Nepali Should I Learn Nepali

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faib19 Monday 14th of August 2006 10:13:25 AM
Should I learn Nepali - Hi,
I\'ve just joined this site. I have wanted to study abroad in Nepal. My school has an exchange there. Well, I\'d really like to study abroad anywhere, but I feel like Nepal would be a great place to start my travels.

Anyways, I have an opportunity to take a class, 6 credits (oh my), this semester, but I\'m not sure if I should. I was wondering if any of you could sell me on the language: pros/cons, how difficult is it, how much do you practice daily, benefits, et cetera.

If you could provide me with any information on your personal experience rather than just the typical synopsis of the language and its history I would be much obliged.

deathbydalbhat Monday 14th of August 2006 11:05:02 PM
- Have you studied other languages?

Having studied several European languages(Latin, French, Spanish, German, Italian, a smidge of modern Greek and Russian), I am finding Nepali challenging but not impossible - since Nepali, like the other languages I have studied, is an Indo-European language there are some cognates (\'distant cousin\' words in two different but related languages which have similar word structure/spelling) and similar grammar rules to other IE languages. The biggest hurdle, one which I haven\'t yet seriously tried to jump, is learning the Devanagari alphabet - will be tackling that next month by beginning a Hindi class. Hindi is related to Nepali and shares the same alphabet. I\'d say Nepali is more difficult than Euro languages simply because of the alphabet, but much easier than say, Arabic or Chinese. It will be interesting to see other people\'s replies.

faib19 Monday 14th of August 2006 11:13:22 PM
- Thank you so much for your reply. I have four years background in Latin. I absolutely loved it, though I\'ve fallen out of practice.

This last year I took a year of Arabic and had a terrible time with it. It is extremely difficult for me...I think because I am not an aural learner and the class structure was very much that. So if Nepali is, as you say, easier than Arabic, I am much encouraged.

Thank you again for your response.

linguamaya Thursday 17th of August 2006 01:40:07 AM
- I have studied quite a few languages myself. I agree that Arabic is much more difficult than Nepali, but Nepali is much more difficult than Chinese (to me anyways). It\'s really not that bad though. I think the best part about learning the Nepali language is the Nepali people who can help you with it. Most are quite impressed when a foreigner attempts to learn Nepali and I\'m sure you will make some good friends if you give it a try. I still get a little confused wit Devanagari, but it\'s something that gets better with time. The more vocab (written in devanagari) you study the better you will get. As with any language, learning Nepali takes a good degree of self discipline, but it\'s all been very rewarding for me.

deathbydalbhat Thursday 17th of August 2006 02:39:50 AM
- Wow linguamaya, I would love to study Chinese someday - at least some basic conversation skills. At age 39 I honestly think I\'m too old to learn many characters. In terms of difficulty vs. Nepali, do you mean the grammar, alphabet, pronunciation, ??? I\'m just curious - Chinese seems extremely difficult to me - the tones, characters rather than alphabet - I\'ve heard the grammar is relatively simple though, so maybe there are checks and balances? It\'s true about Nepalis being impressed when a \'bideshi\' speaks Nepali - a big motivator is when my \'saathi\':-) says \'I love it when you speak Nepali\', LOL

Anya Thursday 17th of August 2006 08:35:29 AM
- DBDB,

I [u]absolutely[/u] love your membername! I am currently recovering from my daal bhaat diet for the past 2 months. I can\'t seem to stomach anything else at the moment, which means that I\'ve been travelling home quite hungry!

Anyway, I wanted to comment on your posts. I didn\'t have access to email before now.

I would agree with you, there are quite a few cognates and knowing other Indo-European languages is very helpful. I am having difficulties in my Spanish right now because of speaking only Nepali for so long. It\'s a trade-off.

It is really quite nice how supportive Nepalese people are when a videshi speaks Nepali. I have had no problems at all. In fact, I\'ve been confused for a Nepali girl on several occasions. The reprocussion is that they would start speaking much much faster and I would be trying to keep up or saying \"bistaarei bhannus!\".

As Lindsay-bahini said, learning and practicing Devanagari is very important, I couldn\'t agree more. I learned to read and write first because I felt that it would help my pronunciation. So far, I think that has been the case. Yes, Nepali has 64 letters and 15 of them are vowels, but once you become familiar with them, it becomes like second nature and very helpful in expanding vocabulary!

In terms of Hindi... I couldn\'t find any Nepali resources for the past 2 years (except TYS Nepali book from England), so at the time I thought that learning Hindi would be a good compromise, after all they are related! Now I\'ve found that the relationship is a little one-sided. A Nepalese person understands Hindi nearly perfectly, but having studied Hindi, is not too helpful in understanding Nepali. Some vocabulary is similar, the alphabet has roots in Sanskrit, but that\'s about it.

