rachelb36's review against another edition
3.0
3.25 stars
I quite enjoyed this book, but it definitely isn't for everyone. Kathy Rich, the author, writes about a year she spent in Udaipur, India, learning Hindi and being immersed in the local culture. Because she shares a lot about her friends and interactions, this is part memoir; but she also did a lot of research into second language acquisition (SLA), and shares insights from her research, as well. These bits were my favorite.
There are a lot of problems with the book, however, which is why it's not for everyone. First and foremost, the writing is incredibly strange; I don't know if the author was perhaps using Hindi syntax, with English words, on purpose, to illustrate some of the points she makes about SLA; if this happened on accident because of her immersion (I can testify that losing your grip on your first language while being immersed in a second is common); or if this is simply the way she writes. Regardless, it's very difficult and confusing to read at times and an editor should have addressed that.
Rich also mentions so many different people and situations, often without depth, that it was difficult to keep everyone straight. The book is too long, in general; again, a good editor could have helped to tighten (and shorten) the story.
I personally connected with the book because I'm living abroad, learning a second language and adjusting to this other culture and language that will never be completely mine. I was able to push past the frustrating parts because of this personal motivation. I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who isn't very interested/invested in learning about second language acquisition by way of immersion; there just wouldn't be enough reason to read all the way through.
Note: There is some profanity and sexual references.
I quite enjoyed this book, but it definitely isn't for everyone. Kathy Rich, the author, writes about a year she spent in Udaipur, India, learning Hindi and being immersed in the local culture. Because she shares a lot about her friends and interactions, this is part memoir; but she also did a lot of research into second language acquisition (SLA), and shares insights from her research, as well. These bits were my favorite.
There are a lot of problems with the book, however, which is why it's not for everyone. First and foremost, the writing is incredibly strange; I don't know if the author was perhaps using Hindi syntax, with English words, on purpose, to illustrate some of the points she makes about SLA; if this happened on accident because of her immersion (I can testify that losing your grip on your first language while being immersed in a second is common); or if this is simply the way she writes. Regardless, it's very difficult and confusing to read at times and an editor should have addressed that.
Rich also mentions so many different people and situations, often without depth, that it was difficult to keep everyone straight. The book is too long, in general; again, a good editor could have helped to tighten (and shorten) the story.
I personally connected with the book because I'm living abroad, learning a second language and adjusting to this other culture and language that will never be completely mine. I was able to push past the frustrating parts because of this personal motivation. I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who isn't very interested/invested in learning about second language acquisition by way of immersion; there just wouldn't be enough reason to read all the way through.
Note: There is some profanity and sexual references.
smemmott's review against another edition
3.0
This memoir about learning a language integrates information about languages and language learning in a relatively interesting way. The author creates a vivid picture of her life in India. But at times I felt that there were too many small details about her personal life, and similarly her meandering approach was sometimes unnecessarily confusing. I also think she missed a few opportunities to more accurately explain linguistic information, particularly about the sign language used by the students at a school for the deaf that she visited.
redroofcolleen's review against another edition
2.0
I was so excited to read this book, but it fell completely flat. I felt like the author couldn't decide between writing about her experience learning Hindi in India and language learning in general. It vacillated between being thoroughly engaging and completely boring. With such a lack of cohesion, I gave up.
ria_mhrj's review against another edition
2.0
Dreaming in Hindi was the first book selected for my newly formed book group and I wanted to love it. The book boasted an interesting premise, was well outside my reading comfort zone and the timing of our selection was all the more poignant with the recent passing of Katherine Russell Rich, so my expectations were quite high as I started.
Sadly, I did not love the book and I'm struggling to fully articulate why. The book roughly covers the space of a year in which Ms. Rich was in India, with stories from her time there leading into discussion of how one studies and retains a second language as an adult. In terms of format, this was clever but perhaps a little too clever, as the frequent segues into the science of language learning often led to my attention drifting.
In terms of the 'story', it's fairly incredible that a woman survived cancer, lost her job and then decided to up sticks and live on the other side of the world for a year. Yet I never fully connected with the story and the characters. It ultimately felt like being told anecdotes by a friend, full of people you have never met and that you don't especially care about. Perhaps that sounds unfair, but in the many great books I have read, I have always felt like an observer, almost a participant in the action, rather than the recipient of a second hand account of an event.
In some ways, I wonder if my own limited life experience led to my not being able to fully immerse myself in this world. Will be interesting to hear what the rest of the book group think next week.
Sadly, I did not love the book and I'm struggling to fully articulate why. The book roughly covers the space of a year in which Ms. Rich was in India, with stories from her time there leading into discussion of how one studies and retains a second language as an adult. In terms of format, this was clever but perhaps a little too clever, as the frequent segues into the science of language learning often led to my attention drifting.
In terms of the 'story', it's fairly incredible that a woman survived cancer, lost her job and then decided to up sticks and live on the other side of the world for a year. Yet I never fully connected with the story and the characters. It ultimately felt like being told anecdotes by a friend, full of people you have never met and that you don't especially care about. Perhaps that sounds unfair, but in the many great books I have read, I have always felt like an observer, almost a participant in the action, rather than the recipient of a second hand account of an event.
