My First Hindi Words Book Review a Language Learning Resource
My First Hindi Words! is a children’s book with large illustrations and vibrantly colored pages written in English, this book is a wonderful resource for parents wishing to raising multilingual children. It focuses on helping toddler’s learning to speak familiarize themselves with conversational Hindi words in a fun and receptive way. This 28 page children’s language book is suitable for all ages, even my husband and I have sat down with it.
Finding The Right Resources for Early Learners
As a parents we want to find learning resources that are easy and engaging for both our 22-month old and 4-year-old, we really like that My First Hindi Words is a good mix of both. Neither my husband or I speak Hindi nor do our parents, unfortunately their grandparents only used the language during their time as indentured slaves in the West Indies to communicate among themselves or when withholding information from the younger children, my parents. The passing down of a second language ended with that older generation and although my parents encouraged that we learn Hindi within our Temple it was hard for them to help us learn when they didn’t know the language themselves. Also there were not many available resources that were helpful to both the parent or child who were non-native speakers as a result maintaining the learning process halted.
That’s why when contacted by the author about incorporating her book into our families learning routine I was ecstatic to give this new resource a try. The first thing I noticed about the book is how much more user-friendly it was also the typical Hindi script was missing. I found that including My First Hindi Words into our reading rotation has been such a fantastic decision. The kids love the colorful pages and flip though the pages pronouncing the words as they see each animated picture. Even for non-Hindi speaker such as myself I am confident in helping our children learn our ancestral language Hindi and raise multilingual children.
Devanagari Script and Phonics / Pronunciation
As I mentioned, 20 years ago the learning resources that were used to teach Hindi when I was learning all included the Devanagari Script. Devangari Script is the script most of us are used to seeing and recognizing as the Hindi alphabet with the horizontal line that runs along the top. Let me tell you this script was difficult to learn especially for a non speaker at age ten. You will notice that this Devangari script is not included in the book so it does not confuse the early learners and parents. I really like that the author choose to remove the Devangari script however there is one thing both my husband and I would have like to have seen included in English is the phonics or pronunciation of the word. This one this would be helpful so that we non-speakers can ensure that we are teaching it correctly.
Why we like It
We like that My Hindi Words! showcase’s conversational vocabulary so that early learners are able to grasp them with ease. Compared to the resources from my childhood this book is a remarkable language resource for parents who want to incorporate new languages into their daily learning routines and raise multilingual kids. Or for non fluent speakers, like myself, when helping their children learn Hindi our ancestral language. It is also a great way for those of you who are looking to learn some primary Hindi words in an uncomplicated way. The author Reena also provides additional resources available online here. Including free Hindi worksheets, games along with many more resources!
If you are parent like myself who wants to become a multilingual family but don’t speak a second language this is a great resource and a wonderful way for you to start incorporating additional languages into your early learners language routines, to learn more head on over to https://www.hindibyreena.com
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