some sections of Odisha, especially the districts of Ganjam and Gajapati, speak Telugu. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is also an official language of the country. The Oriya language is spoken by some 31M people.

In order to get over your fear of speaking any language, you have to practise it at all costs. There is no language in this world except ASL, Which can be practised without actually speaking it. If you don’t even speak the language then what’s the point of learning it? Ultimately, most people learn a language in order to be able to speak it fluently and be able to converse in it with other speakers. A major part of speaking a language is to be able to get over your fear of speaking skills. Fear of speaking a language is very common among new students who wish to master the language. So don’t worry, you are definitely not alone. With that said it is actually pretty easy to get over your fear of speaking the language.

Many, like you, fear speaking in the language because you fear that you might make a mistake.  In reality, there is no real need to fear making mistakes. Trying to learn the language is already a big deal. There is absolutely no need to feel embarrassed or ashamed of making mistakes. Next up, practice. You need to practise speaking skills and gain enough confidence to be able to converse with others. As a beginner, you can focus on increasing your vocabulary, understanding the right grammar rules and sentence formation rules. You can also try out online conversations where you will be coupled up with a native speaker and you can practise your speaking skills here.

This is a very forgiving way of getting over your fear of speaking Oriya. If this is not your cup of tea, you can practise reading the language out loud or maybe preparing a script and delivering it in front of a mirror. You can also try recording yourself and listening to it in order to check if you made any mistakes but speak in the language. Finally, you can ask your tutor, student or a guide to help you out in practising in getting over your fear of speaking Oriya. You can also listen to Oriya music in your free time and watch movies in the language with English subtitles to help you improve your speaking skills.

On 20 February 2014 Odia was designated as a classical language and it joined the league of classical languages such as Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam to be the 6th Indian language to earn such a classification. Oriya is the consequence of the development of the Old Indo-Aryan speech style. The Ananta Varma Bajrahasta Deva stone inscription dating from 1051 AC is the first-ever manifestation of Oriya/Odia script and language.