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Translation 55. English Loanwords in Hindi. Addendum on Demonetisation (noTbaNdee)

14 December 2016

In the past 5 weeks of turmoil in India, the following English loanwords or phrases have been  heard or read in the Hindi media. They offer important additional evidence of the ever-present influence of English on the use and development of the Hindi language. Contributions (and corrections) from readers would be most welcome.

More background information on my Loanword collection is available here:

baileNs, (bank) balance

chek, or chaik, cheque, check (USA)

DebiT kaarD, debit card

ekaauNT, account

eTeeem, ATM (Automatic Teller Machine)

haaee kamaan, High Command (military)

haaee Deenomineshan (noTs), high denomination (notes)

haaipothesis, hypothesis

haikar, m, hacker

haiNDlar, m, handler (military, etc.)

iNkam Taiks, income tax

kaishles sasayaTee, f, cashless society [Also: les-kaish, less cash]

kareNsee, f, currency

kreDit kaarD, credit card

laain, line, queue, laain karnaa, to queue (EH) [English/Hindi hybrid form] [Hindi: qataar]

manee, money; remiTens manee, remittance money (from Indians abroad)

manee aurDar, money order

manee lauNDariNg, money laundering

noT, note, banknote

noTbaNdee, f, (bank)note cancellation, “demonetisation” (EH)

prauparTee, property

railee, political rally

rizaarv baiNk auf iNDiyaa, Reserve Bank of India (Also: aarbeeaaee, RBI)

sarkooleshan, circulation

smaarT fon, smart phone

Taiks, tax

vaaTs aip, or vhaaTs aip, WhatsApp (message softwARE (Int.)

vauleT, wallet

yoojars, or yoozars, users

(More to follow soon on English loanwords observed in the Hindi media between February and December 2016.)

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Translation 43. Learner’s Guide to Hindi Suffixes. Introduction

30 June 2013

This article in the Handy Hindi Hints series is about Hindi suffixes (and other word ending constituents). It is the companion of my recent article on Hindi prefixes (et al), aimed at fellow learners of Hindi as a Second Language. If you missed that one it is still there.

These articles and their copious examples are the fruit of my own ongoing documented struggle with the Hindi language. They have been composed for my own benefit as a shortcut to comprehending the (alien to Anglos) Hindi lexicon. As before, I am happy to share this detailed information with other learners of Hindi as a Second Language. hoping that more knowledgeable readers will assist us all by suggesting corrections and additions to further ease our painful but invigorating linguistic Himalayan climb.

In view of the scope and length of this analysis of suffixes (29 pages, with several hundred examples and translations), those who feel interested enough in the topic already can access the .pdf on my language website (www.briansteel.net). For others, especially those who are not sure if my offering may be of use to them, I present the following basic examples of Hindi word families and a few short extracts from the pdf.

The full version is available here.
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Hindi Word Families

As a preliminary exercise, let us consider the following Hindi word families, which give an idea of the wide lexical scope to be covered in this compilation. They also show, better than any description, how helpful it is to be able to know the meaning of suffixes and other lexical endings available in the Hindi language.

1. darshan

darshan, m, sight, seeing, view
darshan karnaa, to see, visit

adarshan, invisible
darshaanaa, to exhibit, show
darshak, m, bystander, visitor, spectator,
darshan shaastr, philosophy
darshanik, philosophical
darshee, observer, seer
darshit, shown, displayed
darshneey, noticeable, worth seeing (YK, 125)
doordarshan, m, television
doordarshee, farsighted
doordarsheetaa, farsightedness, sagacity
adoordarshitaa, shortsightednesss
maargdarshan, m, guidance
nidarshak, illustrative, demonstrator
nidarshan, m, example, illustration
observer
paardarshitaa, f, transparency
paridarshan, m, panoramic view
pathpradarshak, m, leader, guide
pradarshan, m, show, demonstration, performance
pratham pradarshan, premiere
pratyaksh darshan, m, firsthand view
satdarshee, m, seer of truth
sudarshan, good-looking, elegant
virodh pradarshan karnevaale, protesters, demonstrators

2. sukh

sukh, m. happiness, pleasure
sukhee, happy
sukhkaarak, pleasant
sukhjanak, giving pleasure
sukhdaataa, sukhdaayinee (f), giving pleasure
sukhpoorvak, happily
sukhvaad, hedonism
sukhvaadee, hedoinist

3. vichaar

vichaar, m, thought, idea
vichaaraatmak, thoughtful
vichaarak, thinker
vichaararth, discussion
vichaardhaaraa, f, ideology
vichaardhaaraaparak, ideological
vichaarheen, thoughtless, unthinking
vichaarneey, worth considering
vichaarpoorn, thoughtful
vichaarpoorvak, thoughtfullY
vichaarsheel, thoughtful
vichaarsheeltaa, f, thoughtfulness
vichaarvaad, idealism
vichaarvaadee, m/f, idealist
vichaarvaan, thoughtful

vaichaarik, thoughtful, ideological
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Word formation processes: 4 examples from the full study.

