Introduction

Kannada, a beautiful ancient Dravidian language mostly spoken in the state of Karnataka in India and some bordering states, has a literary history of over one thousand year. It has also been designated as a classical language by the Government of India and its literature has been presented with 8 Jnanpith awards highest for a Dravidian language and second highest for any Indian language. Whether your interest lies in learning this language to connect with your roots and understand your culture or to survive in Bengaluru or the state of Karnataka for work purposes, you have many choices when it comes to learning Kannada easily.

As children, we learn language by listening to others. However, as an adult who is learning a second or a third language, you can start with the alphabet. This helps you understand how each letter sounds individually and in combination with other letters. This can be of great help in learning the pronunciation. Focus on the double consonant and long and short vowel sounds. You can easily learn the alphabet in a few days.

Tips to learn Kannada

1. Listen to Kannada audio and repeat.

You can choose to listen to a Kannada audio with the transcript initially. Listen repeatedly and repeat along with the audio. Apart from the pronunciation, you can also understand the sentence construction and verb conjugations. This is also a good way of learning grammatical rules through sentences or conversations.

2. Pay attention to the grammar.

Grammar need not be difficult and boring if you pay attention to how different sentences are spoken or written.   Grammar is not the first thing that we learn when we learn our native language. It comes slowly. You can do the same when you learn Kannada. Start with the basic words and slowly use them to make simple sentences with just two or three words and move ahead.

3. This brings us to learning vocabulary.

You can start with basic vocabulary needed for day-to-day conversation which can be simple greetings and common questions or expressions necessary to make a small talk. Once you know these expressions, you can make further progress by learning the connecting phrases or sentences so that you are not stuck in a conversation.

Your native language could make a huge difference in learning Kannada easily. Learning Kannada would be comparatively easy for someone who speaks any other Dravidian language when compared to Hindi or English. Again, your knowledge of Hindi may give you an edge over those who speak only English because you can relate to the alphabet and most of the sounds of the letters. However, there are many resources that can come to your rescue when it comes to learning Kannada.

Learning a new language has become quite achievable with online classes. You can easily find an online class where you can learn Kannada through a teacher. This gives you an exposure to the most structured and organized way of learning. Also, you can converse with your teacher in Kannada and get rid of the fear of speaking a new language as a beginner.

4. Watching movies, shows, videos, listening to audio podcasts

Music and practicing reading and writing are all the other ways of learning Kannada. However, make sure that you immerse yourself completely in the language and are involved in every learning activity in an active manner. Most of the time when we watch movies or listen to songs, we do it in a passive way taking care of other jobs at hand. This should be avoided when learning a new language as listening and speaking go hand in hand and active listening is the key to learning a new language.

You can easily learn Kannada if you put your mind and heart into it.