To me, Thai is infinitely more difficult. It is tonal and just like Nepali: dherai shabda - euta artha (धेरै शब्दा - एउटा अर्थी) [b]Many words - same meaning.[/b] I guess the difficulty of a language depends on what one finds difficult :)

I am glad you are learning Nepali and I am very excited that your school has an exchange program with Nepal. I am now going to try to establish that for medical students at my school -- fingers crossed that it will work!

Best wishes in your studies... write us!

faib19 Thursday 17th of August 2006 11:03:01 AM
- Thank you all so much for your responses. I am pretty sure that I will study Nepali this year; I just wanted a little extra personal perspective info. You have all been very helpful.

deathbydalbhat Thursday 17th of August 2006 07:19:39 PM
- Namaste Anya-didi!
Ahile tapaii Kathmandumaa basnuhuncha? You are right about the dal bhat, now I could eat it every day. Fortunately, there is a good Nepali restaurant a 30-minute subway ride from mero ghar - still can\'t get used to paying $10 for a 30 Rs meal though... There are recipes online tara ma alcchi chu...:-)

I found a fantastic beginning Nepali book at Pilgrims Book Shop - you could probably order it online. I will post a separate message about it.

I\'ve heard Thai is just about the most difficult Asian language around, along with Korean. Too bad, because I\'ve thought about spending time teaching in Thailand!

Anya Friday 18th of August 2006 12:23:10 PM
- Namaste DBDB,

I know what you mean about 30Rs meals and the differences between here and Nepal. I just came home from the airport a few hours ago and already having quite a shock. Home is always home of course, but I just am out of practice living in a Western world. I am afraid of when I would have to go outside! I certainly won\'t drive for a while, but I also don\'t think I\'ll be able to buy anything, because I\'d be bargaining with the cashier: \"are you sure this is 3.99? Won\'t you give it for 1.50?\"

There are so many wonderful cultural differences, I don\'t want to let go of them!

Please do tell me about the book you\'ve found, I brought some resources back and I hope that they will be useful in our Nepali forum. Anything helps, really.

Re: Thai. I think I agree with you! I took a 1:45 minute cab ride in Bangkok with a driver who didn\'t speak any English. When I managed to indicate to him that I am interested in his language, the long time being stuck in traffic turned into a language lesson! I was so happy! However, it will take me a great deal of practicing to be able to pronounce things correctly. I was very impressed with how well Jeff speaks Thai.. he is making leaps and bounds there! I hope that the next time I visit, I will at least have some under my belt.

Onto Nepali! I hope to post some of what I learned in the next few days, once I can unpack my bags.

