The Best Hindi Lessons

Friday, September 29th

2023 Hindi Lesson Reviews

Hindi Pod 101

• Quite a bit of material, especially for beginners
• Option to compare your speech with that of a native speaker
• Option to slow down the audio for better comprehension
• Spaced-recognition flashcards
• Free, limited lifetime access

You can start to speak right away with HindiPod101. You'll repeat dialogs line by line, you can choose to slow down the audio if it's too fast to understand, and you can record your voice to compare it to the original audio spoken by a native speaker. When you hear a lesson, the instructors break down each Hindi word and phrase for you so that you can not only understand the sentence but also every word spoken. No one wants to practice their new language skills not knowing what the person has said - HindiPod101 helps with that. If you'd rather have live, one-on-one lessons, HindiPod101 offers that too, so you can use the right program for you and get individualized feedback.

Free has its limitations

There's a limited, lifetime access plan. You can have access to three lessons per pathway. It's enough to get a feel for Hindi, but not enough to really dive in. The free 7-day trial is when you sign up with the Premium plan. Give them your email and the 7 days begin. See if you like the features and their teaching style. You'll be able to work through the vocabulary and phrase lists, plus audio and video lessons. You can use their flashcards, phrases, and word bank tools as well. After the seven days, you can still have free, lifetime access, but it's only for the first three lessons of each pathway and the Hindi word of the day, the top 100 Core Word List, phrase and vocabulary lists.

Pricing and membership options vary

With HindiPod101, you have four options:

• Free, limited, lifetime subscription: the first three lessons in each pathway, and new audio and video lessons every week.
• Free 7-day trial: includes vocabulary and phrase lessons, tips and techniques, and is available with the Basic subscription..
• Basic membership: complete access to the lessons, in-depth lesson notes, and new lessons every week, and 100 Hindi core words and phrases. Best price is $4 per month with a 24-month subscription.
• Premium: You'll get all the lessons, in-depth notes, dialogs with breakdowns, a list of the top 2,000 Hindi words, voice recording tools, spaced-recognition flashcards, a grammar bank, an audio dictionary, and interactive lesson quizzes. Best price is $10 per month with a 24-month subscription.
• Premium-plus: includes all of the Premium features, plus a one-on-one instructor, a personalized learning program, assignments, and ongoing professional assessment. Best price is $23 per month, with a 24-month subscription.

60-day satisfaction guarantee

You have 60 days to request a refund if you have a subscription and you're not paying month-to-month. Also be aware that your subscription will automatically renew unless you take the cancellation steps mentioned.

Let's get started

Take their short quiz to determine at which level you should begin: absolute beginner, beginner, intermediate, upper intermediate, or advanced. Then take a lesson. The topics, even at the absolute beginner's level, are intriguing and unique. You can choose to learn about car parts, public transportation, the skeletal system, jewelry, and of course, weather. You'll see a vocab list of words or phrases, or a brief, written dialog. Click on the speaker icon to hear it. Listen as many times as you like.

Do you sound right?

You can even record yourself saying the same sentence. You'll have to be the judge of your speech as there's no speech-recognition program to do it for you. It is still helpful to hear yourself next to the native speaker to tweak how you speak. If the native-speaker sample is too fast, you can choose to slow it down to catch all the nuances. When you're done with the dialog, you'll see the list of vocabulary words that relate to the dialog. When you're done, there are flashcards or true/false questions to test you on the meaning of your new Hindi vocabulary. At the bottom of the lesson page they offer a written grammar explanation for that lesson and possibly a culture lesson as well. If you're on the go, you can access the lessons via an app on your Android or Apple product.

You can choose the order of your lessons

Within each pathway, or learning track, you can choose the next topic to study. This has its pros and cons. It's nice to be able to choose the order of your Hindi lessons and to be able to skip the ones you're not interested in without falling behind in the curriculum. But the lessons won't gradually become more challenging one after the other; you'll take what you get when you get it.

Less help in English as you progress

In the beginning, when everything is new, many language learners want help by using English to get them through and explain what's going on. HindiPod101 does offer this help in English, but mostly in the beginning. As you become more familiar with the language and lesson format, the English help will diminish. Most HindiPod101 learners don't have a problem with that, as far as we've seen with the reviews.

