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Say ‘namaste’ to your new Hindi teacher

Duolingo's online course is in beta phase, but will hit app stores soon

A still from the song “Ichak Dana Beechak Dana’ from the 1955 film ‘Shree 420’.
A still from the song “Ichak Dana Beechak Dana’ from the 1955 film ‘Shree 420’.

If you thought Klingon and the High Valyrian language courses on learning platform Duolingo got its 10.1 million Indian users excited, then there’s more in store. Duolingo now provides a Hindi skills module for English speakers.

The course starts with Hindi alphabets and listening tests. Once you are done with ka, kha, gha, the second bit of the module involves lessons in Hindi on plurals, animals, activities and adjectives, among other things. The module has been divided into four parts with Hindi lessons on different topics.

The Hindi course also follows Duolingo’s popular gamification model. Users can accumulate experience points and collect badges on the completion of each level. While the course might seem easy at first, some bits are tricky—even for native Hindi speakers. One particular lesson on matching pairs of Hindi vowels is a case in point.

As of now, the Hindi course module is available on the Duolingo website in beta. It is expected to hit app stores on Android, iOS and WindowsPhone soon. Users can even add a Duolingo extension to their browser to access the Hindi course easily.

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