Like most people, you may have dreamt about learning a new language for years. The problem lies in finding a worthwhile program that delivers spot-on instruction. After all, you don’t want to waste time or money only to find out that you’re pronouncing key verbs wrong.
Fortunately, language learning is our area of expertise.
To help you learn Hindi, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of online courses with a lot to offer. We’ve grouped them into four tiers, so you know what to expect—and what to avoid.
App improvements (and a price decrease) have bumped Pimsleur to the top tier of our Hindi language list. The dynamic lessons help jump-start your speaking skills, and the verbal prompts keep you on your toes. Each lesson builds upon the previous one, letting you progress into more advanced material.
One of the perks of Pimsleur is how they approach conversational speech. Both male and female voices speak the phrases you’re learning, which means more examples to model your pronunciation after. Since it’s primarily an audio course, when it comes to written language, there isn’t much to work with. Overall, the differences between the standard and premium subscription plans are slight. But one benefit of the more expensive option is there is more reading practice.
Price: Starts at $4/hr and can be as high as $50/hr but most tutors charge less than $10/hr.
If you’re the type of language learner who needs one-on-one support, italki might be the perfect solution. It’s not a language program, but rather a platform for locating tutors. Every instructor on the site is either a professional teacher or community tutor. Teachers must have teaching experience, a degree in education, or a teaching certificate. Community tutors either have advanced language knowledge or are native speakers.
When looking for an instructor, you can narrow your search by gender, age range, nationality, and more to find the best match. If you want more structured learning, choosing a professional teacher is likely a better option. For conversational practice, a community tutor might fit the bill.
Price: Subscriptions range from $8/month to $47/month
Both audio and video lessons are part of HindiPod101’s format, but the audio is where most of the meat is. Levels range from beginner to intermediate, so advanced language speakers probably won’t find what they need here. As a supplement, though, HindiPod101 is an excellent subscription option to keep your skills fresh.
Monthly subscription options mean you can drop the lessons when you get bored, which will depend on how skilled you are in Hindi already. With only audio lessons, this won’t be a dynamic solution for learning a language from scratch, though.
Pros:
Podcast format helps with listening and deciphering dialogue.
Cultural elements and vocabulary in each lesson help make things more interesting.
Ideal for beginners through intermediate speakers.
Cons:
A lot of English usage at lower levels, which defeats the purpose somewhat.
You’ll need a textbook or another course to truly grasp the language.
The free version of Memrise is well worth your time. In terms of building vocabulary and keeping learners engaged, this app checks all the boxes. That said, it’s more of a flashcard-type platform than a comprehensive course of lessons. For absolute beginners, it’s a fun way to introduce basic vocabulary and learn a handful of phrases.
Beginners or those Hindi speakers looking to enhance their vocabulary will get the most out of this option. What’s nice about Memrise is the variety of courses. You can take specialized lessons in categories like food, grammar, history, and more. If you know the basics but need to practice words for work, dining out, or navigating, you’ll likely find a helpful course on Memrise.
An accessible and simple introduction to the language
Price: Free
Over 100 lessons make up Learning-Hindi, a somewhat outdated blog that still offers up a ton of information. Here, you’ll find text lessons at beginner to intermediate levels. There’s also a Google Drive folder with over 60 children’s books that feature both Hindi and the English translations.
Audio files help you get pronunciation right, and there are lessons for everything from learning vowels and consonants to practicing numbers. As a free resource, however, you won’t get the type of value you would from more organized (and updated) programs. The last update was in 2014, which means once you finish the material, you’ll need another resource to continue.
Pros:
Real-life applications of Hindi through the children’s books.
Duolingo is one accessible and free app that casual learners tend to love. The key word here is casual, though, as the platform doesn’t go too in-depth. Instead of learning Hindi in a well rounded manner with clear explanations — Duolingo teaches primarily through exercises.
Also, you will need to use another resource to learn the Hindi alphabet—Devanagari—because Duolingo doesn’t teach it well. There are some limitations in terms of teaching and reinforcing other concepts, too. But if you know the basic rules of the language and want to practice, this is probably a practical option.
Another platform for learners, Udemy has content on nearly every language plus other topics. Courses last anywhere from half an hour to six hours. Once you purchase a course, you have lifetime access to the content (and any updates). To become fluent, you will certainly need more than one course.
From beginner introductions in Hindi to writing tips to conversational phrases, you can learn the ins and outs of the language with a handful of classes. Unlike other platforms, though, you pay for each course separately, which could end up costing you. Fortunately, each course has a money-back guarantee in case you’re unhappy with the content or the instructor.
Pros:
Lifetime access once you purchase a course.
Targeted lessons for specific skills.
Beginner through advanced offerings.
Cons:
Teaching styles and course offerings vary.
Quality can vary among instructors and price levels.
With a Mango subscription, you can learn many different languages without paying again. There are limitations with language offerings, however, with some less popular dialects offering fewer lessons. In any language, lesson descriptions give a preview of what’s to come, but you should work in order as a beginner.
Grammar and cultural notes help immerse you in the language. Beyond the intermediate level, though, there’s not much content for advanced speakers. Stats trackers are nice for seeing what you’ve achieved, but they’re also expected at this price point.