Costs

• Free lifetime, limited access
• Free 7-day trial with monthly membership
• Basic plan: $8 per month or a discount with a subscription plan
• Premium plan: $25 per month or a discount with a subscription plan
• Premium Plus plan: $47 per month or a discount with a subscription plan

Spaced-recognition flashcards

This is nothing to sneeze at. Rather than going through the same words over and over each time you study the flashcards, HindiPod101 offers spaced recognition. This means that if you guess incorrectly at the word, it will appear more often in your stack. When there are words that you seem to comprehend right away, they won't appear too often just to take up your time in your session. Spaced-recognition flashcards help you to learn efficiently and offer frequent repetition only with the words with which you're having trouble.

Devanagari script

Hindi doesn't use the Latin alphabet, which we are accustomed to in English. Their script consists of more than 40 letters, where each one represents a distinct sound. HindiPod101 will sometimes give you the choice to see the Hindi words, phrases or sentences in the Devanagari script or the Latin alphabet. In some of their quizzes, they will give you both the script and the alphabet, so you can see them side to side.

Lacking in conversation unless you get the Premium Plus plan

Repeating dialogs and practicing their flashcards doesn't a conversation make. To get practice speaking, you'll want to enroll in Premium Plus, where you can have access to tutors who can create lessons for you in one-on-one lessons.

It's definitely "101"

As with other language-learning programs, HindiPod101 has most of its content at the lower levels. It's understandable, as most people who take the courses would be at the beginning level. As you become more advanced, though, there is less content available to you. The beginner should be able to stay motivated and have plenty of lessons to learn and practice to get a solid foundation.

It's a traditional course, but with a few perks

HindiPod101 offers the familiar dialog practice, vocabulary lists, flashcards, and grammar instruction, which is a tried and true, traditional method. This program adds flashcard study with spaced recognition, audio that can be slowed down, and feedback on your speaking with voice recognition software when you choose one of the higher subscription levels. Understanding of the various plans and memberships can be confusing, which is one downside of this platform.

Top choice

We feel that with all the features HindiPod101 offers, it's an excellent way to learn the Hindi language. This is our preferred method for taking Hindi lessons, and students who prefer a traditional approach to language learning will feel very comfortable using HindiPod101.

Mondly

• Reasonable prices
• Speech-recognition for better pronunciation
• AR and VR apps
• Structured course, but freedom to skip to lessons of your choice
• Spaced-recognition flashcards

Mondly delivers a high-quality language-learning program and includes all the latest technology to keep you motivated to get to that next lesson. The more lessons you take, the more proficient you become, and that's the ultimate goal. You can design your own avatar as the image of your teacher, you can feel like you're shopping in India with their virtual-reality technology, they have game-like scoring and competition with other learners, and you can earn bonus material through weekly quizzes. What's not to like?

Exciting and motivating

If you're bored, you're not going to want to learn. If the program is super serious and intense, you might burn out easily. Mondly teaches you and keeps you interested so you want to learn more, and finish just one more lesson. One of the ways to keep you interested is with their technology. If you like gaming and thrive on competition, Mondly offers leaderboards to compete against others, and you can also see your stats to beat your own record. Some reviewers have complained that competitiveness isn't unique to Mondly, and other language-learning programs offer it for free, where Mondly does not. We find that a weak critique as Mondly offers so much more that it's worth paying a bit.

What sets Mondly apart

Mondly's technology is quite futuristic. Not only can you create your teacher avatar, or chatbot, as they say, which is fun in itself - there's even more. When you speak to your chatbot, it will let you know how well you would be understood by a native Hindi speaker using its speech-recognition software. The combination of talking to your "teacher" and having it give feedback on your speech is doubly unique.

Mondly with the Latin alphabet and the Devanagari script

Learning a language with a different script than the Latin alphabet - what we use in English - is a bit tricky. Mondly addresses it in two ways. First, you can choose to only see the Latin alphabet, making it much easier to learn. Or you can choose to learn while seeing the Devanagari script. This script uses characters and not letters, and of course, looks much different than our alphabet. Learning a new language, plus learning a new script at the same time is quite complicated.

