Zabaan was established in August 2009 by Ali Taqi and his former student Christoph Dusenbery, both United States citizens, who had been teaching Hindi in Seattle.[1] They saw a need for a quality language institute in New Delhi to cater to expatriates living there for work.[1] The initial business goal was to provide only Hindi language instruction starting with 25 students.[1] After some time the institute began offering classes in Urdu, Sanskrit, and Pashto.[1] The school offers classes on reading and writing Nastaliq, the Urdu alphabet.[3][6] The interest in Urdu matches a rising demand to understand Urdu use in Bollywood and to appreciate Urdu poetry.[6]
Student body
Neha Tiwari teaching David Advanced Hindi
Most students at the school are expatriates who wish to learn local languages of India.[2][7][8] Taqi has said that student interest in Hindi has grown with international interest in India.[9] Many of the students are learning Hindi for international business with India.[10] Native professionals attend grammar classes of all sorts to prepare for the entrance exam for the Civil Services of India or to complement studies at the Indian Institutes of Technology.[11] By 2013 the school had provided instruction for more than 850 students.[1]
