Learning A Few Words

S

Sheba

New Member
Would it be wise if I went online and tried to learn a few Indian words before I arrive. I would love to go to a restaurant and be able to order my food in your native language. I think it would be fun to ask for a certain dish and be able to say the name correctly.
 
I think it's always a nice thing to try and know at least a few key words. Whenever I travel I always like to be able to say hello, thank you, and simple things like that in the native language so that it shows I have at least made some effort to learn a little bit! And people tend to be thankful for that, I think!
 
It's always a good idea to learn a few basic words. If coming to India, you may learn these simple basic things to say:
Namaste= A form of greeting just like hello
Dhanyawad or Shukriya = Thank you
Phir milenge = See you later
Aap kaise hain? = How are you?
Yeh kitne ka hai? = How much it costs?
 
swalia said:
It's always a good idea to learn a few basic words. If coming to India, you may learn these simple basic things to say:
Namaste= A form of greeting just like hello
Dhanyawad or Shukriya = Thank you
Phir milenge = See you later
Aap kaise hain? = How are you?
Yeh kitne ka hai? = How much it costs?
Click to expand...

Knowing how to ask how much something costs is a really good one! You never want to be surprised with not knowing the cost of something, that's for sure! Great suggestions there with some useful words and phrases! I'll be noting those down :)
 
But before you exclusively learn Hindi, remember there are multiple language in India. My sister traveled to a southern part of India (I'm not exactly sure which region - sorry) stocked with many useful Hindi phrases. To her surprise, she arrived in an area which spoke Kannad almost exclusively. Similar to arriving in China knowing Mandarin and discovering that everybody spoke Cantonese. What a culture shock.
 
I am afraid that will not help you because Hindi is not used everywhere. If you are traveling to north India, your rudimentary Hindi may help you, however, in South India, Hindi is not understood by many people.
 
Most of South Indian people are good at English. Even the roadside vendors understand simple English words. So travelling to South India won't be much of a problem as far as language is concerned.
 
Would you consider English to be a better language to use when traveling across India? Are people more likely to know English than for you to know their language or dialect?
 
Following are some words can useful mostly in North of India,as in south there are different languages spoken but most of the people who knows Hindi can understand even in south but very few people,whereas almost everyone in north India.
Namaste= A form of greeting just like hello & goodbye.
Dhanywad or Shukriya = Thank you,Dhanywad is typical Hindi,(Sanskrit origin), language,Shukriya is Urdu,(Like Shukran in Arabic).
Phir milenge = See you later
Aap kaise hain? = How are you?
Yeh kitne ka hai? = How much it costs?
Iska kitna keemat/daam hai = How much is it?.
Regards
Nayak
 
It is a very good thing that you are trying to learn our language. Well, I think that you should not have any problem speaking English in India because most of the people tend to speak English with the visitors. You can talk to the travel guides in English. So, you can travel to India and speak your mother tongue without any problems at all. ;)

I can give you some Hindi words that you can use in the restaurant:

I want to order this one - mai is khane ko magwana chata hu
The food was tasty - khana ka swad bahut acha tha
What is the name of this food - is kahne ka naam kya hai?

I hope this helps you.:)
 
That's a lovely idea, as long as you research the language of the area you plan to travel to. Not everyone in India speaks the same language. If you're going to tourist locations only, it's not completely necessary, but it's a nice gesture.
 
I'd suggest researching at least those words and phrases that'll get you help if you are in trouble/lost and those that are needed on a trip in general (directions to ... , etc). Otherwise you should be fine as most people speak at least a basic amount of English, except rural areas.
 
I think it is advisable and good for many reasons. You will probably never get a chance to use anything but you could maybe understand something and help yourself in some situations. Going to everyday shopping can be easier even though I understand that almost everyone there speak English quite good. Bottom line it is good to learn, not only a language or even few phrases but also in general. I always look at thing like that. Everything that I learn is going to do some good to me. It cannot be harmful and even though this sounds a little bit like too general, I really go by this rule in my life and collect all the info I can.
 
All I know is people love it when you make the effort to use a bit of the local language. Even if you can't speak it well, they appreciate the effort. That goes a long way to get people to be helpful and happy.
 
I think it's a good idea to learn some basic words. Mostly learn to read them not try to hold a conversation, you'll almost always be made fun of or people won't be able to understand you.
 
They speak good English there so I think it's not necessary but I think that it's a nice gesture. Just make sure that you learn the correct dialect/language of the place that you are going to visit because they have multiple languages over there in India.
 
Fortunately most Indians speak good English although with a deep accent. You can converse easily with stall traders and restaurant waiters in English. Learning a few native phrases will help you get by with ease.
 
You can do that, but unless you know someone who can help you get the proper pronunciation and practice with you with the basic words, it would be pretty hard to learn it online alone. Maybe you get lucky and get near the actual pronunciation, maybe the locals would think it is cute that you were trying. But just to be safe, and for you to be confident, the basic rule of learning a new language is to get help from someone who actually uses it on a daily basis.
 
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