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Hindi-Urdu Language Courses

Hindi-Urdu Language

HINDI URDU 111 – Hindi-Urdu I

Overview of the class
This course is a year long, three quarter sequence, and is meant for students with no Hindi-Urdu background. At the beginning of the three quarter sequence, the students are not expected to be able to speak, understand, read or write any Hindi-Urdu. In the first quarter (Hindi-Urdu 111-1) the students are introduced to the Hindi (Devanagari) script and to aspects of Hindi-Urdu grammar. By the end of this quarter the students are be able to talk about their family, their routines, their likes and dislikes, and also describe actions in progress. In the second quarter (Hindi-Urdu 111-2), the students continue to learn new grammatical constructions. By the end of the second quarter the students are able to talk about events in the past and the future. In the third quarter (Hindi-Urdu 111-3) students learn to express possibilities, wants, abilities and capabilities. They also learn finer aspects of grammar. The third quarter culminates in a cooking project, which requires the students to use the cumulative language skills that they would have honed over the period of the academic year. By the end of this quarter students achieve intermediate-low language skills in Hindi-Urdu. 

Registration Requirements
None for Hindi-Urdu 111-1, Hindi-Urdu 111-1 with a C- or better for Hindi-Urdu 111-2, Hindi-Urdu 111-2 with a C- or better for Hindi-Urdu 111-3, and by placement test or with instructor consent.

Teaching Method
Textbook, word-games, YouTube videos, internet and in-class materials

Evaluation Method
Assessment is based on weekly quizzes, attendance, classroom participation and presentations, home assignments, mid-terms and an oral interviews. No final exam.

Class Materials (Required)
Richard Delacy and Sudha Joshi Elementary Hindi
Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary*
Oxford English-Hindi Dictionary

Class Materials (Recommended)
Introduction to Hindi Grammar by Usha R. Jain

 

 

 

HINDI URDU 116-0 – Accelerated Hindi-Urdu Literacy

Overview of class
This course is designed for students who speak Hindi and/or Urdu, but who cannot read and write in both scripts. Students will learn how to read and write in Devanagari (Hindi) and Nastaliq (Urdu) scripts. We will also review Hindi-Urdu grammar, focusing on areas that present difficulty for heritage speakers. At the end of the quarter, students will be evaluated for placement into higher-level Hindi-Urdu courses such as HIND_URD 121-2, 211-2, etc.

Teaching Method
Seminar

Evaluation Method
Students will be evaluated primarily on homework and in-class tests.

Class Materials (Required)
Rupert Snell, Read and Write Hindi Script (ISBN 978-1444103915) Richard Delacy, Read and Write Urdu Script (ISBN 978-1444103939)

HINDI URDU 121 – Hindi-Urdu II

Overview of class
This is a year long, three quarter language sequence. Students start the year by working on reinforcing all the language skills attained the year before, and adding the Nastaliq (Urdu) script to their skill set. They continue developing speaking skills and listening comprehension, as well as expanding the Hindi-Urdu grammar and vocabulary. We do so by reading poems, short stories, watching and discussing movie clips, short films and videos, and making in-class Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. Some of the topics that we touch upon during the year are short Hindi-Urdu stories, stories from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the tales of Akbar and Birbal, etc. By the end of the three quarter sequence students attain intermediate-mid or higher language proficiency in Hindi-Urdu.

Note: Please purchase all the required textbooks in the fall quarter, as this is the only quarter that they are ordered during the year.

Registration Requirements
C- or better in Hindi-Urdu 111-3 for Hindi-Urdu 121-1, Hindi-Urdu 121-1 for Hindi-Urdu 121-2, Hindi-Urdu 121-2 for Hindi-Urdu 121-3, and by placement test or with instructor consent.

Teaching Method
Textbook, extra materials, movies.

Evaluation Method
The students are graded on the basis of home assignments, weekly quizzes, midterm, attendance, oral interviews and class participation. No final.

Class Materials (Required)
Advanced Hindi Grammar (2007) by U. Jain. Publisher: Institute of East Asian Studies; ISBN-10: 094461342X ISBN-13: 978-0944613429
Oxford Urdu-English Dictionary*
Oxford English Urdu Dictionary
Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary*
Oxford English-Hindi Dictionary

Class Materials (Recommended)
Intermediate Hindi Reader (1999) by U. Jain with K. Schomer. Publisher: Institute of East Asian Studies; ISBN-10: 087725351X ISBN-13: 978-0877253518
Intermediate Hindi (1996) by Y. Kachru and R. Pandharipande Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN-10: 8120805585 ISBN-13: 978-8120805583

 

HINDI URDU 316 – Translation and Literature

Overview of class

In August 1947, colonial India was divided into the newly independent nations of India and Pakistan. At the same moment as former colonial subjects celebrated their liberation, millions of people experienced, and perpetrated, violence and terror on a cataclysmic scale. As the strife of Partition continued to reverberate, the following years saw extremes of idealism, cynicism, invention, and ambition. In this course, we will examine the literature and culture of the decades after 1947, as the namesake children of Salman Rushdie’s famous novel grew up in their new postcolonial nations. In addition to reading Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, we will spend time with a variety of literary and artistic works, including fiction, memoir, poetry, and film. Secondary works by scholars of literature and history will help us get below the surface and to consider a variety of ways to think about democracy, conflict, artistic modernism, and the postcolonial condition, among other themes. At the same time as we consider the form and content of the texts, we will also seek to understand the dilemmas and insights that emerge from reading and writing translations.

Two overlapping courses are offered: ASIAN_LC is open to anyone and will be taught entirely in English, while HIND_URD 316 is open to students with suitable proficiency in Hindi or Urdu. Readings for HIND_URD 316 will be available in both Hindi and Urdu scripts.

Teaching Method

seminar

Evaluation Method

papers and presentations

Class Materials (required)

Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children (ISBN: 9780812976533)

HINDI URDU 320 – Inqilab Zindabad: Progressive and Anticolonial Literature

Overview of class

Many of the greatest and most beloved writers in twentieth-century South Asian literature sought, through their art, to critique colonialism and its allied forms of oppression, and to articulate a progressive vision of society. The literature—and drama, film, and visual art—that they created is still read and recited, as much for its beauty as for its power to inspire thought and action. At the same time, the progressives fought constantly, not only against others but among themselves. They disagreed on aesthetics, on language, on politics, and fundamentally on what literature was and should be. Some mobilized through organizations like the Progressive Writers’ Association and the Indian People’s Theatre Association, while others rejected all efforts to dictate how they wrote. In this course, we will read a wide range of these authors and their contemporaries, in order to understand their art, on its own terms and in its historical context. Authors may include Akbar Allahabadi, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Upendranath Ashk, Krishan Chander, Azim Beg Chughtai, Ismat Chughtai, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Qurratulain Hyder, Rashid Jahan, Kanhaiya Lal Kapoor, Sahir Ludhianvi, Josh Malihabadi, Sa’adat Hasan Manto, Miraji, Muktibodh, Premchand, N.M. Rashed, Bhisham Sahni, and Yashpal. All readings will be made available in both Hindi and Urdu script.

Teaching Method
Seminar

Evaluation Method
Papers and presentations

Class Materials (required)
All materials will be distributed in class or on Canvas

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