BA in Hindi at School of Oriental & African Studies
Hindi is the official language of India and is spoken across the northern states from Rajasthan in the west to Bihar in the east, and from Himachal in the north to Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh towards the south. It is very closely related to Urdu, and somewhat less closely to neighbouring languages such as Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali and Nepali with which it shares the inheritance of Sanskrit. Hindi is the first language of several hundred million speakers, and the second language of many more; it has a rich modern literature, while its regional dialects such as Braj Bhasha and Awadhi are the historical vehicle for religious and court poetry of the medieval period.
The general pattern in combined degrees is that students take two units on the language side and two units on the discipline side of their degree each year.
The degree is designed to give students a high level of competence in speaking, understanding, reading and writing Hindi, and a good knowledge of its cultural context. It assumes no previous knowledge of Hindi or its script, though we do prefer candidates to have some record of successful language-learning, for example an A-level qualification in a European language. Most of the language teaching is done in small classes and is thoroughly interactive, with students being encouraged to use their growing knowledge of Hindi from the very outset; advanced courses are largely taught in Hindi medium. Language courses are assessed by a combination of written and oral examination. The Department’s core course South Asian Culture is taken in the first year, and gives a solid introduction to the broader culture of the region.
BA Hindi is a four year degree, the third year (from September to March) being spent on a ‘Year Abroad’ programme in India: students live with Hindi-speaking families and attend full-time Hindi-medium courses.
The degree offers a progression of courses in the language itself, concentrating on communication skills and using a wide range of source materials including news broadcasts, recordings, video, the internet, and much else besides.
Students are encouraged to take a course in Urdu – Hindi’s ‘sister language’ which shares the same basic grammar and vocabulary but which has a script and a cultural orientation derived from Persian; courses in other South Asian languages and subjects are also available.
Final-year options include an Independent Study Project, which gives the student an opportunity to use Hindi sources to pursue a subject of personal interest (in language, literature, politics, culture, religion, the arts and media, or any other aspect of contemporary or historical India), leading to the writing of a 10,000-word dissertation under tutorial supervision; the ISP may form a bridge to link the two halves of this two-subject degree