<p>im applying to huntsman as an undergrad this year with hindi as my language</p>
<p>i was born in the us, gujarati is my 2nd language as well. i learned hindi through watching movies and doing volunteer work in india (i spent my summer teaching at a school in india)</p>
<p>so i am fairly fluent. however, i do not know how to read in hindi. like with hindi characters. is this needed for huntsman? does anyone know? i can understand it, and and write in like english characters, but i dont know the hindi ones..</p>
<p>also, does anyone know how the testing works? do we have to go to upenn to take the test? around when will it be for ED applicants?</p>
<p>also, does the admissions for huntsman read your essays into upenn, because one of my essays is about the actual work i did in india..will that help?</p>
<p>haha but will i be able to pass if i rigorously train from now until december when the test is administered? </p>
<p>i know i wont be an expert, but will being able to read it be enough to pass the test? especially if im really good at the speaking and listening portions?</p>
<p>AND if i don't pass the test by that time, will that have any effect on my chances for the wharton school, since thats my single-degree choice?</p>
<p>yeah well if you can manage to learn to read then you should be good</p>
<p>BUT, what kind of hindi speaker are you?</p>
<p>lemme explain. i used to watch bollywood films and understand everything my parents said. i took hindi classes for 2 years and learned how to read and got decent at conversational hindi. then i took a practice IB exam in hindi and got completely raped on it. reason? when you take a hindi exam, they don't wanna know if you can speak practical, usable hindi. instead they want obscure dictionary sanskrit and persian. i have friends who learn spanish, french and chinese and none of them have this problem (where the tests are like a whole different language than what is actually spoken). </p>
<p>my parents are not native hindi speakers (bundel khand) but have spoken hindi in india and learned it in schools and stuff for almost 20 years each. they use hindi to speak to each other and have done so for another 20 years. but even they had trouble with the practice IB hindi exams i brought them.</p>
<p>On the other hand I took a University of Texas hindi exam to bypass Hindi 2 and aced it because all they wanted was normal spoken hindustani.</p>
<p>so your level of proficiency depends on two things:</p>
<p>1) what kind of hindi you speak (shudh + urdu or normal spoken hindustani)
2) who's asking and what they want</p>
<p>yeah if you want a practice IB exam PM me and I can send you one</p>
<p>yeah i recommend you work on vocabulary. i remember in the beginning not being able to even understand the directions given in the test.</p>
<p>gujarati and hindi use some pretty similar shudh words, so that might help you if you know gujarati well</p>
<p>yeah you can definitely learn to read and write hindi if you know how to pronounce the sounds. after that it just boils down to flashcard memorization of symbol with sound. thank god we have a phonetic language :) . in fact you could probably even learn to read and write urdu at the same time, but i don't recommend it because it's harder and has weird rules.</p>
<p>i don't know anything about how you speak, but based on what i'd know i'd say:</p>
<p>1) learn to read/write
2) get practice IB exams so that you're familiar with how it feels to test hindi and so that you get familiar with words/phrases like 'sentence', 'paragraph', 'choose from those below', 'refer to', etc)
3) get a hindi thesaurus and dictionary and expand your vocabulary</p>
<p>I asked the director of the Huntsman program when I was in Philadelphia about this. I can speak conversational hindi, and AP level Spanish. She said that it would be in my best interests to apply as a Spanish language student, rather than a Hindi student (The fact that there are only 3 in the entire program right now doesn't necessarily help, but the fact that there are ~60 that speak fluent Spanish hurts.) Some people change languages, but don't tell them that. They basically want you to be completely fluent (written and speaking), even if you take alot of classes, you'll be behind other international students, who have been speaking multiple languages for years. </p>
<p>The student I met at the Wharton Ambassadors meeting was fluent in Spanish, Tagalog, English, and function in Mandarin. She was from Oceania. Another guy was fluent in Italian, German, French, and Danish. The competition is stiff, and don't think it is easy to get in on a whim. Make sure your essays are excellent, you've shown interest in business/international relations. Spend time on your essays.</p>
<p>thanks so much for your help, this is all great info!</p>
<p>i think that taking spanish and then changing to hindi is a great idea, even though its harder to get in with it...but ive been taking it since 6th grade and have AP this year...</p>
<p>I have spoken Hindi throughout my life and have studied Hindi till 10 th grade.</p>
<p>I got a B in IGCSE Hindi and have no problem writing or reading in Hindi though I think my skills are a bit rusty as I havent written anything in Hindi for about 1.5 years now.</p>
<p>I think I read Hindi a little bit slower than I read English but still I dont think I would have any problem with IB Hindi either.</p>
<p>I took Spanish AB Initio in IB and my predicted score is a 7(of a total of 7). Im pretty sure I’m not capable enough to give a SAT 2 in Spanish and score ~750.</p>
<p>Will I have to take this extra Hindi test even if my IGCSE score was a B?</p>
<p>Also, if anyone else has experience with Spanish AB initio, how much do you think I’ll get on the Spanish SAT 2 ?</p>
<p>Oh and I’m a native Haryanvi and have grown up and lived in various parts of the country including Kashmir, Assam, Maharashtra, Punjab, Goa, and of course Haryana and Delhi.</p>
<p>Oh and apart from Hindi and English I am also decent* in Spanish and can speak and understand Urdu but not read or write it. </p>
<p>I have an interest in learning up Russian as it sounds like a useful language but only after school.</p>
<p>*When I say decent I mean that I can fluently understand my teacher in Class and everything and can speak, read, write properly. I can(and have) engaged in lengthy conversations with native speakers of Spanish like Colombians and Spaniards but I think I still dont have the same kind of vocabulary as a traditional speaker does. I also have a feeling that those native speakers I talked about may be purposely talking in basic Spanish to help me understand.</p>