Pay attention to the photos

When you learn Hindi with Mondly, you see an image and match the sound you hear with the photo. For example, you hear Hindi for sister, see the English word sister, and choose the photo of a sister. Pay attention to the word above the photo, as in a few moments, you'll have to put together a sentence in Devanagari script, and it's quite shocking if you didn't pay attention with the photos. When learning the language with the script and not the words with the Latin alphabet, it was overwhelming to learn two major concepts at once. You might want to first do the lesson with the Latin alphabet and then right afterward with the Devanagari script.

Free trial

You can have a free trial of Mondly's Hindi, but it's only with the Hello lesson. You'll get a taste, but can't really dig into it. Fortunately, for $10, you can purchase the program for a month and get access to quite a lot of what the program has to offer.

Costs

• $9.99 per month
• $47.99 per year
• $89.99 lifetime, all languages

No refunds for the annual subscription

With Mondly, you subscribe for a year. You'll want to be sure you like Mondly because there's no money-back guarantee. In that case, we'd suggest you first try the free trial of just the Hello lesson, and if you like that, get more access for a month for $10.

Best for polyglots

If Hindi is the second language you're learning besides English, Mondly could be a bit challenging. It is definitely fun, but learning might be frustrating. There aren't always detailed grammar explanations for you to follow to piece it together. Instead of teaching patterns for learning the characters or conjugations, you'll just see the different forms in use. If, on the other hand, you have studied a few languages and have the basics about how some languages work, Mondly's lack of grammar lessons might be okay with you. You could probably consciously or subconsciously figure out the workings of Hindi or any other of the languages you might choose to study based on what you already know.

Options for teaching to children and using in business

Your business can order Mondly WORKS in bulk subscriptions, where the buyer can provide the tool for the employees and also track their progress. Mondly KIDS is similar to the adult version but more friendly and attractive to children.

Rated highly for technology and motivation

Since motivation can be half the battle to taking on anything new and sticking with it - do I hear New Year's resolutions? - Mondly can get you hooked. Their chatbots and virtual reality can keep you going from lesson to lesson feeling like no time has gone by. You can track your progress, try to better your stats, and even compete with other learners around the world. We like that Mondly teaches via context and not translation, which is best for fluency, and they offer for you to learn via our alphabet or Devanagari characters. Mondly moves a bit too fast for the beginner who wants to learn the characters at the same time as they learn the language, and it's a little short in content once you get to the intermediate and advanced levels. We still suggest you enjoy it for a while and see how far you can get - because these are some of the most fun Hindi lessons around.

italki

• Live lessons
• One-on-one instruction
• Affordable lessons
• Flexible schedules
• 150+ Hindi instructors
• Skilled instructors, even at the lower rates

Italki's inception was in 2006 as a social media platform so that people all around the world could practice their language skills and learn from one another. Two years later, it was expanded into a marketplace where students who wanted to learn a new language, or better their language skills in a lesson, would pay someone to teach it to them. They have built up to offering over 150 languages with more than 20,000 teachers and over one million students from 180+ countries. Italki is really catching on.

Choose your own instructor

There are over 150 instructors to choose from, charging between $6 and $20 per hour. In reading their profiles, you can see how many languages they speak, their ratings, how much they charge per lesson, and more. Their profiles include details about how many students they have had, what materials they might use, if they assign homework, and their work experience. Watch their videos to hear what they have to say and also hear them speak in Hindi.

Two types of instructors

Italki has two classifications for their instructors. One is a professional teacher: individuals with training in education or professional teaching experience. The other category is community tutor: speakers who are friendly and knowledgeable in the language, but might not be certified in teaching or have teaching experience. Those verified as professional teachers are allowed to charge more for their lessons.

You're not quite sure? Try it out.

Take a trial lesson. For usually around $5, you can get a trial Hindi lesson to see if this person and their style are right for you. You can have up to three trial lessons.

Select your lesson's date and time

You'll see a tab for a calendar on each instructor's profile page. That calendar is in your time zone, or at least the time zone that italki has detected for you. Note that if you travel, you can change your time zone so you don't miss a session. Now you're ready for your first lesson.

