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.

Where Kannada Is Spoken

Region Speakers Status
Karnataka, India ~44 million Official
Maharashtra ~1.5 million Minority
USA (Silicon Valley) ~300,000 Diaspora
Gulf countries ~150,000 Expatriates
UK ~80,000 Diaspora

The Kannada Script

An abugida with 49 base characters. Almost perfectly phonetic.

Vowels

Character Sound
ಅ (a) "cup"
ಆ (ā) "father"
ಇ (i) "bit"
ಉ (u) "put"
ಎ (e) "bed"
ಒ (o) "hot"

Consonants

Character Sound
ಕ (ka) "k"
ಗ (ga) "g"
ತ (ta) dental "t"
ನ (na) "n"
ಪ (pa) "p"
ಬ (ba) "b"
ಮ (ma) "m"
ರ (ra) rolled "r"
ಸ (sa) "s"

Essential Phrases

English Kannada Transliteration
Hello ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ Namaskāra
How are you? ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಿ? Hēgiddīri?
I'm fine ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದೇನೆ Cennāgiddēne
Thank you ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು Dhanyavādagaḷu
Yes ಹೌದು Haudu
No ಇಲ್ಲ Illa
My name is… ನನ್ನ ಹೆಸರು… Nanna hesaru…
Goodbye ಮತ್ತೆ ಸಿಗೋಣ Matte sigōṇa

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)

Culture

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

Learn with Targumi

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

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