How to get over my fear of speaking Telugu?

Telugu is a word that derives its origins in the word Trilinga., further extracted from three temples at Srisailam, Drakasharamam, and Kaleshwara. Telugu, which is spoken by almost 70 million people, is Andhra Pradesh’s official language in the  Southeastern part of India. Telugu is a rich language that is spoken extensively in India with its alphabet related closely to Kannada. Telugu is one of the many official languages of Andhra such as Urdu, Hindi, Banjara, followed by Tamil, Kannada, Marathi and Oriya. Telugu is the State’s official language and principal language.

 In my opinion, if you truly want to get over this fear of speaking any language then you must simply speak that language. Telugu is no stranger to the same notion. Now, to get over the fear of speaking Telugu you must practise speaking it. There are multiple ways of practising Telugu without actually speaking to anybody else. These methods will also help you gain confidence before you actually go out and hold a conversation with another Telugu speaker. For starters, you can focus on reading out loud. This helps you practise two skills at the same time.

You can practise reading all sorts of literature, including newspapers, magazines, reports, children’s books, comic books, etc. The entire concept here is to not just read in your mind but to actually pronounce those words with your mouth. The second method is to talk to yourself. I do understand that this might sound crazy, but this is actually known to be one of the best ways of developing confidence before speaking the language with others. You can hold a conversation with yourself on any sort of topic that interest you, maybe it’s about the news of the day, maybe it’s about the kind of food you like, maybe it’s about the kind of places you like to travel to. Either way, it’s a great way of learning to speak to others.

Alternatively, the best way of mastering and getting over the fear of speaking in Telugu is by speaking Telugu in the mirror. When you speak in the mirror it helps you look at your body language while also noticing the way you pronounce words. It’s like speaking to yourself but a little more advanced. These three methods should definitely help you get over your fear of speaking in Telugu. With that said there’s no point in focusing on getting over your fear and not utilising the language. Therefore, once you’re comfortable speaking the language, go ahead and talk to other Telugu students, native Telugu speakers or your Telugu teacher.

Telugu comes from the Proto Dravidian proto-language that was spoken in the central section of the Deccan Plateau. Split from the Proto Dravidian language, in 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE, Telugu made its mark with its linguistic activity. Telugu belongs to the subfamily Central Dravidian languages.  The rustic languages of Gondi, Konda, Kui and Kuvi, all of them bear linguist closeness to Telugu. Multibhashi has one of the best online Telugu classes. Click here to know more.