Joe Speaks Hindi
There are food influencers. Travel influencers. Fashion, beauty, lifestyle. Even language creators. Joe Speaks Hindi
And then there’s Joe Freeman!
On his Instagram page, the Sydney-based Australian strolls through famous landmarks, recommends places to visit, cooks Indian food, plays old Hindi songs on the piano and occasionally spends an entire reel unpacking a single Hindi word.
One day it’s ‘mehnat’. Another day it’s ‘nafrat’.
Then comes ‘sharm’, or the proverb ‘sabr ka phal’.
The videos are funny, thoughtful and unmistakably Indian in their cultural references – all delivered in fluent Hindi by a man who grew up on the Northern Beaches.
Freeman made his Instagram debut in November 2025, but it is only in recent months that his videos have found a devoted audience. The comments are remarkably consistent: viewers marvel at his Hindi, thank him for embracing their language, and ask the same question over and over – how did an Australian become so effortlessly Indian in his cultural references?
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ALL ROADS LEAD TO HINDI
The story began nearly three decades ago, when an adventurous 18-year-old boarded a plane to Hong Kong for a gap year. He was volunteering with a charity organisation that shipped aid materials to different parts of the world.
“I think my parents brought me up to have a sense of adventure and we travelled regularly because they were immigrants and our relatives were all in England and other countries,” he tells Indian Link.
Growing up in Sydney in the 1990s, he often felt there was a bigger world waiting beyond his own surroundings.
“I read a lot as a child and mujhe laga ki there was a bigger world out there.”
“The Northern Beaches was one of the least diverse parts of the city,” he continues. “As a teenager, I didn’t enjoy feeling pressured to fit in and that pressure suddenly lifted when I left the place where I had grown up.”
In Hong Kong, he expected to immerse himself in Chinese culture. He learnt some Cantonese and loved the city, but the people who shaped his experience were often other migrants.
“Many of the friends I made were immigrants from other countries, especially South Asia.”
That experience changed how he viewed migration.
“I think this is something that naturally happens when you migrate because you have a lot in common with other immigrants, no matter what country they come from.”
His first connection to South Asian languages was actually through Nepali friends.
“At that time I started learning Nepali first and got involved with an organisation that was helping the Nepali community.”
That organisation was based in Hong Kong’s Chungking Mansions, a building that became a hub for South Asian communities.
“There, I realised that many people from different places communicated in Hindi, even if it was not their first language.”
Later, when Freeman was preparing to begin university in Australia, he discovered Hindi/Urdu was offered as a subject.
“It seemed like destiny at that time.”
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WRITTEN IN THE STARS Joe Speaks Hindi
Learning Hindi changed the way Freeman experienced India.
When he first travelled there with his friend Kaushic, whom he describes as becoming “like an older brother” while they worked together in Hong Kong, he encountered a culture that was far more personal than anything he could have learnt from books.
“My first impressions were that people were incredibly generous and welcoming.”
India also challenged his understanding of culture, religion and family.
He remembers Kaushic’s father asking them to turn back after a cat crossed their path, and another moment when Kaushic’s brother-in-law showed him a prayer shelf containing images from different faiths.
“They had images from various religions because they respected all gods,” Freeman says.
“This was very different to the religion I had grown up with…which taught us that sirf hamara dharm sahi hai aur baaki sab galat.”
Eventually, Hindi allowed him to move beyond being a visitor.
Freeman spent a year living in a village in Rajasthan, working in a school and becoming part of the local community.
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HINDI PREMI
Freeman never planned to become a content creator.
“I was very hesitant about making content,” he admits.
The push came from his friend Chetan from Mumbai, who had been encouraging him for years.
When Freeman eventually started posting, Hindi was not a gimmick or a strategy. It was simply the language that felt natural for telling different stories.
Today, Freeman lives in Sydney after spending 19 years overseas in Hong Kong, London and Rajasthan. His professional life has also centred around communication and inclusion – he spent years teaching English and basic skills to adults and now works in training within a disability support organisation.
For someone whose Instagram journey began with Sydney landmarks spoken about in Hindi, the next destination is still language itself.
Because for Freeman, every new word is an invitation. Joe Speaks Hindi
“I hope that people realise that hum ko fayde hi fayde milte hain when we make connections to other people and their language and culture.”
“We don’t lose anything at all.”
READ MORE: Priya Sharma and Sid Madiwale : ‘Hindi helps us toggle between cultures’
