Why Learn Kannada?

Spoken by 50 million people, Kannada is the official language of Karnataka — home to Bangalore, one of the world's leading tech hubs. It's also a language with 1,500+ years of documented history, a classical literary tradition, and vibrant contemporary culture. One of India's six Classical Languages. Targumi offers structured beginner paths.

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Where Kannada Is Spoken

Speakers --- ~44 million ~1.5 million ~300,000 ~150,000 ~80,000

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The Kannada Script

An abugida with 49 base characters. Almost perfectly phonetic.

Vowels

Sound | ---| "cup" | "father" | "bit" | "put" | "bed" | "hot" |

Consonants

Sound | ---| "k" | "g" | dental "t" | "n" | "p" | "b" | "m" | rolled "r" | "s" |

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Essential Phrases

Kannada --- ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಿ? ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದೇನೆ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು ಹೌದು ಇಲ್ಲ ನನ್ನ ಹೆಸರು… ಮತ್ತೆ ಸಿಗೋಣ
Region
Status
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Karnataka, India
Official
Maharashtra
Minority
USA (Silicon Valley)
Diaspora
Gulf countries
Expatriates
UK
Diaspora
Character
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ಅ (a)
ಆ (ā)
ಇ (i)
ಉ (u)
ಎ (e)
ಒ (o)
Character
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ಕ (ka)
ಗ (ga)
ತ (ta)
ನ (na)
ಪ (pa)
ಬ (ba)
ಮ (ma)
ರ (ra)
ಸ (sa)
English
Transliteration
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Hello
Namaskāra
How are you?
Hēgiddīri?
I'm fine
Cennāgiddēne
Thank you
Dhanyavādagaḷu
Yes
Haudu
No
Illa
My name is…
Nanna hesaru…
Goodbye
Matte sigōṇa

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Grammar

SOV word order. Case suffixes instead of prepositions. Related to Tamil and Telugu.

Numbers

Ondu (1), Eraḍu (2), Mūru (3), Nālku (4), Aidu (5), Āru (6), Ēḷu (7), Eṃṭu (8), Ombattu (9), Hattu (10)

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Culture

Classical Language since 2008. Halmidi inscription (450 CE). Kavirajamarga (9th century). Sandalwood cinema (KGF). Carnatic music. Dasara festival in Mysuru.

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Learn with Targumi

Targumi's Kannada path — structured lessons, script mastery in 3 weeks, 20 min/day.

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Sources: Sridhar S.N. (1990) Kannada, Routledge. Steever S.B. (1998) The Dravidian Languages. Ramanujan A.K. (1973) Speaking of Siva, Penguin Classics.