Back to blogger! Oh I just killed a cockroach with my Learn Kannada in 30 days, picked it up after a week. There now this blog post gives you totally zero information.
Living in Karnataka for 22 years and exactly 11 months of my life (18 in Bangalore, and 4 in ID-unta-Swami-land), I always felt guilty when resorting to the usual Kannada Gotilla Swami answers to all questions asked (42 isn’t always the right answer you see). So out of this guilt, frustration and also to better get through to my 4th Std. students at the Govt. School that I teach English in on weekends, I went down and got myself a Learn Kannada in 30 days book for Rs. 25/- That plus Wiki and 14 1-hr dedicated study time, ended up in me learning the varna mala. That is the alphabet, the ABCs basically. That’s a good start for anyone who wishes to learn the language.
I can now show off while going up 12 floors in the lift, by almost reading the headlines of the newspaper my office building lift man holds. Some progress for sure. Another month and I am good to go!
For the folks who are completely new to the region, I would suggest getting a better book from Gangarams on M.G. Road, or Landmark at the Forum Mall, for want of legible and correct print. Even the FM Radio Channels at Bangalore help considerably with their little jingles, from which one can pick up quite a bit. So you can always try tuning in while travelling or at work. And people say watching a movie is the best way to learn a language, but Kannada movies? Hmmm…