HINDI ; AN ACTIVE INTRODUCTION This work wos compiled and publis bed with the f the D. N. SHARMA and JAMES W. STONE FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE WASHINGTON, D.C. 1970 DEP ARTM™ENT OF STATEFOREIGN SERVICE TITUTE BASIC COURSE SERIES Edited by AUGUSTUS A. KOSKI For sale by the Superintendont of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Wasbington, D.C. 20402 Pri $1.80 cokPREFACE An Active Introduction to Hindi follows the ‘microwave’ style of lesson organi- zation originated by Earl W. Stevick of the Foreign Service Institute. A trial version prepared by James W. Stone and Bonnie Graham MacDougall during the summer of 1966 was successful in several Peace Corps training programs, as well as at FSI. Encouraged by the favorable reception, FSI and the Peace Corps decided to proceed with a fuller development of Hindi materials on this model. Work began with the arrival of D. N. Sharma in the summer of 1967 and culminated in the present publica- tion, The ‘microwave’ model was described by Dr. Stevick ina brief paper, ‘UHF and Microwaves in Transmitting Language Skills’, which appeared in the International Journal of American Linguistics, Volume 32.1, Part 2, 1966. It was used in his two Swahili texts: An Active Introduction to Swahili: Geography, and An Active Intro- duction to Swahili: General Conversation. The purpose and method are explained at length in the introduction which follows (see pp v-xiii). The American Embassy in New Delhi arranged to have the Hindi portions set in type in India and printed, thus providing clear camera copy with the full range of Devanagari symbols, not all of which are available on typewriters. The English por- tions were typed by Mrs. Irma C. Ponce. Unlike most FSI language textbooks, An Active Introduction to Hindi has no related tape recordings since it is essentially a guidebook for conversational inter- play between students and a native speaking instructor. The debt which this publication owes to the Peace Corps could hardly be over- stated. The project was undertaken at the encouragement of the language staff in Washington; the preliminary materials were tried in Peace Corps training programs; and much of the cost of development and publication was borne by the Peace Corps. Without the cooperation and support of the Peace Corps An Active Introduction to Hindi would not have been possible. C7 James R. Frith, Dean School of Language Studies Foreign Service Institute May 19, 1970 Department of State iii