The word 'learning' in sentences. Bengali to English Translation of commonly used expressions (সচরাচর ব্যবহৃত বাংলা বাক্য বা অভিব্যক্তি গুলোর ইংরেজি অনুবাদ). This page offers free lessons in learning Bengali such as Adjectives Adverbs Articles Feminine Negation Nouns Numbers Phrases Plural Prepositions Pronouns.
bengaliBengali Essays Wikipedia Bengali - Lots of info on the history, writing system, dialects, phonology, grammar, vocab etc. A brief introduction to Bengali by Anup Mukherjee, 2003 - Discusses Bengali history and the script. Bangla - The official language of Bangladesh - Article on the history of Bengali, Bangali literature, learning materials, the alphabet and grammar. UCLA Bengali profile - Article with diagram on the history, script, grammar, dialects and role in society of Bengali. Omniglot Bengali - Gives some information on the script with a nice chart of all the letters and links. Transparent Bengali - Short overview on the language, vocab, alphabet and grammar. Languages of the World Bengali - Very concise page on the language, dialects, phonology, grammar, vocabulary, writing & resources. Virtual Bangladesh: Bengali - A short introduction to the language, the evolution of Bengali and Bengali script. South Asia StudiesBROKEN LINK - Short article on the Bengali language, culture and current status. Courses Introduction to Bengali Part 1 (+audio) by Edward C. Dimmock - Thorough textbook used in universities that looks very useful. Dialogs and vocab for book available here. Dakha and Kolkota dialect audio can be found linked here. Peace Corps Bengali (+audio) - A 16 lesson course with audio that introduces vocabulary and dialogues. No exercises, but the pronunciation section looks very useful. Intermediate Bangla by Clinton B. Seely, 1985 - 19 lessons on Bengali grammar forms and constructions, with information about life in Bangladesh. Jaspell - Several online courses, accompanying exercises, dictionaries, alphabet chart with audio etc. Uses romanization. Bengali Familiarization Course by I Corps Foreign Language Training Centre, 2007 - Teaches functional Bengali for everyday situations, with dialogues, exercises, pictures, limited grammar notes etc. Unfortunately no audio. Bengaliska magasinet - Textbook in simplified script for children to learn Bengali. Click on 'open the book' to view. Bharatiya Basha Jyoti - Online textbook to learn Bengali through Hindi. Unfortunately no audio. Websites Bangla instructional materials - University website with links to textbooks, e-books and dictionaries. Bengali grammar - Notes written by a student of Bengali. Virtual Bangladesh - 5 basic grammar based lessons, a collection of useful phrases with audio and an English-Bengali dictionary. Uses transliteration. Byki Before you know it Lite - Trial flashcard program with free Bengali word lists. DLI Field Support - Bengali phrasebooks with audio are offered by the Defense Language Institute. Can be downloaded or viewed online. Transparent Quizzes & Games - A few quizzes and games on vocab and grammar. CRE Language learning - for aid workers - A downloadable word document with basic Bengali words & phrases and basic grammar. A Bilingual Dictionary of Words and Phrases - Large collection of vocabulary/phrases arranged by topic, with full audio and pictures where suitable. A really nice resource. GoBangla - Flash presentations explaining grammar tenses & vocabulary, vocabulary lists, reviews of learning resources and more. My Languages - Learn Bengali - Short grammar explanations and many vocabulary lists. Uses script & romanization. Hubpages - Learning the Bengali Language - A collection of links and reviews of Bengali language learning materials. Talkingbees - Several videos teaching the Bengali script and numbers. Script UK India Bengali - 5 lessons gradually teaching the Bengali script and how to read, write & form words with it. Learn to Read Bengali - 8 lessons teaching the Bengali alphabet, with reading & writing practice & guides on spelling, pronunciation & conjunct characters. Bangla alphabet by Vidya Sagar - A short document on the Bengali script and conjunt characters. Bangali Net - Diagrams of the alphabet and how to write each character. EMAS Bengali ScriptDEAD LINK - A chart of the Bengali alphabet with audio. Scripts of all of Asia & Brahmi Scripts - Comparative charts of Asian & Brahmi descended scripts. E-books Bengali language handbook by Punya Sloka Ray and others -Information on grammar, sounds, writing etc. Bengali Vaisnava Lyrics by Edward C. Dimock, Jr. & Roushan Jahan - Prose reader for advanced students of Bengali. Bengali prose reader by Edward C. Dimock, Jr. & Somdev Bhattacharji with Ronald Inden, Arati John, & Clinton B. Seely - A reader for more advanced students. Introduction to Bengali Part 2 by Somdev Bhattacharji - A reader to accompany part 1. A Reference Grammar of Bengali by P. S. Ray & others, 1966 - Chapters on the history of Bengali, orthography, phonology, verbs, numbers, literary & colloquial Bengali, dialects etc. Podcasts Teaching Bangla - 1 lesson teaching basic phrases made by grade 6 students in Dhaka. Forums Bengali forumsDEAD LINK - Forum for Bangladeshi community. Wide variety of topics. Unilang South Asian Languages - Small but active forum with several useful threads and active learners of Bengali. Phrasebase Bengali, Archive - Small forum with a few posts on learning Bengali. Blogs UM Bangla - Blog for university students of Bengali, lots of videos, songs, poetry, reading & listening exercises, student journals etc. Great site. A Tangle of Wires - Interesting blog about learning Bengali, Bollywood films, literature and Bengali resources. All About Bengali - New blog by a Bengali learner with lessons, posts on culture, videos and more. My Bangla Diary - New blog about the author's progress in learning Bengali, musings on vocabulary, resource lists, videos and more. Authentic Materials Poetry & Prose Audio - Excerpts from poetry & prose read aloud by native speakers. Bengali Authors - Biographies of prominent Bengali authors and readings by the authors. LangMedia: Bangla in Bangladesh - Videos of authentic language in everyday situations, with notes on each video. BBC Asian network - Several radio programs in Bengali covering current affairs, music, entertainment etc. BBC Bangla, Deutsche Welle, NHK, VOA - News, radio, podcasts and video (on VOA) in Bengali. SBS Radio - Radio and podcasts about culture, news, science, entertainment; lots of interesting material. Bengali Guru - Lots of Bengali movies, dramas, natok, music videos, tv etc available to watch online. No subtitles. Scent of Sunlight by Jibanananda Das - Bilingual collection of poetry in Bengali, including intro & notes. Bangla Public Domain Literature - Archive of literature & poetry in Bengali, including works by Rabindranath Tagore. Global Voices - Collection of blog posts and video in Bengali. Santiniketan Podcast - Long running podcast in Bengali with intelligent discussions, book and poetry readings, songs and interviews. Bangla Readings - Podcast with readings from short stories, novels, poetry and essays in Bengali. Bangla Golpo-Bengali Stories - Podcast of classic Bengali stories read aloud. উইকিপিডিয়া - Bengali wikipedia with more than 22,000 articles. Technical Digital Dictionaries of South Asia - Several online searchable dictionaries. Anukriti Bengali - A pictorial dictionary of Bengali, uses Bengali script. Useful for picking up common words. How to View Bengali (Bangla) Unicode Fonts - Useful summary of different fonts for viewing Bengali. Bengali script resources - Freeware file with instructions on how to type in Bengali using it. Ekushey - Loads of downloadable programs for typing in Bengali, unicode fonts, language packs for Firefox, word programs, Mac computers etc. Lipikaar - A Firefox & Windows download for typing in Bengali. Simple & easy to use. Quillpad - Online tool for typing phonetically in Bengali. UniNagari: The simple, no-frills Indic typewriter - Online tool for typing in Bengali using the online keyboard layout. Commercial Teach Yourself Bengali by W. Radice, 2008 - Well-reviewed book that teaches the language in-depth, with a focus on literature. The chapters introducing the script at the beginning are brilliant. Colloquial Bengali by M. B. Nasrin & W. A. M. van der Wurff, 2008 - Similar style to Teach Yourself, a textbook and audio. Also well-reviewed. Focuses more on conversation. Bengali phrasebook by Bimal Maity - Available to view online only. |
Bengali is an eastern Indo-Aryan language with around 300 million speakers mainly in Bangladesh, and in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and South Assam. Bengali is the national and official language of Bangladesh, and one of the official languages in India. It is also spoken in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Bengali at a glance
- Native name: বাংলা (Bangla) [ˈbaŋla]
- Linguistic affliation: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern Zone (Magadhan), Bengali–Assamese
- Number of speakers: c. 300 million
- Spoken in: Bangladesh and India
- First written: 11th century
- Writing system: Brahmi and Bengali alphabets
- Status: official language in Bengali, and one of the official languages of India
There are some differences in pronunciation and vocabulary between the Bengali of Bangladesh and the Bengali spoken in India.
Written Bengali
The Bengali alphabet (বাংলা লিপি - Bangla lipi) is derived from the Brahmi alphabet. It is also closely related to the Devanagari alphabet, from which it started to diverge in the 11th Century AD. The current printed form of Bengali alphabet first appeared in 1778 when Charles Wilkins developed printing in Bengali. A few archaic letters were modernised during the 19th century.
