Jodo- Tool for Foreigners to learn the Hindi Language

Jodo is a language learning environment for an English-speaking foreign national to learn conversational Hindi.

In recent times, a number of foreign nationals are moving to India for a long duration, for work, academics or other personal reasons. Their requirement for Hindi is beyond the ‘get by’ Hindi that tourists need. Knowledge of Hindi makes their lives in India easier, and they feel more integrated with the local population.

Hindi is the third largest spoken language in the world. It is the largest common spoken language in India. Yet, there is a lack of resources for people to learn Hindi as a foreign language.

A detailed user study of foreigners in India was conducted.  Language learning methodologies were studied.  After understanding the exact user requirements, it was observed that learning Hindi Grammar is essential, for users to be able to put together sentences.

A grammar-oriented design solution fulfilling the user’s specific requirements was conceptualized. It specifically targeted listening and speaking skills. Side by side, the user would also need to be trained in conversation. The dialogue section of Jodo helps in conversational training. An effort was made to make the tool engaging for the users, since language learning is a tedious task.

Jodo is a Language Learning Environment with a highly grammatical approach, which teaches foreign nationals sentence building, and trains them for conversation. The learning is re-enforced by various exercises, which are developed like games.

• It is is currently designed for the tablet form factor. It is easily usable on laptop and desktop computers.
• The content which appears in the tool is highly contextual and contemporary, unlike ‘textbook’ Hindi.
• Devanagiri script is kept optional, and transliteration is always given as an option.

The learning is divided into various grammatical levels, based on

1. Requirement in Speech
2. Grammatical complexity

Each level   has 3 stages that the user must complete, before progressing to the next level.

Each level contains three stages:

• Learning (Build)
• Dialogue
• Test

Build stage internalize Grammar rules in sentence building through reading, listening, and exploration.

Dialogue stage overcome the speaking barrier, and practice simple pronunciation and sentence building.

Test stage: Re-enforce the learning goal of the current level, revise the learning in the previous levels, and test your ability to build sentences or word phrases

The tool was evaluated with 7 foreign nationals, the results of which are captured in the video: