Hindi Updates & Workbook

     My Hindi journey recently hit two years and wow has it been crazy! Diwali in 2021 was when the idea of learning Aary's native language first came to mind. It was his first Diwali away from his family and we had only been together for a few months. I called his best friend, who told me exactly what Indian food to order and how to tell Aary that I loved him in Hindi. Aary walked into the apartment to see a few lit candles around the dining table with an odd selection of food, and me stumbling over the words. Tears ran down his face for many reasons, but his smile was ingrained in my mind. 

    After that, we occasionally watched Bollywood movies while discussing his culture more in-depth. I had tried finding resources to learn but was confused and intimated at what seemed to be such a complex language. I had practiced for weeks behind his back on how to ask him how his day was. Without much thought, I propped up my phone and recorded the interaction. Overnight we got 5 million views and my journey of learning Hindi was fast-tracked. It hasn't been easy, but man has it been fun! Nights spent awkwardly trying to put together a sentence while Aary is dying laughing at how wrong I am. Luckily, he has been my teacher and right-hand man throughout the entire process. 

    We noticed the comment getting left on almost every Hindi video was someone talking about how they wanted to learn Hindi, but had no idea where to start. Trying to be helpful, I tried out dozens of websites and apps to learn the language on, and they were up to the mark. The few that were good had their flaws, like only teaching you script at a slow pace or being very expensive. How could we encourage and help people learn Hindi if we didn't take it into our own hands?

    Quickly, we set out to discuss what options we had outside of TikTok to help others learn. "What about an e-book" Aary mentioned in passing while I was making dinner. That was it, the perfect resource was a Hindi Cheat Sheet for people to learn the basics of the language. Something easily digestible and comprehensive teaches you words and phrases you'll be using daily. Hundreds of different layouts were skimmed through until we found something we liked. Our free time in the last 5 months was spent creating our Hindi Cheat Sheet, and it was not as easy as some would think. Back-and-forth conversations on what to add and how to do it, while keeping it a resourceful tool were draining. We are both stubborn so if it wasn't going to be perfect then neither of us wanted to share it with others. Nonetheless, it was finally finished. 35 pages of hard work that included all the necessary information to learn the basics of Hindi. 

    Our beautiful Hindi Cheat Sheet is now available for purchase on our Linkr, which is this link! Launching this was so nerve-wracking as we didn't know what people would think of it. Was it a stupid idea, maybe? How could we tell unless we took the chance on ourselves! 50 copies sold in the first day of posting it on our TikTok, happiness doesn't even scratch the surface of how that feels. Knowing that we've inspired 50+ people to learn Hindi is a phenomenal feeling!!! Language is truly so important in life, and learning and speaking multiple languages is only beneficial. Whether it be Hindi, Italian, Mandarin, Arabic, or anything else, take the time to learn a new language that can connect and immerse you in a different culture.

    Thank you from the bottom of my heart for following me on this journey. My pronunciation may not be the best, but I work hard to learn new words and correct myself daily. Sharing my journey with social media can sometimes be overwhelming, but I always receive an overwhelming amount of love and support. Hopefully, soon, I'll start to become more fluent and possibly even better than Aary!