While HUF is primarily an undergraduate academic program, our broader mission is to serve as a national center for innovation in Hindi and Urdu language education.
In collaboration with a number of state, national, and South Asia-based partners, HUF has launched several substantial initiatives aimed at diffusing the benefits of HUF’s substantial linguistic knowledge, pedagogical expertise, and administrative resources to the broader Hindi-Urdu learning community.
Projects
Language for Health
A collaborative initiative between the Hindi Urdu Flagship, New York University, and Columbia University, Language for Health is a new effort to develop a comprehensive set of pedagogical materials and guidelines to teach advanced Hindi-Urdu specifically for the healthcare context. The project incorporates substantial video material professionally produced for the course in diverse healthcare settings in India.
K-12 Hindi-Urdu
The cultivation of quality Hindi-Urdu programs at the K-12 level is a crucial component of the Flagship’s mandate. To this end, HUF spearheads a number of efforts to increase and enhance Hindi Urdu K-12 programs in the US.
Glossaries Alive
An innovative series which combines light oral drills, informal conversation, and script-reading to produce an effective introduction to essential Hindi vocabulary and grammar. Full episodes and pdf glossaries available here and via the iTunes store.
Spoken Thesaurus
A groundbreaking series of lively, unscripted Hindi-medium conversations about groups of words of related meaning. Concentrating on selected mainstream words and phrases, we help you to broaden your active vocabulary by encountering styles of language appropriate for everyday speech. Full episodes and pdf glossaries available here and via the iTunes store.
Hindi-Urdu Speaker Series
In keeping with its mission to enhance the Hindi-Urdu educational experience at the undergraduate level, the Flagship hosts a speaker series featuring some of the leading scholars and artists working in the Hindi Urdu medium today. We film each seminar and share each recording with the general public with the hope that students of Hindi-Urdu nationwide can benefit from these unique events.
Resources
Resources to support the Hindi-Urdu student, while traditionally hard to come by, are gradually increasing in number and quality. HUF is at the center of efforts to both collect and improve existing resources. In addition, to the Glossaries and Thesaurus series, HUF has produced and/or published many other learning resources for students of Hindi-Urdu. Visit our Resources overview to see a run-down of our media offerings.
Partners
AIIS
HUF’s unique Year in India program is based on substantial collaboration with the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS). AIIS is a consortium of American Universities that has offered language programs in India since the 1960s. While in India, HUF students receive language training from experienced AIIS teachers while enjoying the benefits derived from AIIS’s many years of organizing ‘study abroad’ programs for American students.
Department of Asian Studies
HUF’s administrative home, the Department of Asian studies is one of the largest and most distinguished in the country. It offers courses in ten Asian languages: Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and Vietnamese. The Department teaches the histories, cultures, religions, and literatures of Asia, as well as the contemporary issues facing Asian countries from economic and ecological issues to security and ethnic conflicts.
South Asia Institute
The South Asia Institute at the University of Texas at Austin promotes the inter-disciplinary study of all aspects of modern and ancient South Asia. In addition the Institute promotes the study of communities of South Asian origin wherever they may be found. Through its support of individual and group research, specialized courses and training, library acquisitions, international conferences, community outreach, and weekly seminars, the Institute advances the latest knowledge about South Asia and extends awareness of this vital world region across all departments and programs on the UT campus.
College of Liberal Arts
The largest and oldest school at the university, the College of Liberal Arts houses more than 600 faculty members with over 5,500 class sections. The College of Liberal Arts currently awards seven degrees in South Asian studies: B.A. and M.A. in Asian Studies; B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Cultures and Languages; and two dual M.A. degrees with the McCombs School of Business and the LBJ School of Public Affairs.
New York University
A partner in our Language for Health initiative. Led by Gabriela Nik. Ilieva, NYU has a substantial, growing Hindi-Urdu language program.
Columbia University
HUF’s second partner in our Language for Health initiative. Led by Rakesh Ranjan, Columbia has one of the largest South Asia programs in the country.
Arabic Flagship Program
The second Language Flagship program at the University of Texas at Austin, the Arabic Flagship Program offers a five year training program in Arabic language and culture for undergraduates and incoming freshman. AFP Scholars receive the resources and training to reach superior level Arabic, ILR 3/3+, while pursuing an undergraduate major of their choice.