From Part 1 (Functional word endings)

-ee
1.
-ee, f, abstract nouns (from nouns or adjectives)
choree, f, theft (chor, m, thief)
daaktaree, f, medical profession
dostee, f, friendship
mazdooree, f, labourer’s wage

With adjectives
beemaaree, f, illness
bahadooree, f, bravery (bahaadur, brave)
giraftaaree, f, arrest
eemandaaree, f, honesty
hoshiyaaree, f, intelligence

2. Invariable adjectives and nouns

A. Origin or affiliation (nouns and adjectives)

amreekee, American
banarsee, from Benares (Varanasi)
bhaaratvaasee, Indian citizen
cheenee, Chinese
gujraatee, Gujarati
islaamee, Islamic <islaam?
madraasee, from Madras
paNjaabee, Punjabi
roosee, Russian
videshee, foreign, foreigner

B. agents and “doers”, -er, -ist, etc.

adhikaaree, m, official, officer
adhohastaaksharee, the undersigned
shaastree, scientist
telee, oil worker

C. Other invariable nouns and adjectives

asarkaaree, non-governmental
(Note also: asarkaaree [asar+kaaree], effective)
bhrashtaachaaree, m, corrupt person
dhanee, wealthy (person)
hridayasparshee, heart-touching
krodhee, angry
nivaasee, inhabitant(s)
phaujee, military
sukhee, happy
zarooree, urgent, important, necessary

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From Part 1

-pan
Abstract nouns, masculine : -ness, -hood, etc.

akelaapan, m, feeling of loneliness
bachpan, childhood,
gaNjapan, baldness
kachchaapan, rawness
kalaapan, blackness
khoklaapan, m, hollowness
khulepan, openness (khulaa, open, clear)
motapan, fatness
nayaapan, novelty
paagalpan, madness
pakkaapan, thoroughness
peelaapan, yellowness
samajhpan, understanding
uneeNdaapan, m, drowsiness
vidhvaapan, m, widowhood
vigyaapan, advertisement

From Part 2 (Labels)

-kaar

Very productive
(For -kaaree as an adjectival suffix, see Part 4.)

chaayaakaar, m, photographer
chitrakaar, painter, artist, designer
geetkaar, lyricist
kahaanikaar, m, story writer
kalaakaar, m, artist
koshkaar, lexicographer
lekhakkaar, accountant (lekhak, writer/author)
moortikaar, sculptor
naatakkaar, m, dramatist, playwright
patrkaar, journalist <
rachnaakaar, m. author, creator
saNgeetkaar, musician
vaastukaar, m, architect
vivrankaar, m, commentator
yaNtrakaar, mechanic

Note
The noun kartaa (doer, maker) is also used as a suffix.
kaaryakartaa, m, worker, activist
niyaNtrankartaa, m, controller
peshkartaa, m, presenter
saakshaatkaarkartaa, m, interviewer

From Part 3 Descriptive elements (Things get even more interesting from here on.)
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(The first of the 4 main descriptive suffixes: -ik, -ak, -eey, -it)

(consonant +) -ik

The number ONE descriptive suffix is -ik, often equivalent to the English suffix -al
or -ic (or -ical) which, coincidentally, it closely resembles homophonically. It is usually attached directly to a noun, e.g. samaaj, society + ik > samaajik, social.

aadhaarik, basic
aadhunik, modern (
aanubhavik, empirical
aanukramik, sequential
aanuvarnik, alphabetical ?
aatmik, spiritual
adhyaatmik, spiritual
aaraMbhik, initial, early, preliminary
aarthik, economic, financial
aastik, believer
akaalik, inopportune
dharmik, religious
maasik, monthly
paarasparik, reciprocal
raajneetik, political
samaarik, strategic
samaajik, social
shareerik, bodily, physical (body)
upyogik, useful (pr upi-)
varshik, annual
vyapaarik, business atr., trade atr.

Notes
1. Standard vowel changes occur:
i > ai; e > ai; u > au ; o and oo > au

alaukik, unwordly, non-secular
amaulik, unoriginal
anaitik, unethical
itihaas (history) > itihaisik
pauranik, legendary
vaigyaanik, scientist
vaikalpik, optional
vaicharik, thoughtful, idealogical
vaitanik, salaried. paid
vaideshik, foreign
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From Part 4

-poorvak
From poorv, full. It is used to form adverbs.

aadaarpoorvak, respectfully
adhikaarpoorvak, authoritative, with authority
dhyaanpoorvak, carefully
kushalpoorvak, safely
nishchaypoorvak, firmly
prempoorvak, lovingly, agreeably
shaNtipoorvak, peacefully
sukhpoorvak, happily
suvidhaapoorvak, conventionally
veerpoorvak, valiantly, heroically
vichaarpoorvak, thoughtfully
yuktipoorvak, skilfully
vishvaaspoorvak, confidently
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From Part 5

-yog

Highly productive of masculine nouns and, with common suffixes like -ik, adjectives also.

aayog, m, a commission (body)
abhiyog, accusation
asahyog, m, non-cooperation
durupyog, improper use, wasteful
manoyog, m, concentration, single-mindedness
niyog, m, employment
prayog, m, use; experiment
pratiyogaa/ee, competitor
pratiyogitaa, competition
sahyog, cooperation
sahyogtaa, support
sahyogee, assistant, colleague, ally
saMyogik, accidental, fortuitous
suyog, m, happy chance, serendipity
udyog, industry [scr.]
udyogpati, industrialist
upyog, use (pr. upiyog)
upyogee, useful, helpful
upyogitaa, f, usefulness, suitability
viyog, separation

Note
-yogya, -able <yogya, able, worthy
niryogya, disabled
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Well, there you are! The above and another 20+ pages are available here. As a potential shortcut to achieving wider comprehension of the ‘alien’ Hindi lexicon, the broad system of suffixes and suggested translations offered in this compendium is surely worth attention.

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Reference List

Agnihotri, Rama Kant, Hindi. An Essential Grammar, Routledge, London & New York, 2006. (pp. 57-75 provide an original analysis of suffixes.)
Allied’s Hindi-English Dictionary, edited by Henk Wagenaar and Sangeeta S. Parikh, New Delhi, Allied Publishers, 1996.

Bahri, Hardev, Rajpal Advanced Learner’s Hindi-English Dictionary, 2 vols., Delhi, Rajpal Publishing, 2011.
(This is possibly the most helpful bilingual romanised dictionary for intermediate and advanced English-speaking learners of Hindi.)

Kachru, Yamuna, Hindi, Amsterdam, John Benjamins, 2006. (pp. 114-127 are crammed with concise information which I have quoted directly for a small number of those suffixes which I have not met.

Koul, Omkar N., Modern Hindi Grammar, Springfield, VA, Dunwoody Press, 2008, pp. 69-72).
This work is available for download from
Professor Koul at iils.delhi@gmail.com)

McGregor, R. S., Outline of Hindi Grammar, OUP, 3rd. ed., 1995. His treatment of suffixes (pp 211-214) is a very useful starting point on this topic and the author’s treatment of the -saa particle (pp. 161-163) is particularly helpful.
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Translation 42. Learner’s Guide to Hindi Prefixes and word formation. Introduction

20 May 2013

The full 20-page study, with 800 examples (and a fuller Introduction), is available here.
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Hindi word formation is a wide and complex lexical and morphological field. The following two studies will cover some aspects of word formation of special interest and potential benefit for learners of Hindi as a Second Language. They are offered in Draft form, in the hope that those more knowledgeable will send me their corrections and suggestions in order to make this amateur compilation more accurate and useful for myself and for fellow intermediate students of Hindi.
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After four years of study, I remain deeply engaged in a time- and energy-sapping struggle with this fascinating but quite difficult foreign language. Some of my previous language-learning strategies have proved very useful in keeping me on a slowly productive learning curve but the extreme foreignness of Hindi script, vocabulary, morphology and grammar has presented a formidable linguistic Himalayan range to scale and here I am, still exploring the foothills. All these Handy Hindi Hints articles are therefore basically for my own benefit, but the considerable work involved makes the results potentially worth sharing with others on the same long trek.

