Hindi is the national language of India. It is the language that connects more than 1 billion people that reside in this vast nation; more than 40% speak it as their native tongue and many more as their second or third language. It is the official language of India along with English and is also spoken in places like Nepal, Fiji and wherever Indians have settled in large numbers.
India is a fast growing economy that is attracting a lot of international attention; therefore, a lot of business travelers are finding themselves heading in its direction. Also, India has always been an attractive tourist destination with its ancient monuments, temples, diverse cultures, food and scenic natural beauty. Though a mind-boggling variety of languages are spoken in this country, Hindi is a language that is understood by most of the people. Though English is one of the official languages of this nation and is spoken widely in the country, especially in the cities and other urban centers, a useful skill that a traveler to India must equip himself/herself with is basic Hindi conversational ability.
In addition to travel to India, there are other reasons why a person might be interested in learning Hindi. A linguist who might be interested in the various texts and literary works penned in the Hindi language might want to learn it to be able to read and understand them. There are thousands of Indian emigrants settled all over the world. The descendants of these people, though well adapted to the country of their birth and its language and culture, might want to learn the language of the country of their ancestral origin, to feel that connection to their culture and people.
Unless one wants to go all the way, and go for a culture immersion visit to India and learn Hindi along the way, it can be quite tricky to find a competent Hindi tutor in their place of residence. Those that do have Hindi language learning institutes nearby or access to tutors might not have the time required everyday to attend classes. Though learning from a tutor in a classroom environment where one gets to interact with other learners of the language is one of the best ways to learn any language, there are certainly other options to consider.
There are various books and CDs that are aimed at helping a person learn Hindi on his/her own. The Learn Hindi series of books and CDs by Kirit N Shah are very popular and highly recommended for someone looking to learning Hindi from scratch. A review of Kirit N Shah's book can be found here. But of late, the most exciting and dynamic form of learning a language is without any doubt, online learning. There are many websites out there that offer online Hindi courses for every kind of learner.
Hindi-learner.com is a useful site which provides both free and paid Hindi learning resources. It offers free basic Hindi tutorials and lessons and also offers online tutors and translators. myhinditeacher.com offers a variety of spoken and written Hindi learning modules in the form of CDs, memory cards or one-time downloads. These two sites are just a drop in the ocean; there is a rich variety of Hindi learning resources available online.