Practical Problems of Learning and Teaching Hindi as a Foreign Language.

Abstract

In Sri Lanka, Hindi is not considered as a main language. Some Indians those who live in Sri Lanka use Hindi language as their first language while some Sri Lankans use it as a second language. However majority of the people are interested in learning foreign languages and Hindi language holds a priority yet there are many problems associated with learning Hindi as a foreign language. For the study, a sample of 32 students who are learning Hindi as a foreign language was taken into consideration. Relevant data was gathered through conducting direct discussions, observation and by administering self-developed questionnaire. According to the findings it was revealed that learners are not practicing what they have learnt and the explanation of the teacher is not given in an understandable language. Specifically, not using interesting teaching methods in the teaching process, teachers' verbal explanations having the many difficult words which are simply too hard to catch and repeated failures in learning Hindi etc. can be given as problems of learning Hindi as a foreign language. Finally, it is recommended from the teachers’ perspective that students have to practice what they have learnt about Hindi, they need to make extra efforts on learning and from the learners’ perspective teachers should use more interesting methods on teaching while encouraging the students to overcome the difficulties in learning Hindi as a foreign language. Furthermore, the teacher should use an understandable language to teach Hindi.