Americans Flocking To Learn Hindi
April 23, 2008 by Arun Pal Singh
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According to the US Embassy, 151 American undergraduate and graduate students traveled to India for intensive language training in the last two years. Of them 74 were Hindi students. Since 2006 the US Department of State has sponsored 55 American undergraduate students to study in Indian for a semester or a year through its Gilman Scholarship programme.
One purpose of bringing American students to India to learn Hindi is to encourage some of them to eventually reach a level where they can teach Hindi to Americans later in their careers, said Adnan Siddiqi, Counselor for cultural affairs, US Embassy, New Delhi.
In January 2006, US President George Bush launched the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), a plan to dramatically increase the number of Americans learning critical languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Hindi, through new and expanded programmes from kindergarten through university and into the workforce.
This has also led to a dramatic increase in the teaching of Hindi in the US. The most significant development being launch, in Bush’s home state, of the National Flagship Language Program in Hindi and Urdu at the University of Texas (UT), Austin.
Over $700,000 was expected in funding in 2006-07 for the launch of the Nation’s first Hindi-Urdu Flagship programme, according to news archives of UT.
There is now Hindi-Urdu instruction at probably 25-30 institutions in the US. Most American Universities with South Asia centres teach Hindi. Many intermediate and advanced students come from the large centres at the University of Texas, University of California, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University.
There is good news for Hindi teachers in India too. Nineteen Indian teachers have traveled to the US since 2006 under the Fulbright Foreign Teaching Assistant Programme funded by the US Government. Of the 19, 15 taught Hindi in American classrooms.
Source:Hindustan Times
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Tags: Education, hindi language, hindi teachers, national language, US students
Americans Flocking To Learn Hindi…
According to the US Embassy, 151 American undergraduate and graduate students traveled to India for intensive language training in the last two years….
Americans Flocking To Learn Hindi…
According to the US Embassy, 151 American undergraduate and graduate students traveled to India for intensive language training in the last two years….