Keya Choudhury is a Berlin-based intercultural trainer: She helps individuals and organisations prepare to work in different cultural environments than their own. Taking some time off from her current assignment in Bangalore, Keya recently came to Delhi for a short holiday. Being highly energetic and proactive, sight-seeing and meeting friends proved not fulfilling enough, so she enrolled in a week-long intensive Hindi course with Language Must. In this refreshingly lively interview, Keya shares some of her experiences learning Hindi, living in India and navigating different cultures.

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Ever since I started working in Shahpur Jat in the southern part of Delhi, I have been inspired by the particular atmosphere pervading the small galis of this neighbourhood. However, it took me more than two months before I took to the streets to explore whatever they have on offer. One spring afternoon after sitting through several successive power cuts I decided to leave my desk and go out looking for adventure. For the last two months I have been hearing about how the place is full of design shops catering for the tastes of the urban and the fashionable, but on my way to the office I did not see anything like that, only the main market filled with small grocery shops offering the usual knick-knacks and the carts of the vegetable and fruit sellers.

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Coming to India for vacations, internship or job? Regardless the amount of time you are planning to spend here, it is very advisable to learn at least a couple of basic phrases in Indian languages. They will make your stay nicer, your experience richer and they will even save you some money! The "language situation" in India is quite different from other countries. You have many official languages and countless of other languages. In fact, India has the most complex linguistic set up anywhere with literally thousands of languages being spoken. Nevertheless, there is one language that functions as a lingua franca across much of the country. Indians generally refer to it as Hindi!

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Whether you come for business, education, or leisure, India's capital city Delhi offers you countless opportunities to spend your time. To help you make the most of this mega-city, we have gathered together over 100 interesting, fun, and often unconventional ideas into one handy guide. See how many you manage to tick off before you leave - that is, if you intend to leave behind the city's excitement at all…


ACTIVITIES:

1. Learn Hindustani, the lingua franca of the Indian Subcontinent (that covers the continuum of the standard registers Hindi and Urdu). For Delhi this is a real Must - and will make you enjoy the city all the more!

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Teaching your native language and with it your cultural background in a foreign country like India is an adventure in itself. Let me give you some examples. Little did I think about that a cartoon picture of a woman can make grown men blush and turn their heads down when mentioning “der Po” (German word for “bum”) while talking about body parts. Also, as I am used to say “Gesundheit” (“bless you”) to a sneezing person in Germany, here, people just apologize for sneezing. Another one: Once, one of my students asked me with an expression close to horror in his eyes “I heard Germans eat food that is not completely done!” It took me a moment to realize that he was referring to some of the ways meat is prepared in Germany and once more realized the differences between Germany and India when it comes to perception, behaviour and food.

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Since 2002 Shammi Kapoor (age 33) is working as a Hindustani language teacher in New Delhi. Besides being a brilliant trainer, he is a fantastic communicator, who loves sharing his cultural knowledge with his students and wants to get them in touch with the local people. He talked to us about his passion to teach, the importance to study the local language and his experiences working with language students from all over the world. If you ever thought about learning Hindustani / Hindi / Urdu, Shammis point of view will surely be an interesting read for you.

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