Get connected

Visit your Student Dashboard for the lesson for the day. Click "Enter Classroom," share your screen, and get started. If you're wondering if your or their internet connection might not be strong enough and don't want to lose lesson time getting a good signal, there's a Pre-Lesson check in the classroom for signal strength.

Take the lesson

Go to your Student Dashboard, find today's lesson, click to enter the classroom, share the screen, and begin learning Hindi. You can take private notes on your screen and save them for review later. After the lesson you can also leave a review for your instructor.

Freedom to stick with the same instructor or change it up

If you like the instructor and want to give it a few more lessons, you can do that. If you want to try someone else, you can do that too, and there's no pressure. If you want to hear different geographical accents so you have better practice for the real world, change that up as well.

Costs

• Starting from $6 to $20 per hour

More expensive isn't necessarily better

The higher price is charged by those with teaching experience or certificates. Those without teaching criteria can't charge as much. Budget aside, choose a person, professional or community tutor, that you seem to connect with by watching their video and reading their profile. If they charge less money, it may not mean they are less of a quality instructor. If the person charges more, it's because they are allowed to, not that they are necessarily better. Go with your gut then sign up for your trial lesson.

Hindi uses Devanagari script

When you learn from a real person, they can teach you about the Devanagari script that Hindi uses instead of our Latin alphabet. They can teach you the vowels, consonants, and how it may differ from the alphabet we are accustomed to. They can break down your mistakes and lead you in the right direction. You may have a hard time finding this individualized help, explanations, and corrections, as well as feedback on your writing skills with a more traditional online program with Hindi lessons.

Confusing payment method

Rather than paying in dollars, you purchase credits with your dollars and then use the credits you've purchased. There's some math in there. There's also a 4% processing fee whether you use a credit card or PayPal.

Italki community

Italki started off in 2006 as a community of people wanting to practice their language skills with each other. This concept is still alive in their Italki Community. They can be language learners who want to practice their skills and offer help to those practicing the languages they speak well. You can submit written work and ask someone to correct it or ask them to give advice and direction about your written work. Italki asks that if you do ask for help, please be willing to help others with your English skills or with any other language you may know. You can also connect with people through discussion or questions on language and culture. The Community may be able to answer your questions about italki itself, or you can ask italki's admin and hear from them within 48 hours.

What if you don't like talking to people?

Italki offers live, one-on-one lessons. You have the advantage of personalized lessons. That person can also help you with their lettering to better read and write in the Devanagari script. They will want you to let them know when you understand and when you don't, and they'll expect you to speak Hindi with them. It's a solid method for a great price, but if you're just not into talking, you might want to look into one of the more traditional, highly-rated online Hindi programs we evaluated.

Italki is refreshing

So much of our world is automated and we don't always deal with a real person. With italki, you get to learn face-to-face on the date and time that works for you, and you can choose how much you pay for your lesson. Yes, there's a bit of mystery when you choose from a list of instructors, as you may not be familiar with the materials they use or their teaching technique. And there's no such thing as a free trial period, like you might get with the platforms that use flashcards, dialogs, and recordings; however, there's nothing like learning from a real person, especially when it comes to Hindi's character script for writing. Italki is definitely worth considering if you've got the courage to work one-on-one with a tutor.

Rosetta Stone

• Subscriptions for yearly use or lifetime use
• Interactive and fun
• Start to speak right away
• 3-day free trial

Rosetta Stone has been around since the 1990s and remains one of the most innovative products on the language-learning market. It teaches language in a most familiar way, believe it or not, the way in which we learned our first language. Rosetta Stone believes that since we're communicative in our first language, why not learn other languages the same way our mother taught us? It's definitely a method that works.

The Rosetta Stone story

A man named Allen Stoltzfus had a challenging time learning Russian in his youth. After quite a bit of frustration, he wondered why he couldn't learn an additional language when he had already learned his native tongue proficiently. The answer had to be in the way he was being taught - or not being taught. His first language, German, was learned through a mother's natural technique of matching sounds to images or objects. This is how we all learned our first language, and we're pretty good at it. Why not transfer this natural, immersion method to learning subsequent languages? Later when naming his brand, Stoltzfus wanted a name that would reflect this celebratory discovery. He remembered that the Rosetta Stone was the key to breaking the code of learning ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, and thought it the perfect name for his brand, as his own "Rosetta Stone" unlocked the key to learning languages, too.

