping students with the skills to talk about their own lives in Hindi. This progresses to intermediate levels of Hindi where students learn how to talk about and analyse the experiences of people in the Hindi-speaking world. Advanced students can dive into specialised areas of interest.

Study options

ANU Hindi classes focus on real-time interactive learning where everybody gets a chance to speak and learn from the teachers and each other. Our Hindi classes can be studied in-person or online as they are part of the School’s hybrid course offerings where online students are direct participants in on-campus classrooms. Whether you are studying online or in person, in both modes you will get an opportunity each week to study in real time with your teachers and fellow students. The courses are supported by a wide range of multi-media online materials including text, audio, cartoon images and videos. Hindi can be included in studies at ANU in a variety of ways:

As a major or a minor in a variety of degrees
As the language in a Diploma in Languages qualification
As electives within a degree or studied as individual courses on their own

Undergraduate courses Hindi 1, Hindi 2, Hindi 3, Hindi 4, Hindi 5 and Hindi 6. See ANU Programs and Courses for study options. See Open Universities Australia for studying Hindi 1-6 as subject.

The School of Culture, History and Language places a unique emphasis on in-country experience. For more information on exchange programs and in-country language opportunities, visit the ANU global programs or enquire education.chl@anu.edu.au.