Stories from the chai table
Why we built this, what didn’t work, and how to actually learn Hindi for the people you love.
What to say at an Indian wedding as a guest: phrases + etiquette
Learn one phrase and make it badhai ho (congratulations). Then the rest: which event is which, what to wear, how much cash goes in the envelope, and why the dancing is not optional.
Read more →How to introduce yourself in Hindi (without sounding like a textbook)
"Namaste, mera naam Sam hai" covers the ceremony — but real introductions are a volley, not a speech. The follow-up questions, the gender endings, and the one sentence that changes the room.
Read more →Hinglish vs Hindi: what's the difference, and which should you learn?
Hinglish is the blend of Hindi and English that most urban Indian families actually speak — and almost no app teaches it. Here's what it is, why it isn't "lazy Hindi," and which register you should learn first.
Read more →How long does it take to learn Hindi? Honest timelines by goal
Basic family-conversation Hindi takes roughly 3–6 months of daily speaking practice; full fluency takes years. The honest breakdown by goal — dinner with in-laws, a wedding in Delhi, or reactivating your childhood Hindi.
Read more →100 most common Hindi phrases (that people actually say)
The 100 phrases real families actually say — at dinner tables, on WhatsApp, at weddings — romanized, translated, with a note on who you'd say each one to. Not a single boy eating an apple.
Read more →How to learn Hindi when you grew up hearing it
You understand every word of your parents' Hindi and still reply in English. That's normal, it has a name, and fixing it takes weeks of the right practice — not the years a beginner needs.
Read more →I built a Hindi app for my wife. Here's why.
It was a Tuesday night in our kitchen. The kettle had just clicked off. Hannah was standing by the counter holding her phone out to me with the screen up, the way you hold up a moth you found in…
Read more →Learning Hindi for your partner's Indian family — a practical guide
Meeting Indian in-laws when you don't speak Hindi is one of those things English-language self-help books don't cover. There's no chapter on what to do when twelve aunties are simultaneously asking…
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