Get started with the free trial

You can have a free, three-day trial with Rosetta Stone. Since you might have experience learning a second language through a textbook or other traditional methods, Rosetta Stone might not be what you're accustomed to. Give it a try for the three days to see if this method sits well with you. Create an account, choose your current Hindi level, and then select why you want to learn Hindi - such as for family or travel. Before you know it, you're on your way.

Start speaking right away

If you choose beginner level and family as your reason for wanting to learn Hindi, for example, you'll learn common words associated with a family or daily life, such as man, woman, boy, girl, eat, and drink. You'll see a photo of a boy, the word boy in Devanagari script, they'll pronounce the Hindi word for boy, and you repeat it. When you repeat it, you'll see an image that shows how well you pronounced it. What's wonderful is that from the first minute you'll start to speak the language, and within about five minutes, you'll have spoken a few sentences.

Good for Hindi basics

Rosetta Stone does a great job of teaching Hindi basic vocabulary and grammar, as it's pretty simple to deduce the word or phrase based on the photo's context. There's plenty of repetition to ingrain it to memory. You can also choose to repeat the comprehension activity if you want a bit more practice or want a higher score. The words and phrases are spelled for you in Devanagari script so you can see what it looks like, but other reviewers have noted that there's just not enough information on how to read it. This causes problems. It would be like learning to read or wanting to learn to write in English, but not knowing anything about our alphabet. In addition, as the Hindi sentences represented in the photos get more complex, it gets harder to infer the meaning of that sentence from what you're seeing in a photo. It can be too much.

Costs

• $11.99 per month for three months ($35.97 total)
• $7.99 per month for twelve months ($95.88 total)
• $179.00 total for a lifetime subscription, access to all languages

Are you speaking gibberish, or will you be understood?

Click on the speaker icon and you'll hear the Hindi word or phrase that matches the photo. Right away, you'll repeat it and as you say it, that Hindi word appears on screen. Where the section of the word is bright, you did well and people should understand you. If there's a shaded portion, you may not be understood if you say it like this to a real person. This method of feedback should give you confidence that you are truly speaking comprehensible Hindi.

Not your traditional, classroom method

Let's face it. Unlike when we were infants, as adults we have already mastered our first language and most of us have taken English classes since elementary school to learn about the workings of our own language. Given that we have had so much experience with learning grammar in English and maybe another language, we probably haven't practiced Stoltzfus' natural method since we were infants and toddlers. That said, some people find that using translation or wanting to learn about Hindi with reference to English or another language can be quite helpful for learning it. You just won't find that warm blanket of translation comfort in Rosetta Stone.

Give it a chance

If you're new to Hindi, give Rosetta Stone a try. Start with the free, three-day trial to get your feet wet. If you like it, continue with either the yearly or lifetime subscription. The advantage to the lifetime subscription is that you can learn not only Hindi, but all of the 30+ languages Rosetta Stone has to offer. Just keep in mind that while studying with Rosetta Stone, if you progress into the advanced levels of Hindi, complex sentences can be tricky to learn without the aid of English translations or explanations of how Hindi works. In addition, some have complained that Rosetta Stone doesn't teach the Devanagari script well enough to be able to understand its intricacies without help of English explanations. Rosetta Stone's Hindi lessons are great to get you started, even if you have to switch to a different platform as your fluency progresses.

Preply

• Live, one-on-one tutoring
• Multiple lessons or one-time tutoring
• Choose by teacher, availability, or price
• Introductory rate of 50% off

No matter where you are in the world, there is a Preply tutor available at that time to help you. It's personalized for you, whether you want a series of Hindi lessons or if you want help with a concept or homework assignment in a class you're already taking. Preply isn't your typical online language course where a key teaching method is matching words or phrases with a drawing or photo, and the practice method is multiple-choice questions, talking into a microphone, and you judging your pronunciation against that of a native-speaker recorded voice.

Preply isn't just languages

Preply started as an online one-on-one tutoring service in Ukraine to help students to prepare for their standardized tests. Just one year later, they expanded and focused on personalized language lessons. They now have thousands of tutors and have earned more than four million dollars. They have recently added teaching and tutoring in the arts as well as their repertoire of language tutoring choices.

