Bengali Language

This FSI Bengali short course was published in 1985 and provides a basic introduction to the language, including simple conversations like greetings or exchanging telephone numbers.

It consists of 30 units in total, with each one presenting new language and vocabulary in the form of a dialog.

This course was originally designed to give US diplomatic staff a grounding in Bengali before being sent to postings in areas where the language is spoken.

They would have spent time studying the dialogs alone outside of class, and they would have also spent time in a classroom going through the material and practicing with a teacher.

This way, after completing the course, they would have gained the basic language skills that would have allowed them to get by in Bengali-speaking areas, managing simple situations with the words and expressions they had learned.