Learning Indian languages

Learning Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil or Sarnami, for adults and children.

India has 22 officially recognised languages and hundreds more. Hindi and English are the working languages of the central government; in the south people mainly speak Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. In the Netherlands, Leiden University is the centre for the study of Hindi, Sanskrit and South Asia.

Sarnami is the language of the Surinamese Hindustanis, grown out of North Indian languages such as Bhojpuri and Awadhi. For children, language associations and temples run weekend classes in Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Hindi and more; search for the language and your town.

A few words that Dutch and English took from India: pyjamas, bungalow, shampoo, jungle, khaki and guru.

Search what's on right now

Hindi course ↗ Sanskrit course ↗ Tamil classes for children ↗ Telugu, Marathi, Bengali ↗ Learn Sarnami ↗

Useful links

• Universiteit Leiden universiteitleiden.nl
  South and Southeast Asian Studies, with Hindi and Sanskrit.
• ICCR iccr.gov.in
  Indian Council for Cultural Relations: scholarships and language courses.