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Overview | Summary of Courses

Offered By:	Faculty of Asian Studies
Academic Contact:	Dr Richard Barz

Since Hindi is the official language of India and over the past 500 years has produced a rich, vigorous, and highly developed literary tradition, a knowledge of Hindi is essential for students interested in any aspect of the civilisation and society of modern and medieval India.

The aim of the Hindi program is to provide the ability both to communicate in spoken Hindi and to read a wide range of material written in Hindi, including novels, newspapers, and scholarly works. The emphasis in Introductory Hindi A and B is on the mastery of the fundamentals of Hindi usage, and in Basic Hindi Conversation A and B on the acquisition of basic conversational skills. The advanced Hindi programs are centred on the reading of a variety of texts, including short stories and newspaper and magazine articles of current interest. As much class discussion as possible is conducted in Hindi. Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Asian Studies (Hindi) degree will spend a year in India in the third year, taking courses arranged by the South and West Asia Centre at an Indian tertiary institution.

A full range of introductory-level study materials in Hindi is available on the Faculty?s website.

Urdu has a highly developed and thriving literary tradition and is both the official language of Pakistan and an important language in India. A familiarity with Urdu would be of particular value to those interested in the Islamic heritage of southern Asia. Although in grammar and basic word-stock Urdu and Hindi are identical, in script and literary vocabulary the two languages are quite different. Therefore, instruction in Urdu is primarily concerned with the reading of Urdu literature. Two 3-unit courses in Urdu are offered: Urdu Prose and the Urdu Gazal. Introductory Hindi B and Basic Hindi Conversation B are the prerequisites for both Urdu courses.

Requirements

The Asian Language Major (Hindi) may comprise courses from the Summary of Courses page and must include 24 later-year units in Hindi or Urdu.