Manoj

Thanks for those observations. I thought I'd interchanged the order of sets 3 and 4. Ah well... it's been some twenty years since I last wrote Hindi in anger .

As for the 'f' sound, you are absolutely right - there is no Hindi equivalent of English/Roman 'f', and sometimes it is best to represent the sound by 'ph'.

For those interested, it consists of a purely labial sound - no tongue or teeth involved, but instead of the plosive 'p', it's 'hissed' through the lips to sound (at least to Western ears) a lot like 'f'. It is unvoiced.

For completion's sake, there is no exact analogue of either v or w in Hindi, the sound that stands in for both of them being the voiced equivalent of the 'ph' described above.

Another way of looking at it is to try pronouncing your f and v with your lower lip against your upper lip instead of against your upper teeth. Requires a great deal more lip control, and will always sound different, but will sound (with practice) a great deal more authentic to Indian ears.

cheer

the sunshine warrior