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Rating: 
Summary: Great Intro to Spoken Hindi
Review: An excellent book for beginners, like the title implies, it is mainly a course in Colloqial Hindi, and almost omits the Devanagari syllbary entirely. There is only one chapter on it, but that chapter is very helpful all the same. The tape that comes with the book is a necessary element; it is integrated with the exercises in the book quite nicely, so make sure you get the cassette as well. The romanisation scheme is weird, but it's not too difficult. As an introduction to spoken Hindi, this can't be beat. For a better knowledge of the Devanagari syllabary, I would recommend Snell's "Teach Yourself Hindi".
Rating:
Summary: I beg to differ! Best book for Beginners out there!
Review: I have been learning hindi for the past two years, and I have been using many books in the process, including Snell and Weightman, an older book by Misra and Fairbanks, another book by Surendra Gambhir, and this one by Bhatia. For those starting from scratch, this book is the best option. Snell and Weightman move way too fast and you quickly find yourself in way over your head (unless you already have a background in hindi). I found this Bhatia's romanization excellent because it emphasized the difference between english and hindi sounds, and most importantly, Bhatia was consistent throughout (though hopefully some of the typos towards the end will be fixed in a future edition). His pronounciation introduction is also the best I've seen as far as emphasizing and drilling Hindi vocal nuances. The pacing of the book is very comfortable for the complete beginner. Bhatia also does not take anything for granted. A lot of important questions left unanswered by other books are treated thoroughly in this text (like the compound use of "lena", "jaana", and "dena"; the frequent ommision of the "a" sound in the middle of words; and the fact that words like "mahal" and "kahana" are pronounced "mehel" and "kehena"; just to name a few...) You are really able to digest everything as you go along. Bhatia's word list and grammatical summary in the back are god-sends, and his mnemonics like "nerd nouns" and "laal adjectives" are clever and effective. He also puts his lessons in a cultural perspective that is crucial for using your hindi socially. One criticism I would make is the lack of emphasis on the devanagri script. If you use this book, you should really take the initiative and learn the script. It will help you as you progress to more advanced books. It seems like the few who gave this book a bad wrap are educators who are used to hindi being taught in a certain way. I think the things that make this book different also make it the best. My recommendation is start out with this book, then go through Snell and Weightman, using the early lessons as review, then go through Surendra Gambhir's pricey but excellent "Spoken Hindi" set. All these books have their lessons on cassette. I transferred all the lessons to CD, which made my studying much more efficient. Also get McGregor's beautiful Hindi-English Dictionary which will be a cozy campanion throughout. If you can even find the Misra and Fairbanks book, don't bother. It is quite antiquated and impractical, and the tapes are a nightmare. Happy studying!
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Summary: another brick i have to carry to the surface
Review: I'd rather shoot myself than lean from this book again.
Rating: 
Summary: Book great, cassettes okay...
Review: This book is clear and comprehensive, yet simple enough for a complete beginner. The reader can choose to learn just spoken Hindi or to also learn to read and write since all of the dialogs are written in romanized Hindi as well as in the Devanagari syllabary. The cassettes are necessary, but poor compared to the cassettes from other courses. The dialogs are read only once, very quickly, with almost no opportunity to practice repeating what you hear. The leftover space on the tapes are filled with discussion in English of questionable utility.
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