Definition
Alphabets are the smallest building blocks for written expression in any language. Just as we build a house by putting together a number bricks, we write our feelings in a language by putting the alphabets together.
History
Alphabets are known to have originated in Egypt and interestingly the word “alphabet” is a combination of the first two Egyptian letters “alpha” and “beta”.
However, the hieroglyphics (symbols) used by them were too complex since they didn’t just represent a single phoneme but also represented a combination of phonemes at times. In fact, there were a few which represented a whole word. The alphabets have since evolved and there are a number of different alphabet systems in use today.
Importance
Alphabets are associated with phonetics which means that each letter represents a sound. With a combination of different letters spoken together, a word is sounded and similarly with a combination of different words, a sentence is framed.
In the process of learning to write any new language, the knowledge of alphabets plays a fundamentally important role. Once you master the recognition and reproduction of the alphabets, you can start your journey of reading and writing in that language.
Whenever you want to learn how to write a new language, you will have to learn the alphabets whether it is Hindi alphabets, Bengali alphabets, Tamil alphabets, Telugu alphabets, Kannada alphabets, Malayalam alphabets, Urdu alphabets or Gujarati alphabets.
Learning Process
At Multibhashi, we make sure that the alphabet learning part of your language learning journey is made smoother and more fun by turning it into a game.
- All the alphabets are taught by associating them with a sound/phonemes.
- Also, the learner is subjected to interesting visuals and audios by native speakers
- Each alphabet is supported with an example which helps the user grasp the sound associated with it.
- After a preliminary introduction, the learner is exposed to a variety of games where the letters associated with a sound have to be picked
The speed with which a learner a picks up the new alphabets also depends upon their native language. For example, a native Hindi speaker who is well versed with Hindi alphabets will pick up Gujarati alphabets in no time but may take a lot of time to pick up Tamil alphabets.
Languages
At Multibhashi, you will learn alphabets associated with English as well as a number of Indian languages. Some of these courses are already live and some are soon coming out in a matter of just a few days:
A Apple
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B Boy
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C Cat
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English Alphabets: The English alphabets in use currently have been derived from a combination of Latin and the Old English runic alphabets. There are a total of 26 letters starting from A and ending in Z. Although the basic formation remains the same, the appearance may differ depending upon different font styles used.
The English alphabets do not cover all the phonemes and often a combination of two letters is used to represent a phoneme. For example, the use of ch, sh, th, etc. Also a letter may have different phonemes associated with it when used in different words. For example, the sound of the letter “s” in “bus” and “prisma” is different.
Besides, the convention of silent letters like k in “knife” make it even harder for a new learner to master the pronunciation. One needs a lot of practice and complete knowledge of all the rules and exceptions to become fluent.
अ a
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आ aa
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इ i
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Hindi Alphabets: Hindi language makes use of Devanagari script which has almost 11 vowels and 35 consonants. Hindi alphabets have a clear one to one phoneme association and it is fascinating to see how this age old system has been developed based on scientific principles.
The Hindi alphabets are ordered and grouped together on the basis of how different parts of the mouth/tongue/throat/nose are used for articulation. This helps one consciously realise how the physical mechanism of sound production works while learning about the various Hindi alphabets.
Similarly, the rules for merging vowels in consonants and corresponding phonemes are clearly laid out and there are practically no exceptions which means that once mastered, you can never commit a mistake while pronouncing a Hindi word.
অ a
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আ aa
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ই i
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Bengali Alphabets: Just like Hindi, Bengali alphabets or Bangla alphabets are also derived from the Brahmi script. Both, therefore, share a few common characteristics like a horizontal line to group letters in a word and no upper or lower cases.
Bengali alphabets consist of 12 vowels and 32 consonants and makes use of a lot of diacritics. Just like Hindi, vowels are used both as independent letters as well as diacritical marks with consonants.
However, Bengali script is not completely phonetic and there are times when it is difficult to determine whether a vowel merger with a consonant in a particular case has to be pronounced or not . This means that a new learner has to understand conventions/exceptions too besides the rules and may need a lot of practice before becoming a perfect reader or a fluent speaker.
அ a
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ஆ aa
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இ i
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Tamil Alphabets: Tamil writing system is quite different from the some of the other prominent Indian languages like Hindi. This means that a native Hindi speaker will need significant effort to learn Tamil alphabets and similarly a native Tamil speaker may find Hindi alphabets hard to grasp.
Based on the appearance of the Tamil script, the letters are quite curvy. It is believed that since a sharp object was used to write on a palm leaf in the ancient times, curves were easier to produce than straight lines and hence the script evolved to be more curvy.
Tamil alphabets have 12 vowels and 18 consonants and they are used in various combinations to result in 247 different compound characters including one special character. The vowels when merged with consonants look completely different from the instances when they are used singularly.
అ a
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ఆ aa
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ఇ i
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Telugu Alphabets: Telugu alphabets, like Hindi, are derived from the Brahmi script and hence the underlying basics remain very similar. However there are a few differences too. For example, Telugu doesn’t make use of a vertical line to group letters of a word together.
Telugu alphabets consist of 18 vowels and 38 consonants which makes a total of 56 characters. Similar to other Hindi, vowels are either used individually or used as diacritic marks with the consonants.
The formation of letters in Telugu and Kannada are very similar and therefore a native Telugu speaker needs minimum efforts to master the Kannada alphabets and similarly a native Kannada speaker will find it very easy to master the Telugu alphabets.
ಅ a
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ಆ aa
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ಇ i
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Kannada Alphabets: Also originated from the Brahmi script, Kannada alphabets bear a very close resemblance to their Telugu counterparts. The rules of merging vowels and consonants are also almost the same.
Kannada alphabets consist of 13 vowels and 34 consonants. Kannada is completely phonemic and can be easily mastered by learning the rules. This means that there are no exceptions to confuse a new learner.
Native speakers of other languages whose script is derived from the Brahmi script will find it much easier and faster to learn Kannada alphabets.
അ a
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ആ aa
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ഇ i
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Malayalam Alphabets: Consisting of 15 vowels and 36 consonants, Malayalam alphabets are written from left to right and do not have lower or upper case. Malayalam also doesn’t make use of a horizontal line to group the letters of a word.
Although the vowels are merged with consonants and appear as diacritic marks to the left, right, above or below consonants in such cases, the vowels appear individually if they are at the beginning of a word.
The concept of diacritic marks used in Malayalam alphabets may be particularly difficult to understand for a native English speaker and it may take look strange how vowels change their appearance completely when they are merged with a consonant.
الف aliph
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بے be
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پے pe
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Urdu Alphabets: Urdu alphabets are written from right to left which is a major deviation from the way most of the languages in the world are written. Urdu alphabets have been derived from Arabic and Persian scripts.
There are 39 basic letters in Urdu alphabets and 18 additional letters which results in a total of 58 characters. The placement of dots makes a big difference in Urdu and a letter with a dot above, below and no dot at all can have three entirely different sounds.
Learning Urdu for a native English speaker may lead to the discovery of entirely new sounds never explored or even represented by English alphabets.
અ a
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આ aa
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ઇ i
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Gujarati Alphabets: Gujarati alphabets are written from left to right, don’t have upper or lower cases and are not grouped together by a horizontal line. Gujarati alphabets consist of 12 vowels and 31 consonants and the vowels may either appear independently or merged with consonants in the form of diacritic marks.
Gujarati alphabets bear a strong resemblance with Hindi alphabets and even without any training, a native Hindi speaker may be able to identify many Gujarati alphabets. This means that with a very minimum effort, a native Hindi speaker can read and write Gujarati alphabets very soon.
