The STARTALK Hindi Audio-Visual Module Project introduces 42 thematic modules, which are based on real life situations with varied linguistic, social and cultural contents. The modules include situations in urban and rural locations with native speakers of different background, age and gender. Shot in Jaipur, its neighborhoods and Pushkar in July 2015, these video clips provide authentic samples of native speakers’ speech. The six modules on Children and their Hobbies were shot in Delhi in February 2016. All modules are unscripted, unrehearsed and non-sequential. The clips are short (one to three minutes), and offer samples of Hindi speech in the presentational and interpersonal modes of communication.

This project is funded by a STARTALK Infrastructure Grant and is supported by the Language Resource Center and South Asia Institute of Columbia University.

Acknowledgements

As Project Director of the STARTALK Hindi Audio-Visual Module Project, it has been my honor to meet and work with many talented people. I would like to thank all those who helped me with this project in its various stages.

I want to convey my sincere thanks to Betsy Hurt, Director, STARTALK, and the National Foreign Language Center (NFLC) for the Infrastructure Building Grant 2015. Thanks to Michael Everson, my Team Leader, for his support. My special thanks to Gabriela Nik Ilieva, the Clinical Professor of Hindi at NYU and consultant of this project, for her logistic support.

This project would not have been completed without contributions and support from the people in Jaipur, its neighborhood and Pushkar. My gratitude to all those who willingly agreed to appear in the video clips.

My sincere thanks to Himanshu Joshi and his team, Mime Television Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, India for shooting and creating these stunning video clips. Thanks to Sidharth Pratap Singh for designing the banners of the home page.

I want to acknowledge the cooperation of the Hindi Language Program, American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), Jaipur. Thanks to Dr. A.N. Singh (Associate Director), Neelam Bohra Singh (faculty) and Kumar Janyani (Administrative Officer) for providing the infrastructural support in Jaipur. Special thanks to the AIIS faculty members Anita Tripathi, Pramila Verma and Sunita Sharma for carefully checking the transcripts and to Babu Lal Bunker for preparing the vocabulary.

My sincere thanks to Dr. Rosanne Zeppieri, a K-12 specialist, and Rajni Bhargava, an assessment specialist, for developing the lesson plans. The video clips would not be so effective without their accompanying lesson plans.

I would like to acknowledge the support of Columbia University’s Language Resource Center (LRC) in creating the website. My special thanks to Stéphane Charitos, Director of the LRC for his enthusiastic support and to Ian Sullivan, Educational Technologist (LRC) for his excellent work creating this beautiful website. I also want to thank Terry Culkin, Systems Administrator (LRC) for his work, behind the scenes, constructing this website. My sincere thanks to Dev Vishal Mehta for developing the site, writing the descriptions and adding media which have added to the beauty of the website.

My special thanks to William Carrick, Associate Director and Outreach Coordinator, and Annapurna Potluri, Administrative Assistant, of the South Asia Institute for taking care of budget and other administrative matters. William’s meticulous work made things easy.

Encouragement of friends and colleagues is an enormous asset. It not only bolsters our strength, but also enriches our work experience. My specials thanks to Allison Busch, Aftab Ahmad and Dalpat Rajpurohit; and other friends for their encouragement and input.

Sincerely,

Rakesh Ranjan
Project Director