HOWEVER, please be so kind as to remove the lessons on subjects for which you have had some novice or research person patch together a few pages of so-called lessons. They make you look like a group out to make some money by causing the blind to stumble, so to speak.
Your mathematics lessons are a joke, and your Hebrew lessons are badly flawed. These are the only ones I looked at, so I can't comment on any or the others (lucky for you).
I'm sure this note will never be put on your "letters" page, but I will look for it there anyway. I may be underestimating you, but I don't think so. Yours Truly, Lorenzo
Thank you Lorenzo. The lessons are only meant as an introduction to the alphabets and are corrected with feedback from readers. Currently we are getting 1 million hits every four months . What are your opinions on the Spanish lessons ? French will follow soon. The main aim of these lessons is to introduce the language to the readers in an easy to assimilate manner and not meant for anybody to become an expert. They can always do that with further reading. The Urdu lessons for example are being much appreciated as the Arabic script can be quite difficult to master. We will try to improve the Mathematics and Hebrew lessons. If you can tell us what you think is wrong with them or better still make some yourself and send them to us , it would help .
There is an error in your Russian lessons. The backwards R is not "y". It
is "ya." Therefore, to spell "yard" in Russian the extra "a" is not needed,
as backwards R gives the "ya" sound in its entirety. Also, you then
transliterate "five" as "pyty" which is completely misleading. "Five" is
pronounced "pYAt'". The soft sign is not a "y" (like eye or ee or yi) but
merely a "softening" of the consonant that it follows.
I found UK India by trying, believe it or not, to find a web page with
_Chinese_ character lessons! (I found one eventually.) I know French
fairly well, a smattering of Russian and German, knowledge of the Hindi
alphabet. And I'm just beginning to study Chinese.
The other pages are all pretty impressive, especially the language lessons.
I was utterly baffled by the Tamil and Hebrew scripts - they seem so
complicated!
For Chinese You need a frames-capable browser to look at it.
http://www.erols.com/eepeter/chtools.html
It is a fantastic page: Chinese "flashcards" with pinyin and cantonese plus
the English meanings, number of strokes, etc, which you can view in
sequential order or randomly; _and_ a searchable character dictionary!
There are 999 characters! It's really a top of the line, first rate page.
A lot of work went into it. There are other features too.
I'm not a big fan of most Indian movies (except Satyajit [sp?] Ray), so I
only glanced at the culture pages. The news and science pages were
informative. Everything is set up in an interesting manner. I liked it.
All in all, it's a great page. The only improvement I can think of is in
the area of the language lessons - the vowel sounds (I'm thinking of the
Hindi lessons here) could be explained better, and the English letters you
use to explain them should be consistent. For example, if you use aa for
the sound like "tAll", then you should stick with that throughout. Or if
you use ae for the sound as in "tApe," then a different English cluster
should be used for the sound in "Apple" - it doesn't really matter what
letters, just that the usage is consistent.
I also have looked at the Ideas page. Fascinating stuff. It's really
revealing to see how people other than Americans tackle the problems that
all societies share. I like the idea of making criminals fast a day a week.
That could never happen here in America, but I sure would like to see it.
Thank you for your informative letter. The Russian mistake has been corrected-its really only a very basic introduction to the alphabet. As for Hindi , the problem is that English is not phonetic for eg Mad should really be written as M-aae-d but most people would then have trouble reading it. The AA sound is a vertical line , the AE as in Ape is a small diagonal stroke above the line and the AAE as in apple is a double diagonal . you should read Hindi the way it is written and use the English translation just as a rough guide.
Namastee, Sat Sri Akaal yaa Asalam Alekum!
I felt I had to write to thank you for the wonderful course that you have taken time to write and make as comprehensive as possible. Until now, I did not believe that such a course existed - one that provided the information needed in an easy to understand fashion! I have and still am taking time to perfect what you have taught, and in time, will hopefully be able to read Hindi as well as I do my own native language. (Well, that's debatable!)
Please, if you have any other useful tips that you may have overlooked, I
would be delighted to see a continuation of this programme - dare I say it - a
lesson 16 onwards...
Keep up the good work, and Thaanya Vaat!
Kindest Regards
Susan Grasekamp
grasekamp@msn.com
There are 20 Hindi lessons so far. You can download them all at once by a link from the front page
Hindi and Urdu words are pronounced the same. Sound files take up a lot of space but the idea is very good . If somebody can send us a sample of the words pronouced in the lessons we may be able to put it on. A female voice is transmitted more clearly.
The lessons contain the closest English pronouciations, Later on in the vocabulary section the usual Hindi spelling will be written.