One of the special difficulties for speakers of English (and many other languages) is that Hindi vocabulary does not offer any of the usual convenient and comforting ‘toeholds’ or mnemonics which are available to us in our attempts to speed up comprehension of the foreign languages we are most likely to learn: the European Romance Languages. A large quantity of words passed down from Latin are still easily and instantly comprehensible to us in these languages.

This applies most particularly to those words and word families containing familiar prefixes and suffixes, like con-, dis-, mis-, pre-, pro-, un- etc.
and
-ate, -ary, -ful, -ive, -ous, -sion, -tion, etc.

As a simple example of the practical value of this shared knowledge, take the word constitution with its prefix, con- and suffix, -tion. In many countries of Europe, and beyond, the corresponding term is instantly identified (especially in its written form):
constitution (French), constitución, costituzione, constituição, constitució and constituție, etc. Equal similarities apply to most other words containing the affixes con- and -tion and, indeed, to many other cognate Latin (and other) prefixes and suffixes.

This is a valuable learning advantage that the second language learner probably takes for granted while wrestling with the many very real problems of the foreign language.

In learning Hindi, however, NONE of these basic similarities exist and as a consequence, most native Hindi words have to be individually committed to memory. This is such a huge task that the only way to make satisfactory progress is to find shortcuts.

One obvious strategy is to systematise one’s lexical acquisitions by studying the morphology of Hindi word formation in order to build up an appreciation of Hindi word families by memorising common prefixes, suffixes and other frequently used word-compounding elements like those I shall be introducing in this academically unorthodox but (I hope) learner-friendly study.

This article and the following one will deal with detailed analyses of these two types of word formation in Hindi.

1. Words which consist of the addition of a particle (prefix) or an existing word to an existing word or ‘word base’ to form semantically related words.

2. Other selected word formations which consist of a suffix, or compounding word or element appended to an existing word. These words and compounds will be the subject of my next article.

Acknowledgements
(See Reference List for publishing details.)

In my study of the lexicon of written and spoken media Hindi, I have been especially aided by the authors of two excellent bilingual romanised dictionaries:

Hardev Bahri, Rajjpal Advanced Learner’s Hindi-English Dictionary, 2 vols., Delhi, Rajpal Publishing, 2011. (In Vol. 2, there are Appendices on Prefixes (upsarg) on pp. 1767-1771 and on Suffixes (pratyay) on pp. 1772-1778.)

Allied’s Hindi-English Dictionary, edited by Henk Wagenaar and Sangeeta S. Parikh
(New Delhi, Allied Publishers, 1996.)

For some months I have also had the luxury of referring to the bilingual Hindi and English Thesaurus by Arvind Kumar (both the online version and the printed one) and in the last three months, I have also benefitted from the recent research and romanised renderings offered in Dr. Badrinaath Kapoor’s Advanced Hindi-English Dictionary (New Delhi, Prabhaat Prakaashan, 2007).

Of the Hindi grammars I have consulted, the most thorough treatment of prefixes and suffixes is in Professor Yamuna Kachru’s magisterial study, Hindi (John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2006, Chapter 8, ‘Word Formation’, pp 111-129. This very densely packed chapter also deals with other characteristic forms of lexical compounding in Hindi which learners need to know.

Also invaluable in my initial Hindi studies and as a constant reference point was R.S.McGregor’s enduring classic analysis, Outline of Hindi Grammar, OUP, 3rd. ed., 1995. His treatment of word formation affixes (pp 207-215) is a useful starting point on these topics.

I am also grateful to my tutor, Indramohan Singh, for timely answers to a series of last-minute queries.

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Selected Hindi Prefixes and Other Initial Compounding Elements

Classification
(Definitions in inverted commas are from Yamuna Kachru.)

1. Negatives, antonyms, opposition

a-, “not, without”
an-, ana-, “not, without”
ap-
bad-
be-
duh- : + dur-, dush- “bad, difficult”
gair
ku-, “bad, deficient”
laa-
naa-
ni-
nih-, nir-, nis-, nish-, “without”
par- other
prati- 1. against
vi-. 1. “different, opposite”
[vi-2, : See’Section 5.]