Choose your teacher and your price

Each teacher has their profile ready for you to peruse. You can see their name, photo, what languages they speak, and what level of proficiency for each language. The scale for proficiency that's used is the official European scale called the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, or CEFR, and ranges from A1, beginning, to C2, mastery. The teacher will tell you in their profile things like their teaching philosophy, strategy, expertise, and/or background. Each teacher has their fee listed on their page as well, and it ranges from $1 to $40 per hour. Your introductory lesson is 50% off, so that's a good incentive to try it out. Think about why you want a Hindi instructor, whether for travel, talking with family, or help with your homework in an existing Hindi class. Let them know this so you can be on the same page and have a good lesson.

Choose the time

With over 200 tutors available, you should be able to find a Hindi lesson that works with your schedule. Remember that these people are from all over the world, so even if you are only available at what might seem like an inconvenient time, don't worry, Preply's got you.

Try it out

Once you've found a teacher you'd like to have a trial lesson with, click on "Book Trial Lesson" , and you'll set up the date and time. Check out and pay with credit card or PayPal. Your class will be via their website on a platform similar to Skype.

Costs

• Starting from $1 to $40 per hour

Help Center

There's a help center where they can answer FAQs, guidelines for using the site, and an extensive collection of materials for supplementing your Hindi instruction. There's even a section where you can find helpful hints on finding the best tutor for you.

Too much commission?

When you sign up for your first lesson which has a discounted rate, Preply keeps all your fees, and your tutor does all the work for free. After that, Preply takes 18% - 33% off the top, and that has been a big complaint. If a tutor has taught fewer than 20 lessons, not only may they not be attractive to prospective students because they don't have a large following yet, but they also take the biggest financial hit, and may stay at that lower pay grade for quite a while. We realize that you're the student and not the hired tutor, but we felt it was important for you to know the cut the company takes and to not perhaps disregard any instructors with fewer than twenty lessons taught.

Preply's a good choice

Although Preply has only been around for about ten years, they teach more than 50 languages, have acquired more than 2,000 teachers (over 200 in Hindi alone), and they've expanded to teaching the arts as well. The Hindi fees range from $1 - $40, the tutors are available at any time of day, and by looking at their profiles, you should find the tutor that will fit your needs. That said, there is always that chance you take that the instructor and you don't click, or that you will want long-term lessons and you don't find the person or the method that suits you for a few tries or more. There are some risks with live tutoring, but we still feel Preply is worth the try, especially with a language like Hindi that uses characters.

Rocket Languages

• Plenty of audio for listening to Hindi
• Unique and accurate speech-recognition software
• Complete and understandable lessons
• Survival Kit: added list of helpful words and phrases

Looking for Hindi lessons with a strong spoken language component? Rocket Language's speech-recognition system allows you to hear your voice next to a recording of a native speaker. You can record yourself, hear it back, and evaluate yourself. The program will also evaluate you, letting you know what you pronounced on target and when people might not understand you.

Let's get started

Choose your level, from 1-3. Then choose whether you want to use the interactive audio for listening and speaking, Grammar and Culture, or the Survival Kit, which contains bonus words and phrases that might be fun or helpful.

What do I get for my money?

With the beginner-through-intermediate subscription, you'll have 124 hours of lesson time, 2600 voice-recognition phrases, 33 interactive audio lessons, 29 language and culture lessons, 29 writing lessons, 1 Survival Kit, a 60-day guarantee, and immediate lifetime access. With this all-inclusive package, you receive access to all the features that Rocket Hindi has to offer.

Refund policy and free trial

You have a 60-day satisfaction guarantee here. If you change your mind for any reason, contact customer service for a no-questions-asked refund. You can also access a free trial by giving them your name and email address.

Rocket combines language and culture

We all know grammar can be a little dry, so Rocket Hindi has combined learning the workings of the language with the Hindi culture to add both a little knowledge and flair. There are culture notes that could help when traveling or interacting with native Hindi speakers, such as how to make small talk. This Language and Culture tab also has practice for listening, speaking, reading, and writing what's taught, and it has a quiz at the end.