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I would like to commend you on a job well done. I am taking Hindi at a private school, and I must say that when I found your web site, I was thrilled. My Hindi has improved with both my private lesson and your web site. I started the class a little late in the session, so I was behind in my reading, but your web page has brought me to the same if not further level then the rest of the class. Keep up the good work.
I frequently visit the ukindia web-page. It is certainly a very good site for the following reasons.
1. It serves as a base and has several links to other useful sites.
2. It is often quicker to link through the ukindia links
than directly linking a particular site. Don't know why!
However I wish the updates be quicker as the science articles/
jokes/ matrimonials become too stale after a week!
But it is certainly a site which I would recommend my friends and
colleagues to start off...
From S. Mardik
HERE ARE MY COMMENTS:-
The pages are good but I think they need to be more informative. The information on them is limited and so I feel they lack the umph!! for any reader to carry on reading.
I now regularly check the ukindia pages to see if any new information is on them - but I have to be honest and say that on numerous occassions I have been disappointed in that they are still carrying the same old information.
The information is good but not updated regulary and I cant stress enough that people want to know all the latest on everything - be it music, films clothing, general gossip or even the 'most happening' - place in town.
But I feel you can improve on the pages by telling the reader of what is happening in the neighbouring counties like - Derby, Leicester, Loughborough. ButIi also feel thatthe best places where you know that more asian events are taking place are those places where there is a large asian population (ie) London, Birmingham, Bradford, Southall etc
Although these places are far from nottingham, if the events are good then people are more than willing to travel - don't you think? These pages are for all Asian people - so Asian people want to know what other Asian people are doing.
More events in this county and neighbouring counties should be covered - asian businesses should be more made aware of. (ie) Beauty Clinics within the county - i know of some people and places that are well established within the county.
There are some very good shop (clothing, jewellery, food etc) in Nottingham that you have failed to mention - and as you know there are some great places in Leicester and London also.
Asain magazines should also be mentioned - Stardust, Movie, Cineblitz are magazines about the Indian Film industry - Asian people are always ready to read about the stars - again you could mention other sporting magazines that feature our great sporting celebs - are where such magazines could be obtained.
The film & songs pages could be kept more up-to-date because everyone wants to know that the latest releases are - your pages don't show these - maybe more gossip about the stars would be good also.
Also you could find out when famous Asian artists are touring. I know that VITAL SIGNS are touring egland this year - but i have seen no mention of them on these pages.
Just a few ideas and thought on the pages - hope they will help and not offend anyone and hope they are of use to you.
The pages are great and the team is doing brilliantly - well done. keep up the good work
SAFREEN CUNSER DIN
Reply
That letter was really very very helpful . It told us what we should be aiming at in order to keep readers interested and serve the Indian and Pakistani communites and others interested in affairs of the subcontinent.
The cinema page has not been updated because it is hard to follow the announcer on the hotline ! She speaks so fast ! It would be easier for you to dial the number given yourself. If somebody posts us Vital Signs tour information we will put it on.
We are taking some comments from rec.arts.movies.indian to tell readers about the latest reviews and there is a link to the newsgroup. We shall try to follow up your other comments .Most sevice providers give free pages so if there are any people in the towns you mention who can update events in their town on their own web page we will put a link to their web page from ukindia .
Remember the pages are updated weekly and to always read whats new.
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SUBJECT: Re: Read Hindi
Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
The Read Hindi lessons are very friendly and easy to follow. I was able
to finish all 8 at one sitting and remember most of the letters the
next time through.
You are correct - I'm Chinese, from Beijing, China.
I went to school in New York and had a roommate from India. That's
how I got interested in Indian languages.
On Sundays I work in an Indian grocery store where I live(Boca Raton,
Florida) and I get to meet people from all parts of India.
Sorry I haven't browsed other parts of ukindia. If I do I'll be sure to
tell you what I think.
Cheng Zuo
UK-India Aadaab:
Looking at your web settled our argument....wooosh ..... Saba won, and now I can live in my home with her (she even served me dinner)....”yaar yeh daiseee beewian Amreeka mai~n bohot nakhra karteee hai~n”.
Anyway we got the $45 and when I say "we" I mean Saba....THANKS A BUNCH...NOW SHE CAN TREAT ME ON VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!!!!!CAN I ENTER the next competition since "I" (as in "ME") did not actually win anything last time.
"We" will be sending you some "shers"...(not the lion variety) but the Faiz Ahmad Faiz kind.
Anyway UK-India...take care. Liked you web page. Will visit it again and again. Downloading was quick.
BYE
(with Moin writing (typing) AND SABA looking over my shoulder
Moin