Complete Hindi: Your Complete Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing (Teach Yourself)

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).

If you are interested in studying Hindi, this book is exceptional. Audio is available from the Teach Yourself app. Each unit has two dialogues introducing the grammar targets of the unit. The learning curve might be steep for some, but I did not find overwhelming. The key is to take it slow and do all the exercises. The dialogues are about a family in Delhi. They are hosting a student from London who is studying Hindi locally. The dialogues form a soap opera of sorts and, in my view, are engaging, with a lot of useful expressions.Grammar is clearly explained with plenty of examples and exercises. I've found new vocabulary is rehashed in later units, which is helpful, as repeated exposure increases your "acquisition" rate.There are useful review questions at the end of each unit to help you know if you've understood the content of the unit.I would highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn Hindi in a structured way. I've looked at quite a few Hindi learning books and I've found this to be the best of the lot.Please note, however, that if you're looking for a few helpful expressions for tourism purposes, this book is not recommended. Complete Hindi is people who are seriously interested in learning the language, rather than just a few pleasantries.The only thing bad about the book has nothing to do with the content. Unfortunately the binding is of poor quality. Within a week of getting it, it had come apart requiring me to reglue it.

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.

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.

I liked. Very very good.

This book is perfect for someone who wants to self learn Hindi. My kids are able to follow all instructions and learn on their own, and at their own pace.

Nice book for II level of Hindi learners

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.