In some ways, I wonder if my own limited life experience led to my not being able to fully immerse myself in this world. Will be interesting to hear what the rest of the book group think next week.
honniker's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
2.5
So, there were a few things in this book I found interesting. The first was the description of trying to speak Spanish after studying Hindi for a while. Been there, done that. Only I tried to speak French and it came out Russian.
Other than that, I wasn't the biggest fan of the book. It felt kind of disjoined and was hard to keep track of who everyone was. I think some of this was to reflect the ethereal feeling that the author feels while in India, and I did appreciate that the more academic explanations of second language learning were scattered throughout so it wasn't overwhelming. But due to the nature of the writing, every thing felt a little disjoined and hard to follow.
Other than that, I wasn't the biggest fan of the book. It felt kind of disjoined and was hard to keep track of who everyone was. I think some of this was to reflect the ethereal feeling that the author feels while in India, and I did appreciate that the more academic explanations of second language learning were scattered throughout so it wasn't overwhelming. But due to the nature of the writing, every thing felt a little disjoined and hard to follow.
sbpatel's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure why this book got so many bad reviews. It may not be perfect, sophisticated literature, but anyone who got so hung up on that really missed the point. This book is about cultural transformation, about the kinds of feelings and experiences that impact a person so deeply... The kinds of things that are next to impossible to put into words. The author tried, and in my opinion she succeeded. I was much too absorbed by her incredible journey, personal interactions, struggles, and victories to even bother noticing anything about her writing worth criticizing. I did NOT find the research she did regarding learning a second language to be an interference to the main storyline at ALL. It was so interesting and even though she did have to interrupt the story to discuss the research, I felt she chose mostly opportune points at which to do so. I learned so much about the cognitive aspect of language-learning and I found the inclusion of this in the book to be very useful. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in India, in cultural immersion of any kind, in understanding what it is like to move to a foreign country, in Hindi, in foreign languages in general, in the process of learning languages, or in any combination of the above. And even if you don't have specific interest in any of the above, if you're willing to just take the plunge and see what one person's experience was when she decided to move halfway across the world and find herself, you'll probably enjoy this book!
sujata's review against another edition
2.0
The portions about her life in India were not as engaging as the background on language, but on the other hand, the portions about her life in India brought back some Hindi to my mind.
toddtyrtle's review against another edition
4.0
This is the third time I've tried to read this. I'm embarrassed to admit that I stopped the first couple of times in part out of jealousy. I am also studying Hindi but I wasn't making such good progress. To be fair it had a lot to do with how little I was studying. This time, though, I have been paying better attention and feeling better about my own skills and so what I found was that reading the book didn't make me feel simultaneously jealous and down on myself for not trying very hard. Instead I really enjoyed it. It felt very familiar and reminded me of my own trips to Rajasthan and all of the help I've been getting from native Hindi speakers. Hearing about her own struggles and triumphs as someone learning language later in life felt very familiar. I know exactly what she was feeling when she would describe problems she had or things she was proud of. Her talk about language learning and motivation was also really fascinating. I liked how we went back and forth between her experiences and some of the more technical details.
Like any good travel memoir it makes me feel like I do at the end of a trip to a beloved place - sad to see it come to an end.
Like any good travel memoir it makes me feel like I do at the end of a trip to a beloved place - sad to see it come to an end.
midlifehedgewitch's review against another edition
3.0
This book called have been a masterpiece if the author had found the right editor. She could have drawn together threads of anecdote and academic research so much better. Neither are done justice, as there is simply so much jumping around from one topic/idea/vignette to another - even on the same page. Perhaps the best example of this is in the array of characters in the book. With the exception of the Jain family and Haelena, Rich has the habit of introducing you to a character briefly, and then they don't reappear until 150 pages after. You're expected to remember them and accept the author's assumption that you know them as well as she did. Likewise, you're fed tasty snippets of fascinating academic morsels about second language acquisition which last a sentence or two, only to be lost in the next sentence without further development.
Perhaps the author could have written two books: one a travel memoir; and the second, an exploration of the academic literature on second language acquisition juxtaposed with her own learning of Hindi. Unfortunately this will never happen as Katherine Russell Rich passed away in 2012.
Nonetheless, I did enjoy the book which is why gave the high rating of three stars.
Perhaps the author could have written two books: one a travel memoir; and the second, an exploration of the academic literature on second language acquisition juxtaposed with her own learning of Hindi. Unfortunately this will never happen as Katherine Russell Rich passed away in 2012.
Nonetheless, I did enjoy the book which is why gave the high rating of three stars.
dei2dei's review against another edition
4.0
Another "language memoir", I was inspired to pick this up again after completing Eva Hoffman's "Lost In Translation". With several years of Hindi studies behind me and life in India versus when I first picked up and read Rich's book, I am able to appreciate, understand, and empathize much more with her language experiences, her ups and downs. Hindi and India are both fraught with massive opportunities for miscommunication (wheat flour vs 'he comes' - all the length of a vowel!), and Katherine Russell Rich brings Rajasthan and Hindi into full, vibrant colour.