2. Positive

su-, good
sat-, sad-, true
dharm (COMPOUND)

3. Number, quantity, size

alp (COMPOUND), small
adh-, and ardh-, half
bahu- ( C ) multi-, poly-
ek-, one
du- (do-), two-
dvi-, two, twin
tri-, three-

4. References to place, position, order and time (similar to some English prepositions and prefixes)

(The brief introductory glosses in inverted commas given below are from Professor Yamuna Kachru, pp. 112- 113 and 124-125.)

aa-, “to, toward, up to”
abhi-, “toward, intensity”
adhi-, “additional, above”
[adho-, lower]
aNtah, aNtar, “inter”
anu-, “after”
ap-. “away, off, down”
ati-, “excessive”
av-, “away, diminution”
door-, far, distant
[nav-, new(ly), neo-]

pari-, “around, whole”
[poorv-, (time): former, previous
(place): east(ern)]
pra-, 1. before, pre-, forward
[pra-, 2. excellent. supreme. See Section 5.]
[punah and punar-, [re-]

up(a)-, up(i)-, “subordinate”
ut, ud-, un-, “upward”
[sah-, with, co-]
[baa-, containing, with]
saN-, with, together
[san- / sam-, same, equal]

5. Intensity or degree

[poorn-, full(y)]
pra- 2. “forward, excess”
[vi- 2. completely]
[saarv-, sarv-, all-]

6. Similar COMPOUND elements indicating scale, rank and intensity

madhya-, ( C), medium, middle-
madhyam, ( C), medium
mukhya- . chief, main
raaj-, royal
vishva ( C), universal, world

7. Personal

aatma- ( C), self-
sva(a)-, self, own
praan- ( C), life-
yog ( C), combination, joining, yoga
mano-, mental, psycho-

8. Selected productive compounding words

8.1 Elements

agni ( C), fire
bhoo, ( C) and bhoomi ( C), land, soil
jal ( C ), water
vaayu ( C) air

8.2 People

jan ( C ), people
lok ( C), people
jeev ( C), & jeevan ( C)
jaat ( C) & jaati ( C)
arth, ( C), money; meaning
raashtra, (C ) nation

8.3 Action Compounds

kaarya ( C), work, action
kriyaa ( C) action
krit-, done

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All these are examined and illustrated in detail as a vocabulary-building exercise on my Hindi web page. Approximately 800 examples and translations are given as well as glosses for the ‘base word’ to which the prefix or other element is added.

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Translation 39. A Short Reference List for Hindi learners & Notes on the suffix vaalaa / wallah

4 November 2012

 A copy of this Reference List for English-speaking learners of Hindi has recently been published at the end of  Item 1 of Hindi Learning Hints on my language website. This extensive analysis is based on my learning curve in relation to the important Hindi suffix vaalaa (aka vala or wallah).

In an item referred to in the Reference List below (goindia.about.com), Sharell Cook introduces vaalaa to would-be travellers to India with this useful thumbnail sketch:

“This word is notorious for its different meanings and spellings. Most visitors to India know it in the context as it refers to a seller or vendor of something. For example, a taxi-wala is a taxi driver. A vegetable-wala is a vegetable seller. However, wala can be combined with the name of a town or city to indicate someone who comes from there. For example, Mumbai-wala or Delhi-wala. Wala can also be used to specify a certain thing. For example, chota-wala means small one, lal-wala means red one, kal-wala means yesterday’s one. Finally it can be used to indicate something as about to happen in the immediate future. Ane-vala means about to come or about to arrive. Jane-wala means about to go or about to leave.” (‘5 Common but often confusing Hindi words’. See goindia.about.com in the List below.)

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Hindi vaalaa is, in fact, a much more complex and a very frequently met phenomenon. Since bilingual dictionaries tend not to help with this basically morphological matter, grammars and other descriptions need to be consulted for an idea of the wide scope of the usage, especially for improved comprehension and translation purposes. For those interested, my vaalaa comprehension and translation analysis is available here.

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A Short Reference List for English-speaking Learners of Hindi

Grammars

Agnihotri, Rama Kant. Hindi. An Essential Grammar, Routledge, London and New York, 2006.
McGregor, R. S. Outline of Hindi Grammar, 3rd edition, New Delhi, 1995.   
Shapiro, Michael C. A Primer of Modern Standard Hindi, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1989.
Snell, Rupert, Teach Yourself Beginner’s Hindi. London, Hodder Headline and USA, McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Dictionaries and other Lexical Studies

Allied’s Hindi-English Dictionary, ed. Sangeeta S. Parikh, New Delhi, Allied, 2002. (with Romanised transliterations) 
Bahri, Hardev, Advanced Learner’s Hindi-English Dictionary, 2 vols, New Delhi, Rajpal, 1999. (with Romanised transliterations) (HB)

Bulcke, Father Camille, Hindee-AaNgrezee Kosh, Catholic Press, Ranchi, 2008. [This appears to be a posthumous publication since the author died in 1982. His English-Hindi Dictionary, 1968, was highly acclaimed and is still in print. See Wikipedia for his distinguished career.]

Sinha, R. Mahesh K.  See  http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/rmk/

http://en.bab.la/dictionary/hindi-english/
The site of a fabulous cornucopia of bilingual dictionaries in MANY languages. The Hindi-English dictionary has a very impressive number of vaalaa offerings. Far more than I have seen anywhere else, online or in print.  Bookmark it!

http://en.bab.la/dictionary/hindi-english/ Another very useful online lexical tool, with a lively forum, listed below.

For other useful references see librarian Salman Haider’s website pages, notably this one.

Thesaurus
Kumar, Arvind, The Penguin English-Hindi/Hindi-English Thesaurus and Dictionary.
For intermediate and advanced study of Hindi, this essential reference work is available for purchase from Arvind Lexicon: http://arvindlexicon.com/home
Also available there is The Arvind Lexicon Online Version (for an $18 annual subscription), and a smaller free version for visitors.

Hindi Corpus
The Center for Indian Language Technology (CFILT) Hindi Corpus
(Although not a very large corpus, and with an apparent preponderance of scientific texts, this is a treasure trove for any language researcher.)

Online Transliteration and Translation
(Indispensable aids for the wary contemporary user.)

Transliteration from English into Hindi: http://www.google.com/transliterate

Transliteration from Devanagari into Romanised Hindi:  http://www.hindidevanagari.com/transliteration/transliterate_to_latin.html
 
Google Translate (to, from, and between many languages): http://translate.google.com/
Microsoft BING Translator (to, from, and between many languages):  http://www.bing.com/translator/

Other useful websites for learners and students of Hindi

Also from CFILT: Indo-Wordnet. “A Wordnet of Indian Languages”: http://www.cfilt.iitb.ac.in/indowordnet/index.jsp

A forum for questions on Hindi and English translation: http://www.shabdkosh.com/forums/viewforum/3/

http://www.wordreference.com  [another forum]

Learning_the_Language_in_India.htm/, with its helpful course recommendations, and language hints by Sharell Cook.

Professor Frances Pritchett of Columbia University has a labyrinthine and very stylish website on Urdu language and literature. For Hindi students there are many insights in his long series on the work of C. M. Naim.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urduhindilinks/txt_naimbks.html

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Note: The introduction to this series of Hindi shortcuts is available here, or here.

 

 

 

 

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Translation 37. Arvind and Kusum Kumar’s magnum opus: the Bilingual Hindi and English Thesaurus

22 September 2012

Although a visit to the Arvind Lexicon website will instantly reward students, dictionary enthusiasts and lexicographers with the fascinating and inspiring story of the lifelong achievement of Arvind and Kusum Kumar (with the later assistance of their son, Sumeet, and daughter, Meeta Lall), it is my great pleasure to share the thrill of my very recent discovery of this extraordinary product of determined devotion and scholarship. The Kumar’s bilingual Hindi and English Thesaurus and Dictionary (and its recent online version) is the fruit of 39 years of patient pioneering work.

Timeline:
1952
Arvind discovers Peter Roget’s Thesaurus and hopes to see a Hindi version.
1973 (December)
Since there is still no Hindi version, Arvind tells his wife, Kusum, that he must make one. Together they begin the labour.
1996
23 years later, the Samantar Kosh (Parallel Dictionary) is published.

Backed by the database and programming skills of their son Dr Sumeet Kumar, Arvind and Kusum redouble their efforts to produce a bilingual version, a Hindi and English Thesaurus, which is finally published in 2007, in 3 volumes by Penguin: The Penguin English-Hindi/Hindi-English Thesaurus and Dictionary.

Since then, they have formed a family business (Arvind Linguistics with Meeta Lall as CEO) to update and market their printed works and have more recently added an online version, in two formats: a generous free sample, which anyone may access by registering and, for more advanced students, writers, journalists, scholars – and bloggers- a full version at a reasonable annual subscription. It is very practical and endlessly fascinating and I shall benefit greatly from its use.

