Complete Hindi Beginner to Intermediate Course: Learn to read, write, speak and understand a new language (Teach Yourself) by Rupert Snell (2014-07-25) Paperback – 1720

This is the updated version of the newest teach yourself that released around 2010. I got this book because I had that older version and I used it so much it was falling apart and pages were missing so I definitely needed a new one! So first let's get to the update. The update is great and a lot more durable than the last version. The binding is much better and I love the new material it was printed on! The text seems bigger too than the last one! So thank you TY for updating. The course is wonderful and I feel is one of the best ways to learn Hindi by yourself, if you are looking for a full college like textbook (like Al-Kitaab for Arabic) I would suggest Beginning Hindi from Georgetown University Press). But if you are looking for a book for a good understanding of basic to intermediate Hindi with a grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and culture this is a great book and probably my favorite for Hindi. It is user friendly and presents the language in clear concise lessons. Each lesson starts with a dialogue, then follows with a translation and grammar points, then a second dialogue followed by exercises. The book follows a story, of a student named Pratap who is studying abroad in India and staying with a host family. The dialogues follow this narrative. The book is fun and stress free, and great for learning on your own. I would suggest maybe learning Devanagari before starting this book, it does teach Devanagari but it might be beneficial to have an understanding of it before starting. I highly recommend this book if you have any interest in Hindi.

This book has evolved through a series of editions. It started out as part of the old "Teach Yourself" series about which I've always had mixed feelings; at one time the books tended to be overly academic and strangely lacking in some details while overwhelming on some small stuff.But things have come along. "Complete Hindi" has something missing from many a text--- a sense of playfulness. And that alone puts it out in front as something to consider for self-study (although it makes a great supplement to formal coursework, which is how I use it).The book presents dialogues between friendly fictional characters, and there is free on-line audio for all of them. That's a huge advantage. Grammar and vocabulary derive from the dialogues, and there are decent exercises with a decent exercise key, again making the book good all around for self-study. Explanations are absolutely not filled with jargon. It's hard to make grammar thrilling and avoid the use of some terminology, but the book does a good job of avoiding the overly pedantic approaches of too many other texts.For the English speaker, Hindi presents some challenges, and this book helps you meet them. Make no mistake; you get out of it what you put into it, but the book rewards your efforts amply.Ignore the hype on the back cover (written by someone who did no more than take a cursory look at the content--- truly shameful) and instead realize that the package --- text plus free audio --- gives you a lot for your money and is probably the best beginning Hindi offering you'll find (I've looked at quite a few others).

I have amassed over 20 Teach Yourself language titles over the years and have been generally pleased using them as an ice-breaker so figured I would do the same for Hindi. I have not worked through the book yet, but a superficial glance seems like the content will be great.There are issues with the product. The book arrived dented, a little scuffed, and with an obvious failed attempt at removing a sticker from the backside so it's just sticky with clumps of junk all over it. I can get past that. However, Teach Yourself no longer provides the CD you're promised in the description. Audio is supposedly downloadable like with the Colloquial series, but this is sort of BS. You must now sign up for an account with the "Teach Yourself Library" and if you "download" the audio, you may only listen to it from within their own app, and ONLY if you have that app installed on a smart device. No computer, no using your music app, or stereo. If you have a subpar cell phone speaker, that's what you get. If they come out with a new edition, end support services for the app, maybe go under and the app by chance doesn't update while technology does, you're out of luck. You pay for the audio, but it's only around for as long as they can guarantee access to it. It's bogus and way more inconvenient than I believe their intention was for it to be.That said, I don't want to discourage people from buying this book. It does look great and the binding seems to have improved compared to previous editions. Just know there are now serious restrictions on your access to the audio. Without a smart device, it is useless.

Very complete course, and because it is written by someone who had to also learn Hindi by himself as an adult, he gives good linguistic tips. I am very happy that I decided to buy this course instead of other ones I had seen online.

Love the whole package, i would put it for 5 stars but both cd on track 8 couldn't be read. Though the book it's of great help.

Great book, explains grammar well and provides good examples of conversation!

This did not come with the CDs that area necessary to learn! The book is a little overwhelming, but without the CDs (which aren't available for purchase anywhere), it's pretty much unusable. Disappointed.

It was brand new and I thought is gotten it used! Awesome!