How to learn Kannada at such a young age?

Kannada was awarded the status of a classical language in 2008 and is estimated to be as old as 2500 years old, thereby ranking it to be the third oldest language in India, after Sanskrit and Tamil. Less commonly known as Kannana or Kanarese, it is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by 72% of people of Karnataka in the southwestern region of India. Of the 21.7 Million Kannada speaking population 86% is in Karnataka. Kannada is a highly inflected language with a grammar that is similar to that of Tamil.  The language is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and Goa; and also by Kannadigas abroad. Kannada is also spoken as a second and third language by over 12.9 million non-native speakers in Karnataka, which adds up to 56.9 million speakers. Based on the recommendations of the Committee of Linguistic Experts, appointed by the ministry of culture, the government of India designated Kannada as a classical language of India. Kannada literature has been presented with 8 Gyanpeeth awards. In July 2011, a centre for the study of classical Kannada was established as part of the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore to facilitate research related to the language.

 

Learning a second language at a young age has many advantages, one of which is that children learn languages faster and easier. They have more time to study, less to learn, fewer inhibitions, and a brain that is better suited to learning languages. In other words, teaching your child a second language at a young age prevents them from having to learn one as an adult.

Children are sponges on a biological basis. A child’s brain is designed to unintentionally learn new knowledge. They do so in the same way that we study song lyrics, patterns, and melodies unconsciously as adults. Dr. Paul Thompson, a UCLA neurology professor, and his colleagues discovered that from the age of six to puberty, the brain structures specialised in learning new languages evolve rapidly. Then, between the ages of 11 and 15, during puberty, these systems essentially shut down and stop rising.

Before the age of ten to twelve months, babies can distinguish between all sounds in all languages. Then, as a result of their language experience, they begin to only distinguish between the language sounds that are required to establish meaning. They lose their ability to distinguish between 10 and 12 months of age.

Another advantage of learning a second language at a young age is that children have a simpler thought process than adults. They speak in fewer sentences, use simpler sentence forms, and think in a more concrete manner. Since they don’t have any abstract thoughts or emotions, children learning a second language aren’t frustrated by the challenge of expressing them in their second language. When these children grow into adults, they learn to communicate in both their first and second languages. Adults, on the other hand, face the overwhelming task of translating complicated sentence structures and abstract thoughts into their second languages in order to fully express themselves.

Consider the difference between the books you read as a kid and the books you read now. Remember that understanding the texts you can read now took years of schooling and needed reading. Reading, listening, and even speaking are all examples of this. It took at least 15 years of academic study to be able to communicate in your native language the way you do now. Another advantage of learning a second language at a young age is the saved time. Children have the benefit of time on their side. They can start small and simple and gradually work their way up to higher levels of thinking and communication. As second language learners, children have a significant advantage over adults.

While young you may not have to make a lot of effort to learn a language because you are blessed with so many God gifted natural benefits that prove advantageous to you. Utilize those to their maximum!

A good thing that you decided to start at a young age. The human brain tends to slow down as they age. You already have a good head start from most other Kannada learners out there. Now, in order to avoid being entangled in the complexities of language learning, you should keep yourself regularly exposed to and interested in Kannada in order to motivate yourself to learn it.

Join an online Kannada course for learning Kannada in the school. Make Kannada friends and speak a lot of Kannada with them to be able to improve in terms of the accent and the diction of the language. Practice a lot.

Read a lot and read aloud. Read fairy tale books or books that interest you. Try to find an edition of your favourite book in the Kannada language and keep a dictionary along with you to translate whenever you do not understand a Kannada word or if you come across a new Kannada word! Speak a lot whether to yourself in the mirror to your pet to a plant but keep practising speaking the Kannada language so as to get a hang of it. Practice writing the Hangul alphabet with numerous worksheets to be able to get it correctly. Watch age-friendly Kannada dramas, films, YouTube channels, books, and questions and answers about Korea on Quora, among other things. Make Kannada pen pals and colleagues, as well as friends from other countries who are learning Kannada. You will become really good at Kannada in a few years if you share your thoughts and interests with other Kannada speakers.

Kannada is one of India’s 22 official languages as well as 14 regional languages. By 2021, the number of Kannada internet users is estimated to reach 25 million. Kannada is spoken in around 20 dialects (Ethnologue). They’re usually divided into three categories: northern, southern, and central. It is one of India’s scheduled languages and the official and administrative language of Karnataka, with the largest number of speakers of any Dravidian language and the second-highest number of speakers of any Indian language. The nearby languages, such as Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and others, have influenced many of the dialects. Kannada has a thousand-year literary legacy that is unbroken.

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