I can ask for directions. I can buy things. I can even argue with autorickshaw drivers. (Though I sometimes lose.)
But when it comes down to it, my Hindi is still pretty bad. It is amazing how far you can get with so little. You don’t really need that much vocabulary to make it through the day. Especially since every other person speaks English.
Don’t know how to say a word in Hindi? Just switch in the English alternative. You’re now speaking “Hinglish”, the space between two distinct languages.
But the illusion of my Hindi comes crashing down the minute I start reading a Hindi-language newspaper. Then all the “big” words come without English substitutes. And out comes the Hindi-English dictionary.
I will learn this language, one word at a time.
Aaaaargh.
