Let me tell you a funny story related to a YT travel video that I was watching a year or so ago. It was a vlog by a Japanese guy who was traveling in India and learning Hindi simultaneously. He was doing street food hopping in Mumbai and approaching every vendor with a sweet and polite “Namaste, bhaiya. Kaise hain aap? Kripya ek plate laga dijiye.” (Hello, brother. How are you? Please give me a plate of that.”
His sweet, cheery, and friendly approach garnished with a smattering of Hindi left a trail of amused and baffled expressions behind. That made me realize how learning a handful of phrases in the local language can make your entire travel experience much easier and smoother by endearing you to the locals.
So, if you too wish to replicate a similar travel experience, join us at Ling as we find out the best phrasebook apps to learn Hindi.
Why Learn Hindi Phrases?
When travelers and tourists touch down in the vibrant and diverse land of India, their first introduction to the Hindi language is the colloquial Hindi mixed with English phrases spoken by cab drivers and local vendors.
It’s like an unspoken initiation ritual into the heart of India’s rich culture. Next in line is haggling for colorful textiles at bustling markets or negotiating a good bargain in the labyrinthine streets of Old Delhi. These impromptu language exchanges become more than just transactional – they become moments of connection and camaraderie.
From the classic “Namaste” (a respectful greeting) to the ever-useful “Kitne ka hai?” (how much does it cost?), foreigners who make the effort to sprinkle their conversations with these Hindi gems often find themselves rewarded with warm smiles, enthusiastic responses, great hospitality, and oftentimes a good bargain!
It’s as if using these phrases isn’t just about convenience. It is about embracing the spirit of India, one “Dhanyawaad” (thank you) at a time.
Phrasebook Apps To Learn Hindi
| App | Price Starting At | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Simply Learn Hindi | Free (One-time purchase for advanced lessons) | Best App For Travelers |
| Learn Hindi | Free | Best App For Thorough Understanding |
| Learn Hindi 5000 Phrases | Free (One-time purchase for advanced lessons) | Best Gamified Phrasebook |
| Learn Hindi | Free | Best App To Learn Unique Hindi Phrases |
| Learn Hindi – Beginners | Free | Best App For Beginners |
1. Simply Learn Hindi: Best App For Travelers
Simply Learn is my favorite phrasebook app ever! It is an absolutely marvelous resource with 1000+ phrases for the Hindi language. The phrases go beyond the usual “Aap kaise hain?” (how are you?) “Mera naam ___ hai,” (my name is ___) or “Ye kitne ka hai?” (how much is this for?). There are categories for beginners that cover numbers, time and date, and basic conversation.
Then moving forward, the categories venture into Travel basics like greetings, directions phrases, direction words, eating out, sightseeing, shopping, emergency, and accommodation. All these categories are free to access. To move toward Advanced conversational phrases (Traveler Advanced + Expat), one needs to make a one-time payment of $10.
Stand Out Features
- All the phrases are recorded by native Hindi speakers in this Hindi app. This takes care of your conversational Hindi skills like pronunciation, diction, and tone. Moreover, the audio quality is quite decent.
- The audio pronunciation examples are far away from your old and boring phrases hailing from old-school grammar books. A good majority of them use colloquial Hindi vocabulary that doesn’t seem dated.
- Quizzes and flashcards along with the phrases make for decent Hindi learning apps. Simply Learn Hindi scores high on this aspect.
Pricing
The first two categories of the phrasebooks are free to access, along with a fixed number of flashcards and quizzes corresponding to their respective conversational and vocabulary lessons. If you wish to access the entire phrasebook containing 1000+ phrases, you’ll have to make a one-time payment of $10.
2. Learn Hindi Phrases: Best App For Thorough Understanding
Learn Hindi Phrases by Bravolol is a decent effort to create a traveler-friendly Hindi learning app. Since it is meant to be used only as a phrasebook, the interface is pretty simple. Every time you open the app, you are greeted by a “Suggestion” which is one among many random Hindi words. The app also has the cool feature of flashcards for each word and phrase.
The app offers phrases in 23 categories, ranging from common greetings and questions to date & time, numbers, sightseeing, fruits, weather, accommodation, transportation and so on.
Stand Out Features
- You can choose to learn Hindi in your native language if you speak either of the 30 languages, apart from English, listed in the app. I switched from English to French midway and the content quality remained the same which is appreciable.
