A lot of people have asked me how I go about learning Nepali. Actually, I feel my knowledge of the language is really lacking. But, okay, let me just post a few links to help you out. Of course, my biggest source of learning is just personal conversation with Nepali-speakers. Most of my vocabulary and grammar comes from them directly. My second big source of learning is the Nepali Bible. The Nepali Bible Society publishes an interlinear Nepali-English New Testament that is a tremendous help to me. Once I had learned the script, via flash cards that I made using this site, I was able to (slowly) read the Nepali NT. At the beginning, I would read a verse in English and then the same verse in Nepali. It took me a long time to get through a chapter. Now, I simply read the Nepali and check the English when I don't understand what I've read.
Beyond this, there is a good online Nepali-English dictionary here. It is a very well-respected dictionary. However, the vocabulary there is far greater than that of most of the Bhutanese that I know. Many times I have discovered words there that they've never heard of.
Lastly, it is important to have some kind of formal learning method to fill the gaps left by conversational and non-formal learning. For this, I am using a book/CD set called Complete Nepali. I like it very much and recommend it as a companion to your learning.
Oh yeah, and some people have asked me how I type in Nepali. For that, I use a simple, though time-consuming, tool called Nepali Unicode. It is free and you can find it here. Or, if you prefer, just bookmark this article and use the unicode converter below:
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Found a bookstore in Nepal that seems to have the Nepali/English New Testament in stock, but I'm kind of having a little trepidation about using my credit card with a website in Nepal:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pilgrimsonlineshop.com/xtitledetailsnew.php?isbn=9623273851