Costs

• Free trial when you give them your email
• Free 60-day trial, but only with a paid subscription
• Lifetime access for Beginner to Intermediate: $149.95, sale priced at $99.95 with coupon code
• Lifetime access to all Hindi for $162, sale priced at $114 with coupon code

The Survival Kit

The Survival Kit is Rocket Language's way of adding that fun tidbit. They have additional vocabulary words and phrases. If you want access to the Kit, you'll have to get the paid subscription.

Play It!

There's an interactive listening and speaking activity called Play It!, which helps to prepare you for conversation. Listen to a word and speak it back. The speech-recognition program not only gives you feedback on which part of what you said could be comprehensible to native speakers, it also gives you a comprehension percentage. Your accuracies will be highlighted in green and the inaccuracies in red. This doesn't only work for words: you can use Play It! with phrases as well. There are a few bugs, though. There's better accuracy with single words. Sometimes when you say a phrase or full sentence, you get cut off, even if you're not talking painfully slowly.

Rocket Hindi has great features, but isn't our first choice

Rocket offers its fun Survival Kit, the speech-recognition program that evaluates you down to the percentage of your spoken fluency, and you can choose the fun topics you want to study. We also like that it teaches a healthy balance of listening, reading, writing, speaking, and culture. But, we were turned off by the quantity of emails we received, the lack of variety in format of the lessons, and the price tag. This is a good starter program for taking Hindi lessons, but you may want to consider the higher-ranked providers first.

Glossika

• Learning with the natural approach
• Lots of repetition for retention purposes
• Grammar is inferred, not taught directly
• Free one-week trial

Glossika's approach to teaching Hindi and all its other languages is how our mothers taught us our first language. You see images and say the word or phrase over and over. And when you speak back, even though it may be pretty rough, like something only your mother might understand, it's praised, realizing you'll get better with practice. This is the same approach Glossika has: you're doing fine, even with your perhaps incomprehensible pronunciation. And that should take some pressure off.

Free trial and refund policy

There's a free, three-day trial that you can use to test out Glossika. If you subscribe monthly, there isn't a refund; you'll just go online into your account and select "Cancel Subscription." Any of your progress will be saved if you decide to jump back in. If you selected the annual plan, you can cancel the subscription, but you won't get a refund at the annual rate. Instead, your refund will take into consideration the months you have used, but at the normal $30/month rate rather than the annual discount price of $24.99/month, and you can collect the balance. Be sure to email your request for the refund within 60 days of your payment.

There aren't any grammar lessons

You heard it right, no grammar lessons. Since with your first language, your mom didn't teach you grammar, complete with conjugation charts and extensive note taking, Glossika won't, either. What you do is listen and repeat small chunks of Hindi. In time, you'll pick up on the patterns of words as you begin to put the words and phrases together.

Placement test

Start at the beginning if you don't know any Hindi. If you do, take the placement so you can know at which level you should start.

Spaced-repetition flashcards

When you were in school, you might have studied complicated terms or vocabulary with flashcards. You probably studied the cards with the tough words over and over, and moved the cards with the easy words aside. Then, at the end, before the test, you'd put them all together to be sure you really knew them. This is Glossika's approach. You'll study vocabulary with flashcards. If you know the word or phrase right away, they'll remove it from the pile so that you're concentrating on the words you need more practice with. You don't want to spend too much time on the easy ones. This is called spaced recognition and is helpful for study and for your use of time.

Costs

• $30 per month
• $299.88 yearly, in $24.99 monthly payments

Sleep on it

Glossika wants you to learn small chunks each day, then sleep on it. This way, the prominent information can anchor itself into your long-term memory. This system is not meant for you to cram as much Hindi as you can into one day as they see that as inherently ineffective. Take one small study session and carry it with you.

Best for intermediate learners

When starting out as a beginner, you might want more help than Glossika wants to offer. It's nice to have some English to relate to. Without a basic knowledge of Hindi, it might be too advanced to work with their audio recordings, drills, and tests, and some have suggested Glossika might be a better fit for the intermediate learner. Speaking of drills, the format is purposely repetitious, which can be boring. Glossika teaches like you learned English or your first language, but the fact is that we've learned much more since being toddlers, and in completely different manners. Therefore, for some, Glossika's natural method might not be a good fit.