- The phrases are recorded by native speakers. The most important feature of this app is that it plays the phrases twice keeping in mind Hindi’s usage of changed verb endings depending upon the gender of the subject. For instance, the phrase “Can I see the room?” is recorded as “Kya main kamra dekh sakta hoon” (masculine) and “Kya main kamra dekh sakti hoon?” (feminine), both. This is a big plus that really comes to the aid of unsuspecting tourists.
Pricing
The app is free to use. However, you can make in-app purchases ($3.5) to upgrade to premium if you wish to access all the lessons, and use the app in an offline mode or without the interruptions of the ads.
3. Learn Hindi 5000 Phrases: Best Gamified Phrasebook
Learn Hindi 5000 phrases by FunEasyLearn is one of the other Hindi learning apps that features a huge number of Hindi phrases. And the best part? You don’t need to be an English speaker to speak Hindi with the help of this phrasebook app. You can choose your Hindi language course from 60+ global languages!
This gamified app has a fun and engaging interface that allows you – a traveler/ tourist – to learn up to 5000 Hindi phrases for daily conversations. However, you’ll need to buy the premium subscription to access all the 5000 phrases. The premium subscription also offers a direct jump to intermediate, advanced, and expert levels.
Stand Out Features
- The app offers a native keyboard so as to also enable the learner to learn the Hindi alphabet.
- The premium version offers you a deaf mode (audio-less lessons) as well as an offline mode.
- The learner can search and bookmark their favorite phrases or the most common phrases from the phrasebook.
- The app is replete with fun games and quizzes to help you retain the newly acquired vocabulary and phrases.
Pricing
- The app is free to use for the initial few categories. To remove the ads, you can make an in-app purchase of Rs 599 or approximately $7.20.
- Unlocking the intermediate level (1000 phrases) costs Rs 799, while you’ll have to pay Rs 999 to access the advanced level (1500 phrases), Rs 1299 to access the expert level (2000 sentences) and Rs 1999 to access all the levels at once (5000 phrases).
4. Learn Hindi: Best App To Learn Unique Hindi Phrases
Learn Hindi by InnovationApps is another Hindi phrasebook app that offers a huge number of Hindi vocabulary and phrases – 9000! Apart from that, the unique feature of this app is its Learn Alphabet feature that provides audio pronunciation of all the Hindi letters in the Devanagari as well as Roman script.
The app interface is pretty basic and simple as this app is simply a phrasebook app. The categories offered are a good mix of the usual ones like routine, hotel, work, transportation, town, direction along with some unusual ones like fine arts, technology, business, accessories and pattern.
Stand Out Features
- The app offers audio phrases in native speaker voice in 39 categories which are further segregated into more subcategories.
- Each category also has practice activities pertaining to reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.
- You can make use of the search button as well as add your favorite/ often-used phrases to the Favorite tab to go back to them later.
Pricing
The app is free to use. But to go ad-free and to use the app in an offline mode, you can subscribe to the Pro version by shelling out $2.9.
5. Learn Hindi – Beginners: Best App For Beginners
Learn Hindi seems to be the most favorite app name in the world of developers! This Learn Hindi – Beginners app is offered by BNR Languages free of cost. You are offered quick lessons on basic vocabulary pertaining to greetings, numbers, colors, family, and so on. The app, in fact, offers lessons to learners belonging to all proficiency levels – beginner, basic, intermediate, and advanced. All the lessons are followed by three tests – writing, reading, and speaking tests.
Stand Out Features
- The app offers a ‘speaking slowly’ option in their audio lessons to help you properly listen to the native speaker.
- The built-in translator allows the learner to see the translation of the word or phrase along with their corresponding Hindi script.
Pricing
The in-app purchases range from Rs 400 or $4.80 per item.
Learn Hindi Phrases With Ling
Ready to dive into the world of Hindi learning with these phrasebook apps? As a traveler these are your best buddies but almost all of these lack the fun and interactive element. Do you know which one app has it all sorted out? The Ling app!
If you’re serious about mastering the language, then Ling is the best Hindi learning app. With Ling, you get a buddy in the form of an AI chatbot for practice, a speech recognition system to perfect your pronunciation, gamified lessons to make learning fun, and an interactive interface that’s a breeze to navigate. It’s not just a language app, it’s your ticket to unlocking the beauty of Hindi. So, don’t miss out! Head straight to the Google Store or App Store and hit that download button now!
