While the Hindi Urdu Flagship is primarily an undergraduate academic program, our broader mission is to serve as a national resource center for the Hindi Urdu language. To date Hindi Urdu pedagogy has suffered from a distinct lack of authentic, original curricular materials produced expressly for the advanced language learner.
In response to this need, HUF is developing a number of original media projects. All projects involve: both native and advanced non-native speakers, an intermediate to advanced level of Hindi Urdu, HD digital video or studio quality audio, project specific websites and auxiliary materials to provide contextualization of the primary media. All materials created are web-based and free to the public. Current projects include:
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A Spoken Thesaurus
A Spoken Thesaurus of Hindi Urdu is a weekly audio podcast where HUF's Associate Director for Hindi, Rupert Snell, interviews native speakers on the significance of particular words and phrases in Hindi Urdu. So far, over 30 episodes have been recorded. Comprehension questions and glossaries of key phrases accompany each episode. The entire series is available online, as well as via the iTunes store, RSS feed, and subscription email. -
Mera Shahar
Mera Shahar ('My City') is web-based collection of filmed interviews about subjects' hometowns in South Asia. Each video interview lasts about 20 mins and is aimed at intermediate to advanced learners. Website coming fall 2009. -
Hamaarii Bolii
Hamaarii Bolii ('Our Language') is a web-based video database featuring clusters of short video responses to questions covering topics ranging from conversational strategies to social issues. Glossaries and comprehension questions coming fall 2009.
