Psychotomy

1.A as in Umm , Anar (Pomergranate);..2.AA as in Aunt , Aag ( Fire) ;..3.I as in India, Emli ( spice) ;…4.Ee as in East , Eent (brick) ;…5.U as in oops , ooloo (owl) 6.oo as in moon , oon (yarn)

A as in “umm” ??? AA as in Aunt … great, now i suppose it matters if you say aunt like “ought” or “ant” …

I as in India.  Great, which I?   is it “imli” or “eemli”?  (i think it’s the latter) …

U as in “oops” ??? there’s no U!  i guess we’re talking “upsy daisy” sound, since i say oops and moon with the same oo sound!

then there are 5 lines of consonants on the alphabet chart (5 each).  and 4 of the lines end in N.  different N’s.  that look nothing alike. and sound different.  but the text says they’re all “N” …

now i remember why this is hard to learn.  25 consonants. 10 vowels. 8 “semi vowels”. and then 10 variant vowels + 16 combination-letters; which apparently the variant vowels (“vowel marks”) don’t sound the same as the vowel in question, and the combination letters have new sounds.  and don’t always look like a combo of the original letters.  so, between 43 and 70 characters, depending on if you worry with the variant bits.  and even the basic ones are telling you to use sounds that aren’t in the word.

seriously, if I ever figure out hindi, I’m writing a book “Hindi for Americans” that will use words and accents of america rather than england.  nothing against london, and it was their language first, but even when the words are the same, the sounds are different.  and it makes a difference!

Posted in: hindi by attriel /