Making Out in Hindi
Making Out in Hindi
Daniel Krasa & Rainer Krack
with the invaluable assistance of Rajneesh Mangla
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
Copyright © 2011 Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd
Illustrations by Kathy Sugianto
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krasa, Daniel.
Making out in Hindi/Daniel Krasa & Rainer Krack.
p. cm.
Text in English and Hindi.
ISBN 978-1-4629-1026-7
1. Hindi language--Conversation and phrase books--English. I. Krack, Rainer. II. Title.
PK1935.K73 2011
491.4’383421--dc22
2011000105
ISBN 978-0-8048-4167-2
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First edition
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Contents
9. Curses, Insults & Fight Talk
Pronunciation Guide
Nothing beats listening to a native speaker, but the following notes should help you to attain the right pronunciation. The Hindi transcription used in this book is the internationally most common one. English speakers must pay attention to some main differences in order to make themselves understood. Here are the basic rules:
VOWELS
Most vowels in Hindi have a clear equivalent in English, so that pronouncing should not pose any major problem.
The vowels are:
| Hindi letter | Approximate English equivalent | |
| अ | a | run, fun; sometimes, when between a consonant and h, as in bad |
| आ | ā | father, as in Southern British |
| ऐ | ai | lie |
| औ | au | couch |
| ए | e | between best and paid |
| इ | i | hit |
| ई | ī | heat |
| ओ | o | between Southern British cot and door |
| उ | u | put |
| ऊ | ū | moon |
The Hindi vowels differ in length—as in shabd (word) and āj (today). But there is a degree of variation in the pronunciation of certain vowels, often due to regional differences.
Consonants
Unlike the Hindi vowel system, the consonants are more complex and to master them some more information is necessary:
Retroflex consonants
There is a crucial difference between dental and retroflex consonants in Hindi. In dental consonants, the tongue touches the upper front teeth, whereas retroflex consonants are pronounced with the tongue turned back to the roof of your mouth. For example, set your mouth up to pronounce a “regular” d, but then curl your tongue right up so that the bottom part of it touches the top part of your mouth. As you try to pronounce the original d, you will feel your tongue “flapping” forward. American English has also some of these retroflex sounds, most commonly in the middle of words like “bidder”, “heart”, and “bitter”, or at the end of words like “bad”, “butter”, and “bat”. The three retroflex consonants are: ḍ, ṭ, and ṇ. Strictly speaking ṣ is also a retroflex, but in practice it is rarely distinguished from an English “sh”.
Aspirated consonants
Hindi also distinguishes breathed