Bengali has two literary styles: one is called Sadhubhaṣa (সাধুভাষা - 'elegant language') and the other Chôlitôbhasha (চলিতভাষা 'current language'). The former is the traditional literary style based on Middle Bengali of the sixteenth century, while the later is a 20th century creation and is based on the speech of educated people in Calcutta. The differences between the two styles are not huge and involve mainly forms of pronouns and verb conjugations.
Some people prefer to call this alphabet the Eastern Nagari script or Eastern Neo-Brahmic script
Notable features
- The Bengali alphabet is a syllabic alphabet in which consonants all have an inherent vowel which has two different pronunciations, the choice of which is not always easy to determine and which is sometimes not pronounced at all.
- Vowels can be written as independent letters, or by using a variety of diacritical marks which are written above, below, before or after the consonant they belong to.
- When consonants occur together in clusters, special conjunct letters are used. The letters for the consonants other than the final one in the group are reduced. The inherent vowel only applies to the final consonant.
Bengali alphabet
Vowels (স্বরবর্ণ)
How to write Bengali vowels:
Consonants (ব্যঞ্জনবর্ণ)
How to write Bengali consonants:
A selection of conjunct consonants
Other symbols
Numerals
Download a spreadsheet with these charts (Excel)
Sample text in Bengali
Transliteration
Sômôstô manush shadhinbhabe sôman môrjada ebông ôdhikar niye jônmôgrôhôn kôre. Tãder bibek ebông buddhi achhe; sutôrang sôkôleri êke ôpôrer prôti bhratrittôsulôbh mônobhab niye achôrôn kôra uchit.
Transcription (IPA)
ʃɔmost̪o manuʃ ʃad̪ʱinbʱabe ʃɔman mɔɾd͡ʒad̪a eboŋ od̪ʱikaɾ nije d͡ʒɔnmogɾohon kɔɾe. t̪ãd̪eɾ bibek eboŋ bud̪ːʱi at͡ʃʰe, ʃut̪oɾaŋ ʃɔkoleɾi ɛke ɔpoɾeɾ pɾot̪i bʱɾat̪ɾit̪ːoʃulɔbʱ monobʱab nije at͡ʃɔɾon kɔɾa ut͡ʃit̪.
Transliteration and IPA transcription by Abu Saleh Mohammad Sultan
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Sample video in Bengali
Information about Bengali | Phrases | Numbers | Kinship words | Telling the time | Tower of Babel | Learning materials
Links
Information about Bengali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language
http://www.betelco.com/bd/bangla/bangla.html
http://www.viswayan.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language
http://www.betelco.com/bd/bangla/bangla.html
http://www.viswayan.com/
Online Bengali lessons
http://www.bangla-online.info
http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/bengali_index.html
http://mylanguages.org/learn_bengali.php
http://www.bangla-online.info
http://www.bangalinet.com/learn_bangla.htm
http://www.bangla-online.info
http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/bengali_index.html
http://mylanguages.org/learn_bengali.php
http://www.bangla-online.info
http://www.bangalinet.com/learn_bangla.htm
Numbers in Bengali
http://mylanguages.org/bengali_numbers.php
http://www.connect-bangladesh.org/bangla/Numbers.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iQtAKx8K40
http://mylanguages.org/bengali_numbers.php
http://www.connect-bangladesh.org/bangla/Numbers.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iQtAKx8K40
Bengali phrases
http://www.17-minute-world-languages.com/en/bengali/
http://mylanguages.org/multimedia/bengali_audio_phrases.php
http://www.masteranylanguage.com/c/p/o/Bengali
http://www.bengali-dictionary.com
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Basic_Bengali_phrases
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bengali/Common_phrases
https://www.memrise.com/course/971816/bangla-100-basic-banglabengali-phrasesnotyping/
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bengali_phrasebook
http://www.17-minute-world-languages.com/en/bengali/
http://mylanguages.org/multimedia/bengali_audio_phrases.php
http://www.masteranylanguage.com/c/p/o/Bengali
http://www.bengali-dictionary.com
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Basic_Bengali_phrases
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bengali/Common_phrases
https://www.memrise.com/course/971816/bangla-100-basic-banglabengali-phrasesnotyping/
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bengali_phrasebook
