CLS Hindi हिन्दी

The Hindi Language

Combined, the languages of Hindi and Urdu are spoken by almost a billion people across Pakistan and India. Hindi is the lingua franca of the entire country of India. Despite the growing international prevalence of the Hindi language in business, technology, entertainment industries, and more, Hindi remains a less-commonly taught language in the United States.

As the most widely spoken language in India, Hindi gives students interested in the sub-continent the freedom to study, work in, and explore the country. It is also a step towards learning other Indo-Aryan languages such as Urdu, Bengali, or Punjabi. As India's profile continues to skyrocket, proficiency in Hindi and the nuanced cultural knowledge gained through Hindi language study will be in high demand.

Program Sites

Program sites will be announced in the spring.

Featured Alumni Profiles

Ariana Pemberton
Hindi 2017
Jaipur, India
Elizabeth Purdy
Hindi 2016
Jaipur, India
Hailey Dickson
Hindi 2015
Jaipur, India
Kate Wallner
Hindi 2013
Jaipur, India

Hindi Stories

From Learning to Working Abroad

By Avan Antia (CLS Hindi 2015) They say that the more you learn, the less you know. In 2015, I participated in the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Hindi program in Jaipur. I joined the program to learn Hindi, but I soon discovered that CLS is fa... Read more

CLS 2017 Application Launches!

We are pleased to announce the opening of the competition for the U.S. Department of State 2017 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program in fourteen critical foreign languages. The CLS Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State... Read more