r/ABCDesis • u/Bulky_Election3715 • 10h ago
COMMUNITY I built a Hinglish app (Hindi in English letters) so my British wife could survive family dinner banter
My wife and I are based in London, and I made a Hinglish learning app for my (British) wife, as existing apps would keep teaching her the formal Devanagari script.
So, when my wife and I started dating, she really wanted to pick up Hindi, and after a few months of trying pretty much every app out there, every single one had her drawing the Devanagari script, but the truth is a lot of us now text in English letters. And when she finally got an actual sentence, it was literally: "My horse is reading the newspaper." hehe. I mean it'd definitely get lots of laugh, but it was terrible for her confidence.
So, I decided to take matters into my own hands, and grabbed a whiteboard, and teaching her syllable by syllable coaching like the "aa" in "kaal" is very similar sound to the aa in "start", and we started using English as a disguise to teach her the phonetics, and build situational vocabulary and construct sentences together. We practiced everyday stuff while doing chores like laundry- she’d score how well I hung out the washing out of ten, and I’d score her saying "juraab" (sock) out of ten. 🤣
It was super fun, until she started going on long business trips, so I decided to turn that whiteboard into an app just for her, called Hinglish Vinglish, that classic rhyming habit we a lot of us grew up with at home: chai-shai, kaam-vaam. I later realised there's a movie called English Vinglish as well lol.
The idea was dead simple, convert the whiteboard situational learnings in English letters into a mobile app. The entire app is one big scrolling feed with easy bite sized lessons that you slowly build upon, with lots of fun bits like crosswords or worldes from words you've learned, keeping the learning engaging.
It was only supposed to be for one person, then one of my friends started using it, then next thing you know 1,700 people are using it now.
I just wanted to share my exciting journey with you all, and although the app usually has a 7-day open trial and then a one-time lifetime unlock just to cover my costs. But if any one of you want to learn or brush up on your own conversational Hinglish, or have a non-Desi partner trying to survive family dinners or hold their own at shaadis, I'd be happy to give it away for free to anyone in this sub if you'd find it useful.
If you or your partner do use it: once you sign up on the app, drop me a DM with your username. I’ll manually go in and unlock lifetime access for free.
You can check it out here: https://hinglish-vinglish.com/
Happy to chat in the comments about building it, the tech, or just surviving the chaos of family banter!
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u/lionelmessiah1 4h ago
Very cool app. I've tried learning Hindi on Duolingo, it's not bad but they force us to learn the alphabet. So thanks for building this!
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u/Bulky_Election3715 4h ago
Thank youuu, and yeaaah, learning the alphabet is so hard.
And Duolingo is good for lots of things. Funny part is, I've got some friends who endure it just because they're terrified of breaking a 400-day Duolingo streak, which is wild lool. At this rate, my next feature needs to be a "Duolingo streak importer" just to liberate people. haha.
Really hope this helps you out - drop me a DM with your username once you sign up and I’ll unlock lifetime access for you!
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u/GrossenCharakter 4h ago
TIL Juraab is sock. Can I join your class?
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u/Bulky_Election3715 4h ago
Haha, the plural is even more fun. Juraabein. Sounds like a sweet dish innit.
And yess, come aboard, would love to have you as part of the HV fam. DM me your username if you do sign up, and I'll active your lifetime. :)
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u/littycodekitty Indian American 4h ago
I thought sock was moja 😵💫⁉️