Google reveals many reviews of Arvind’s work (some also linked from the website) but the most recent references to this inspiring undertaking are:
The award of the Shalaka Samman prize last year in Delhi and a very recent article in The Hindu by Swati Daftuar, ‘An Endless Road of Words’ (8 September 2012).

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Basic Hindi Vocabulary for Lucky English-speaking Learners

16 August 2011

If you speak English and wish to speed up your acquisition of general Hindi vocabulary, consider the 400 words listed below in transliterated form as a beginner’s bonus. Most of the items, which are commonly used loanwords from English, will not help much with your travel or with conversations in the street but they are useful for beginning to understand bits and pieces of the spoken and written Hindi currently used by the media and in political life as well as by the Indian middle classes in their daily conversation. There are many more of these to be picked up as you listen to or read the media.

This windfall for English speakers is entirely due to the very special historical links between Hindi and English. In contemporary Hindi, English loan words and phrases (and the much more complex and fascinating phenomenon of “code-switching”), have become an essential part of contemporary Hindi. The total number and rate of borrowings far exceed the number of English words used in French, which so upset French purists. In India the thousands of loanwords are taken for granted, especially as part of globalisation.You will already have witnessed the usage in practically any Bollywood film you have seen. It is a linguistic wonder to behold, and it is not confined to scripted dialogue or commentaries. At the more basic word and phrase level, a striking advantage which facilitates these borrowings is the ability of Hindi to represent most English sounds fairly accurately (in a rough and ready way) within Hindi phonetics. This is simply not possible in languages like French, Spanish and many (most?) others.

To allow the English words to ‘emerge’ from the transliterations below, simply pronounce what you see. Some may amuse you: smile while you learn!

It is essential to know that Hindi ‘ee’ = ee in English but single ‘e’ rhymes with ‘rate’, or sometimes with ‘ten. So ‘peeem’ in Hindi is pronounced more or less as ‘pee aim’ = P.M. Similarly, ‘tren‘ = train, and ‘eme‘ is M.A. (‘aim-eh’). The double vowel ‘aa+ee’ rhymes with ‘my’ or ‘high’: hence Hindi ‘haaee kort‘ (High Court), or ‘aaeeeess‘ (IAS: I = aaee; A = e; S = ess, the Indian Civil Service).

Also the letter ‘v’ is often pronounced as a soft version of ‘w’ as in ‘vikeeleeks’. Do not be distracted by the lack of capital letters in the transliterations. That is the Devanagari alphabet in action. Also, for your and my convenience, I have not used Devanagari alphabetical order.

Although most of the items below are single lexical items, special notice should be given to those marked (E/H). These are hybrid English-Hindi phrases, which give a very fleeting glimpse of the sorts of complex and very dexterous code-switching that goes on all the time in contemporary sophisticated Hindi. If you wish to see an analysis of this real code-switching, I strongly recommend this academic paper by Dr Tomasz Borowiak on “Hindi Englishization”.

Basic Loanwords

aaeeaaeetee, IIT = Indian Inst of Technology
aaeeeess, IAS, India Administrative Service: (‘Bharateey prashaasnik sevaa’)
aaeeesaaee, ISI (Pakistani Military Intelligence)
aaeeseesee, ICC, International Cricket Council (‘antarrashtreeyaa krikat parishad’)
aiscrim, icecream,
aksijaan, oxygen,
aaut, Out! (cricket)
aaeeseeyoo, ICU (Intensive Care Unit)
aktoobar, October
alteemetam, ultimatum
apeel, appeal
aprail, April
athoritee
auph, of
baiNk, bank
baklash
beebeesee, BBC
beeesef, BSF, Border Security Force
beejepee, BJP
bil, bill & Bill (Political)
bildar
bildiNg
bituman
biznas
blad preshar, blood pressure
blaikmel, blackmail
blem gem, blame game
bloo laain, Blue Line (buses)
boiNg, Boeing
boks
boleevud, Bollywood
brek, break

The rest of this long list may be viewed here.

Categories: Hindi Language
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Translation 26. An Online Hindi & Urdu Glossary of Bollywood films by Volker Schuermann

14 January 2011

Volker Schuermann’s Bollywood Dictionary is something of a hidden Internet gem for foreign students of Hindi and Urdu and aficionados of the Indian cinema. It is to be found here.

This meticulously transliterated glossary of over 3500 terms uses an eclectic mixture of lexicographical techniques to present the selected Hindi and Urdu terms in a (convenient) romanised form and in an alphabetical order which is much more user-friendly than conventional Hindi-English or Urdu-English dictionaries which offer romanised glosses of the Hindi or Urdu terms.

