About Hindi-Urdu Language Program M.A. and Ph.D. candidates in South Asia Studies are required to demonstrate Intermediate High proficiency in speaking, reading, and understanding a modern South Asian language. As a rough guide, the requirement translates into two years of prior or present language study. Currently, Elementary (Novice) and Intermediate Hindi are offered in a proficiency track and Urdu is planned to be added. The Hindi Language Program at SAIS offers a sequence of four courses at the Novice and Intermediate levels. Each level is covered in two semesters. At the Novice level, students develop speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills that are vital to performing real-life communicative tasks successfully. At the Intermediate level, students develop ease and confidence in dealing with routine tasks and narrating in major time frames, along with more specialized vocabularies that are appropriate to their interests and areas of professional competence. Hindi teaching at SAIS is student-centered and classes are interactive. Curricular enrichments include uses of authentic audio-, video-, and Internet-based materials, along with texts such as news headlines and articles, advertisements, folktales, and classic short stories. Participation in intellectual and cultural events in the area’s vibrant and growing South Asian diasporic community is strongly encouraged. To satisfy the SAIS language requirement in Hindi, students are expected to achieve Intermediate High proficiency in speaking, reading, and listening. Those who have already met their language requirements in other languages are welcome to take Hindi. Urdu is being offered on a pilot basis to extend students’ communicative repertoires and introduce them to South Asia's rich linguistic and cultural heritage.
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