Online Bengali Dictionaries
http://www.bengali-dictionary.com
http://www.bdword.com/english-to-bengali-dictionary
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/biswas-bengali/
http://ovidhan.org
http://www.aldictionary.com/dictionary/english-to-bengali.html
http://www.bengali-dictionary.com
http://www.bdword.com/english-to-bengali-dictionary
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/biswas-bengali/
http://ovidhan.org
http://www.aldictionary.com/dictionary/english-to-bengali.html
Bengali fonts
http://scriptsource.org/scr/Beng
http://www.omicronlab.com/bangla-fonts.html
http://www.nongnu.org/freebangfont/
http://banglafont.com
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Bengali.html
http://scriptsource.org/scr/Beng
http://www.omicronlab.com/bangla-fonts.html
http://www.nongnu.org/freebangfont/
http://banglafont.com
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Bengali.html
Online radio in Bengali
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bengali/
http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,615,00.html
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/bengali/top/
http://www.banglaradio.org.au
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bengali/
http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,615,00.html
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/bengali/top/
http://www.banglaradio.org.au
Online Bengali news
http://www.parabaas.com
http://www.kheyal.com
http://ajantrik.8m.net
http://www.abasar.net
http://www.parabaas.com
http://www.kheyal.com
http://ajantrik.8m.net
http://www.abasar.net
Bengali and Sylheti Language Services
http://www.bengaliandsylheti.com
http://www.bengaliandsylheti.com
ALPHABETUM - a Unicode font specifically designed for ancient scripts, including classical & medieval Latin, ancient Greek, Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic, Picene, Iberian, Celtiberian, Gothic, Runic, Old & Middle English, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Old Nordic, Ogham, Kharosthi, Glagolitic, Old Cyrillic, Phoenician, Avestan, Ugaritic, Linear B, Anatolian scripts, Coptic, Cypriot, Brahmi, Old Persian cuneiform: http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/~jmag0042/alphabet.html
Indo-Aryan languages
Awadhi, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Chakma, Dhivehi, Domari, Fiji Hindi, Garhwali, Gujarati, Hajong, Hindi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Kotia, Kutchi, Magahi, Maithili, Marathi, Marwari, Modi, Nepali, Odia, Palula, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Rohingya, Romani, Saraiki, Sarnámi Hindustani, Sindhi, Sinhala, Shina, Sourashtra, Sugali, Sylheti, Torwali, Urdu
Languages written with the Eastern Nagari (Bengali) alphabet
- Atong,
- Bengali,
- Garo,
- Hajong,
- Manipuri,
- Mundari,
Also used to write: Bishnupriya, Bodo, Chakma, Chiru, Koda, Nisi, Deori, Dimasa, Koch, Khasi, Kudmali, Tiwa, Sauria Paharia, Miri, Chothe Naga, Thangal Naga, Moyon Naga, Maring Naga, Rabha, Rangpuri, Santali, Sadri, Oraon Sadri, Sulung, Panchpargania, Tippera, Kok Borok, Toto and Usui.
Syllabic alphabets / abugidas
- Ahom,
- Badaga,
- Balinese,
- Batak,
- Baybayin (Tagalog),
- Bengali,
- Bilang-bilang,
- Bima,
- Blackfoot,
- Brahmi,
- Buhid,
- Burmese,
- Carrier,
- Chakma,
- Cham,
- Cree,
- Dehong Dai,
- Devanagari,
- Ditema,
- Dives Akuru,
- Ethiopic,
- Evēla Akuru,
- Fraser,
- Gondi,
- Grantha,
- Gujarati,
- Gupta,
- Gurmukhi,
- Hanifi,
- Hanuno'o,
- Inuktitut,
- Javanese,
- Jenticha,
- Kaithi,
- Kannada,
- Kawi,
- Kerinci,
- Kharosthi,
- Khmer,
- Khojki,
- Kulitan,
- Lampung,
- Lanna,
- Lao,
- Lepcha,
- Limbu,
- Lontara/Makasar,
- Lota Ende,
- Malayalam,
- Manpuri,
- Meroïtic,
- Modi,
- Mon,
- Mongolian Horizontal Square Script,
- Ojibwe,
- Odia,
- Pahawh Hmong,
- Pallava,
- Phags-pa,
- Ranjana,
- Redjang,
- Sasak,
- Satera Jontal,
- Shan,
- Sharda,
- Siddham,
- Sindhi,
- Sinhala,
- Sorang Sompeng,
- Sourashtra,
- Soyombo,
- Sundanese,
- Syloti Nagri,
- Tagbanwa,
- Takri,
- Tamil,
- Thaana,
- Telugu,
- Thai,
- Tibetan,
- Tigalari (Tulu),
- Tikamuli,
- Tocharian,
- Tolong Siki,
If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.
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