This version of Schuermann’s glossary was compiled and printed in Germany in April 2001 and converted into this PDF format in March 2003. The presentation is brief and modest:

Volker Schuermann’s Bollywood Dictionary

“It is definitly not a Hindi dictionary! One might call it a Hindustani dictionary, though. The vocabulary consists of words from quite a few different origins: Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Sanskrit, Greek and English. All those languages have been mixed together to form a new language – Hindustani. A language the majority of Indian cinema-goers can understand.

“In order to help Bollywood fans living in the western parts of the world to understand the dialogues in the movies as well, I have created this dictionary. The sort-order of the vocabulary is based on latin script to make it easier to look up words. Also, the Hindustani words are not printed in Devanagari or even Urdu script but in latin letters. ITRANS is used as a transliteration scheme except for a few occasions where Urdu/Arabic words needed special transliteration treatment.”

Schuermann expresses his acknowledgement of work of the ITRANS team led by Avinash Chopde and concludes:.

“Enjoy your Bollywood movies ….
… and from now on, enjoy understanding the dialogues as well.”
Volker Schuermann, April 2001… [An email address is given there.]

Fans and students are highly indebted to Dr Schuermann (or perhaps Schürmann) for this well-researched and presented Glossary.

The following sample gives an idea of the scope and the amount of research undertaken. (The symbols are explained on pages 2 and 3.)
*

“baad: later
baad me.n: afterwards, later
baadah (n.m.) [P]: wine, spirits
baadal (n.m.) [H]: cloud(s)
baadiyah (n.m.) [A]: wilderness, desert
baadiyah (n.m.) [P]: goblet, cup
baadshaah (n.m.) [P]: emperor, king
baagh (n.m.) [P]: garden, orchard, grove
baagh (m.): tiger
baahar: outside
baaiis: twenty-two, 22
baal (m.): child
baal (m.): hair
baal baa.Nka na honaa: to escape unhurt
baal-bachche (m.): children, family
baalaTii (f.): bucket
baalak (m.): child
baalam (n.m.) [S]: a lover, sweet-heart, husband
baam (n.m.) [P]: upper storey, terrace, balcony
baan (suff.) [P]: signifying keeper or guardian
baanave: ninety-two, 92
baano (n.f.) [P]: lady, gentlewoman
baap (m.): father
baaqee (adj.) [A]: remaining, lasting
baaqee (n.f.) [A]: residue, remainder, arrears
baaqii (f.): remaining, left over, remainder
baar (n.m.) [H]: time, turn, chance, opportunity, delay, obstacle
baar (n.m.) [P]: burden, load, permission, grief, court
baarah (n.m.) [P]: time, turn, about, in regard of
baarah: twelve, 12
baareek (adj.) [P]: fine, slender, delicate, difficult, subtle
baarish (n.m.) [P]: rain
baarish honaa: to rain, rain to fall
baasaTh: sixty-two, 62
baat (n.f.) [H]: word, saying, speech, tale, news, question, business, proposal,
point, gossip, substance
baat: thing, matter, idea, thing said
baat karanaa se: to talk, converse
baate.n honaa: a conversation to take place
baavan: fifty-two, 52
baayaa.N: left (direction)
baaz (adv.) [P]: again, back, refusing
baaz (n.m.) [P]: falcon
baaz (suff.) [P]: denotes doer, agent
baazaar (n.m.) [P]: market, bazaar
baazaar garam honaa: to be doing brisk business
baazaaree (adj.) [P]: common, low, vulgar, relating to the market
baazii (n.f.) [P]: sport, game, wager, turn (in a game)
baazichah (n.m.) [P]: toy, fun, sport
baazoo (n.m.) [P]: arm, fold of a door, flank of an army
bachaanaa: to save, rescue
bachanaa: to be saved, escape, survive
bachapan (m.): childhood
bachchaa (m.): child
bad (adj.) [P]: bad, wicked, evil
bad akhtar (adj.): unfortunate
bad anjaam (adj.): having a bad end
bad chalan (adj.): of bad conduct, ill-mannered, immoral
bad du’aa (n.f.): curse, malediction
bad khvaab (n.m., f.): nightmare
bad m’aash (adj.): roguish
bad naam (adj.): disreputable, notorious, ignominous
bad naseeb (adj.): unfortunate, unlucky”
*

And there are 60 more pages!

Categories: Hindi Language
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