Phrasebase Archive
	faib19	Monday 14th of August 2006 10:13:25 AM
	Should I learn Nepali - Hi, I\'ve just joined this site. I have wanted to study abroad in Nepal. My school has an exchange there. Well, I\'d really like to study abroad anywhere, but I feel like Nepal would be a great place to start my travels. Anyways, I have an opportunity to take a class, 6 credits (oh my), this semester, but I\'m not sure if I should. I was wondering if any of you could sell me on the language: pros/cons, how difficult is it, how much do you practice daily, benefits, et cetera. If you could provide me with any information on your personal experience rather than just the typical synopsis of the language and its history I would be much obliged.
	deathbydalbhat	Monday 14th of August 2006 11:05:02 PM
	- Have you studied other languages? Having studied several European languages(Latin, French, Spanish, German, Italian, a smidge of modern Greek and Russian), I am finding Nepali challenging but not impossible - since Nepali, like the other languages I have studied, is an Indo-European language there are some cognates (\'distant cousin\' words in two different but related languages which have similar word structure/spelling) and similar grammar rules to other IE languages. The biggest hurdle, one which I haven\'t yet seriously tried to jump, is learning the Devanagari alphabet - will be tackling that next month by beginning a Hindi class. Hindi is related to Nepali and shares the same alphabet. I\'d say Nepali is more difficult than Euro languages simply because of the alphabet, but much easier than say, Arabic or Chinese. It will be interesting to see other people\'s replies.
	faib19	Monday 14th of August 2006 11:13:22 PM
	- Thank you so much for your reply. I have four years background in Latin. I absolutely loved it, though I\'ve fallen out of practice. This last year I took a year of Arabic and had a terrible time with it. It is extremely difficult for me...I think because I am not an aural learner and the class structure was very much that. So if Nepali is, as you say, easier than Arabic, I am much encouraged. Thank you again for your response.
	linguamaya	Thursday 17th of August 2006 01:40:07 AM
	- I have studied quite a few languages myself. I agree that Arabic is much more difficult than Nepali, but Nepali is much more difficult than Chinese (to me anyways). It\'s really not that bad though. I think the best part about learning the Nepali language is the Nepali people who can help you with it. Most are quite impressed when a foreigner attempts to learn Nepali and I\'m sure you will make some good friends if you give it a try. I still get a little confused wit Devanagari, but it\'s something that gets better with time. The more vocab (written in devanagari) you study the better you will get. As with any language, learning Nepali takes a good degree of self discipline, but it\'s all been very rewarding for me.
	deathbydalbhat	Thursday 17th of August 2006 02:39:50 AM
	- Wow linguamaya, I would love to study Chinese someday - at least some basic conversation skills. At age 39 I honestly think I\'m too old to learn many characters. In terms of difficulty vs. Nepali, do you mean the grammar, alphabet, pronunciation, ??? I\'m just curious - Chinese seems extremely difficult to me - the tones, characters rather than alphabet - I\'ve heard the grammar is relatively simple though, so maybe there are checks and balances? It\'s true about Nepalis being impressed when a \'bideshi\' speaks Nepali - a big motivator is when my \'saathi\':-) says \'I love it when you speak Nepali\', LOL
	Anya	Thursday 17th of August 2006 08:35:29 AM
	- DBDB, I [u]absolutely[/u] love your membername! I am currently recovering from my daal bhaat diet for the past 2 months. I can\'t seem to stomach anything else at the moment, which means that I\'ve been travelling home quite hungry! Anyway, I wanted to comment on your posts. I didn\'t have access to email before now. I would agree with you, there are quite a few cognates and knowing other Indo-European languages is very helpful. I am having difficulties in my Spanish right now because of speaking only Nepali for so long. It\'s a trade-off. It is really quite nice how supportive Nepalese people are when a videshi speaks Nepali. I have had no problems at all. In fact, I\'ve been confused for a Nepali girl on several occasions. The reprocussion is that they would start speaking much much faster and I would be trying to keep up or saying \"bistaarei bhannus!\". As Lindsay-bahini said, learning and practicing Devanagari is very important, I couldn\'t agree more. I learned to read and write first because I felt that it would help my pronunciation. So far, I think that has been the case. Yes, Nepali has 64 letters and 15 of them are vowels, but once you become familiar with them, it becomes like second nature and very helpful in expanding vocabulary! In terms of Hindi... I couldn\'t find any Nepali resources for the past 2 years (except TYS Nepali book from England), so at the time I thought that learning Hindi would be a good compromise, after all they are related! Now I\'ve found that the relationship is a little one-sided. A Nepalese person understands Hindi nearly perfectly, but having studied Hindi, is not too helpful in understanding Nepali. Some vocabulary is similar, the alphabet has roots in Sanskrit, but that\'s about it. To me, Thai is infinitely more difficult. It is tonal and just like Nepali: dherai shabda - euta artha (धेरै शब्दा - एउटा अर्थी) [b]Many words - same meaning.[/b] I guess the difficulty of a language depends on what one finds difficult :) I am glad you are learning Nepali and I am very excited that your school has an exchange program with Nepal. I am now going to try to establish that for medical students at my school -- fingers crossed that it will work! Best wishes in your studies... write us!
	faib19	Thursday 17th of August 2006 11:03:01 AM
	- Thank you all so much for your responses. I am pretty sure that I will study Nepali this year; I just wanted a little extra personal perspective info. You have all been very helpful.
	deathbydalbhat	Thursday 17th of August 2006 07:19:39 PM
	- Namaste Anya-didi! Ahile tapaii Kathmandumaa basnuhuncha? You are right about the dal bhat, now I could eat it every day. Fortunately, there is a good Nepali restaurant a 30-minute subway ride from mero ghar - still can\'t get used to paying $10 for a 30 Rs meal though... There are recipes online tara ma alcchi chu...:-) I found a fantastic beginning Nepali book at Pilgrims Book Shop - you could probably order it online. I will post a separate message about it. I\'ve heard Thai is just about the most difficult Asian language around, along with Korean. Too bad, because I\'ve thought about spending time teaching in Thailand!
	Anya	Friday 18th of August 2006 12:23:10 PM
	- Namaste DBDB, I know what you mean about 30Rs meals and the differences between here and Nepal. I just came home from the airport a few hours ago and already having quite a shock. Home is always home of course, but I just am out of practice living in a Western world. I am afraid of when I would have to go outside! I certainly won\'t drive for a while, but I also don\'t think I\'ll be able to buy anything, because I\'d be bargaining with the cashier: \"are you sure this is 3.99? Won\'t you give it for 1.50?\" There are so many wonderful cultural differences, I don\'t want to let go of them! Please do tell me about the book you\'ve found, I brought some resources back and I hope that they will be useful in our Nepali forum. Anything helps, really. Re: Thai. I think I agree with you! I took a 1:45 minute cab ride in Bangkok with a driver who didn\'t speak any English. When I managed to indicate to him that I am interested in his language, the long time being stuck in traffic turned into a language lesson! I was so happy! However, it will take me a great deal of practicing to be able to pronounce things correctly. I was very impressed with how well Jeff speaks Thai.. he is making leaps and bounds there! I hope that the next time I visit, I will at least have some under my belt. Onto Nepali! I hope to post some of what I learned in the next few days, once I can unpack my bags.