Note: Students who voted for a Reacting Maymester in India will be especially interested in this!

Rupert Snell, Professor in the Department of Asian Studies and Director of the HIndi Urdu Flagship will give a talk on “Social Discours Aboard the Hindi Urdu Flagship” this Wednesday, Jan 23rd in the Union Sinclair Room, UNB 3.128.

Students who learn Hindi and Urdu in parallel must encounter two complementary sets of culturally-marked social conventions. Dr. Snell’s talk discusses this diversity in the context of the close but often vexed relationship between Hindi and Urdu, and shows how even the simplest greetings conversations call for an informed sensitivity to matters of register, honorific level, and religio-cultural background. The talk will include an 8-minute introduction to Devanagari (the Hindi script), enabling all comers to read simple words with nimble ease.