How easy is it to learn Telugu for Indians?

Telugu is a member of the Dravidian-speaking family from its South Central Branch. 74M speak Tamil as their first language and another 5M speak it as their second language in India, primarily in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The language is also spoken in the United States, Bahrain, Fiji, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore.

Telugu is one of twenty-two official languages and one of the fourteen regional languages of India. An official language of the State of Andhra Pradesh., Telegu is also enjoying the statys if an official language in the Yanam District of Pondicherry.

It is a beautiful language which is accompanied by a rich history and vast culture. When we consider how easy would it be to learn the Telugu language for Indians in specific, then we need to also consider all the different languages that are spoken in India. This factor plays a huge role in what set of Indians can actually learn this language easily and which set would require much more practice and would have to dedicate a lot of effort while trying to learn this language. For starters, 40% of the Indian population speaks the language of Hindi. 

While Hindi and Telugu have many similarities, In reality they aren’t as similar as you might think. Therefore, that 40% of people are definitely going to have to dedicate a lot of time in an effort to master this language. Furthermore almost all North Indian languages are very similar to Hindi. Therefore all North Indian language speakers will have to gear up to learn the language of Telugu as it is not going to be easy to master this language. On the other hand the South Indian speakers are going to have a cakewalk. While it wouldn’t be very easy for them to master this language, it’s definitely going to be a lot easier for them when compared to the North Indian language speakers. 

This is because most of the South Indian languages share a multiplicity of similarities among each other. Therefore, most of the South Indian language speakers will find it much easier to master Telugu with a lot less effort when compared to almost all north Indian language speakers. For example, a Punjabi speaker is going to take a lot of time to master Telugu when compared to a Kannada speaker. Nevertheless, the North Indian language speakers still have a slight edge over the foreign language speakers due to the fact that all the Indian languages have been extracted from their historic mother language of Sanskrit.

Despite Telugu being the dominant language in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil has not achieved universal acceptance as a lingua franca in the State, due to a variety of reasons, including lack of teachers,  confusion between conventional and colloquial standards and the dominant role of English in the educated elite as the exclusive means of postsecondary education. It is however taught extensively in elementary and high schools. If you wish to dive into the world of Telugu, enrol today with Multibhashi. Click here to know more.