Intermediate-level speaking and listening practice
Price: $30 per month, $299.88 for a year-long subscription
For more experienced learners, Glossika offers content that poses a challenge. Without a basic knowledge of Hindi, you likely won’t be able to manage Glossika’s audio recordings, tests, and drills. Glossika’s learning methodology focuses on listening to sentences and repeating what you hear. While this can help you improve your speaking skills and listening comprehension, it’s not a particularly exciting experience..
The content is the same for every language, so unique cultural elements of each language are ignored. On the other hand, those learning multiple languages, or want to practice a language they’ve already learned while studying a new one, may appreciate the ability to study without using English.
Overall, it’s a useful resource with a lot of room for improvement, that’s priced quite high given its limitations..
Two volumes, starting at advanced beginners and intermediates, respectively, cover video exercises, translations, and more. A total of 20 lessons span listening comprehension and translation activities. Volume 2 focuses more on increasing vocabulary and exposing you to cultural information. Social issues are a big topic in Volume 2.
Volume 1 starts with a storytelling format. You watch the video and read the text, with a highlighting tool providing translation for more challenging words. You can turn off the transcription, slow down the reading, or play audio-only. The comprehension questions leave something to be desired—there’s no way to submit your responses for correction, making the activities futile.
Pros:
Free supplement with a range of exercises.
Both audio and text comprehension activities.
Cons:
Content is a bit dated—the video quality is circa the ‘90s.
FSI is a Hindi course in e-book format. The book format itself is a bit outdated and clearly a scanned document. A lot of the type is crooked but still legible. You will need an understanding of the basic Hindi alphabet before starting, meaning this isn’t a course for complete beginners.
You will, however, start out with short phrases and useful expressions. There’s a lot of discussion on grammar, specifically verb usage, that helps build on lower-level skills. While this language doesn’t include audio functions (other languages with FSI do), many of the activities are quite in-depth, making this a worthwhile resource for many Hindi learners.
Pros:
Easy to use PDF/e-book with tiered exercises.
Can download or print for easy studying.
Cons:
No audio element, so speech skills are difficult to practice.
The content can be challenging to work through by yourself.
A course that’s too expensive for the value provided
Price: $149.95 for a one-time purchase
The price is steep, and I’m not quite sure why. Rocket Hindi is an often recommended course that I’m not a fan of. Most activities rely on memorization, though there is a range of exercises to help you with listening and reading comprehension plus writing. Unfortunately, Rocket Hindi focuses more on memorizing words and phrases then learning how to use them independently.
The audio lessons aren’t very engrossing and can even feel cringey at times. Plus, the style is a bit all over the place, with no cohesive feel with learning grammar and acquiring vocabulary, for example.
Pros:
A good balance of teaching grammar and vocabulary while also getting students to participate in the lessons.
A range of exercises—writing, reading, speaking, and comprehension.
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend these courses for learning Hindi. At any level of language acquisition, you’ll want more in-depth study materials than what you’ll find here.
Price: $36 for a 3-month subscription, $179 for a 12-month subscription, or $199 one time for a lifetime subscription
Simple navigation and well-produced material are cornerstones of Rosetta Stone. But with so much competition, the program just doesn’t stack up. Its high price point and lack of excitement mean a relatively dull learning experience.
Beginning learners can start developing vocabulary early on, which is a perk. But there’s not much cultural immersion happening. You can’t expect explanations or tips—just learning through pictures and matching phrases to scenarios. In short, more valuable resources (for less money) are available elsewhere.
Price: Starts at $9.99 per month for one language or $47.99 for a year
With fairly blah formatting and uniform lessons, Mondly isn’t big on variety. They do have daily, weekly, and monthly challenges to encourage you to keep coming back for practice. But the offerings are minimal at all levels, and despite the recommended learning path, it’s not very cohesive.
Grammar is a bit frustrating, too. Instead of teaching patterns for conjugation, for example, you’ll just see the different forms in drills and practice. It works, but it’s not intuitive. And at ten bucks a month, Mondly feels too bare bones to be worth recommending.
Unlike other languages by the same company, Michel Thomas doesn’t teach the Hindi course. While this is good news in terms of avoiding his critical style, there’s still not much I’d recommend from Michel Thomas.
Lessons are primarily audio exercises, but reading practice occurs sparsely. You begin working at the very lowest level—beginner—and don’t need to study or write anything down, which sounds ideal. You’ll learn from an instructor as they teach two students. Again, this sounds okay, but can make the lessons feel slow. Overall, not that much content is actually covered in the courses.
Tons of different languages are available on Transparent Language. But unfortunately, you won’t be learning much of anything in Hindi. Why? Because the material isn’t very thorough, and you’re essentially memorizing words and short phrases without any context. Drilling these bits of the language in isolation doesn’t help make you fluent.
The user interface isn’t very engaging, either. Between the repetition and the dull interface, there’s not a whole lot to like here. That said, there are some cool features, like the ability to record and insert yourself into a conversation to hear how it flows. But overall, Transparent won’t be winning any awards.
There are plenty of Hindi courses to choose from, but not all are equal. Have you tried any Hindi learning courses before? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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I'm Nick Dahlhoff, the creator of All Language Resources. I'm not a super polyglot who speaks 20 languages. I'm not here to teach you how to learn a language - countless people are more qualified to do that than me. But, I have tried out an insane number of language learning resources. This site aims to be the most comprehensive and least biased place to figure out which language learning resources are worth using. To learn more about myself, the site, or our reviewing process, check out our about page.
