Learning Sindhi Language - Resources for Self Learning We often hear laments that the Sindhi language has fallen into disuse among the Sindhi’s in India and across the diaspora. Often the blame is placed on younger generations for failing to speak Sindhi, and be engaged in its literary legacies. Yet, we have to acknowledge that the decline of Sindhi language is rooted in a more complex crisis of cultural identity and articulation that Sindhi community has faced since Partition.This has resulted in a systematic failure of institutional support to uphold language learning. There hardly remain any schools and universities, even those run by Sindhis as minority linguistic institutions, that continue to teach Sindhi. While there are a few excellent courses to teach Sindhi by organisations such as the Indian Institute of Sindhology, Adipur, and the American Institute of Indian Studies in Pune, these are geared towards academic specialists. Online software based learning has been attempted as a way of bridging this gap, but it can never aim to replicate the importance of interaction, practice, and cultural immersion that should be the hallmarks of any good language programme. The remedies to these decade long cannot be easy to overcome, and while Sindhi community organisations, such as Khudabadi Amil Panchayat of Bombay are committed to the goals of promoting comprehensive Sindhi Language learning in the long term, we also acknowledge that there is currently a resurgence among young Sindhi artists, educations, and creative entrepreneurs to rediscover, reimage and revitalize the language through their creative practice. In this spirit, we have compiled a list of resources that would be helpful for those interested to self learn Sindhi. This list is not exhaustive and we would be grateful for suggestions on other links to include. In putting together this list we acknowledge that people might be at different levels with Sindhi and have different individual goals and ways of learning. Some might be fluent in the language but consider that learning the Sindhi (Persio-Arabic) script might allow them access to a range of Sindhi literature. Others might want a means to be able to teach their own children Sindhi with the help of stories. We aim to ensure that there is something for everyone in the resources below. We also hope to facilitate the coming together of groups for self learning, using this and other materials to form a collaborative and interactive environment for people to learn Sindhi together. To contribute links or to be part of a self learning group please write to us here…....... Is there a Sindhi word that you don’t know the meaning of? Is there a Sindhi word that you heard your grandmother utter? Are you trying to read a Sindhi novel and need some help? Here are some resources to help you figure meanings out:- Digital Dictionaries ● Parmanand Mewaram. A Sindhi-English dictionary. Hyderabad, Sind: The Sind Juvenile Co-operative Society, 1910 has been digitized and can be accessed on the Digital Dictionaries of South Asia Project ● Sindhiyat has developed a dictionary that you can search in Sindhi - Persio-Arabic, Devanagari as well as the Roman Scripts Downloadable Dictionaries (PDF Files) Sometimes Digital Dictionaries may be frustrating as they sometimes fail to turn up searches if there is a mistake in spelling or if the word you are searching for is used in a grammatically varied way. Digital searches also may have unappealing font layouts, might miss conveying important non-verbal cues about words and their linguistic usage, and do not facilitate serendipity searches that lead to a discovery of etymological roots, similar sounding words, and interesting words that you find by mistake that evokes a curiosity or imprints itself in the readers vocabulary. Here are some Sindhi Dictionaries that can be downloaded. ● Parmananda Mewaram (1910) 122MB - Persio Arabic ● Captain George Stack (2010 republished) 4 MB Persio Arabic and Devanagiri Is there any course that I can enroll in to learn Sindhi? Sindhi Language courses are run at the Indian Institute of Sindhology at Adipur, Kutch and at the American Institute of Indian Studies at Pune, Maharashtra. In case you are unable to attend an intensive course we have put together some resources that can be helpful. ● Books: Sindhi: An Introductory Course for English Speakers is the most comprehensive and the best available pedagogical introduction to Sindhi for English speakers. The book gradually introduces the Persio-Arabic script over several chapters and so learning spoken Sindhi and written Sindhi can go hand in hand. You can also access this material here. ● Apps for Language Swap such as Tandem, Bilingua, and Hellotalk allow you to text, voice call and video call native Sindhi speakers who you share similar interests with. Language swap apps great way to practice new words and extend your conversational skills while making new friends ● Phrases: An easy way to start is by memorizing easy conversational phrases that you can try out with friends or on a language swap app ● Online courses: Sindhi Sangat has developed an online course for beginners that is being used across a number of schools that teach Sindhi across western India. It can be accessed on this website, as well as on Youtube and also as an app. The Sindhi Language Authority in Pakistan also has a sleek website to brush up on some basics. ● Web Resource: Sometimes the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in the culture and community of the speakers through its songs, jokes and literature. Sindhyat is a web resource that has compiled a number of online resources such as the Sindhi calendar, called the Tipno, music broadcasts etc. Particularly important is ebook and audiobook section where you can read and listen to a range of of material in Sindhi as varied as Maxim Gorky translated by Gobind Malhi; Paigham a translation of the Prophet by Khalil Gibran by Prabhu Wafa; Commentaries on Shah Latifs Risalo and Spiritual Jokes of Folk legend Vatai Faqir. images courtesy Sindhyat Learning the Sindhi Script ● My First Sindhi Alphabets Picture Book with English Translations: Bilingual Early Learning & Easy Teaching Sindhi Books for Kids is available on to buy here ● Alphabet Practice Sheets Courtesy University of Iowa. Helpful way to learn by tracing out letters as they appear in the initial, medial, and filial forms Typing Sindhi in Naksh, Devanagari, and Roman Scripts ● The South Asia Language Resource Centre at the University of Chicago has compiled Sindhi fonts with typographical samples that can be downloaded directly from this page ● Lipikaar is an app and web resource that has revolutionized the ease of typing in Indic scripts. If you know the Sindhi alphabet you will be able to learn to type in it in minutes. It's also very handy to have it on your phone to chat with friends on language swap apps or for searches..