9 ways to make yourself fluent in Kannada
Kannada is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in the southwestern region of India. The language is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and Goa; and also by Kannadigas abroad. The language had roughly 43 million native speakers by 2011. Kannada is also spoken as a second and third language by over 12.9 million non-native speakers in Karnataka, which adds up to 56.9 million speakers. It is one of the scheduled languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka. Kannada was the court language of some of the most powerful empires of South and Central India, such as the Chalukya dynasty, the Rashtrakuta dynasty, the Vijayanagara Empire and the Hoysala Empire.
To be fluent in Kannada you need to follow some simple methods. Here are nine ways that can help you to make yourself fluent in Kannada.
1. Create a study schedule and set some goals. Many people are unorganized. Creating a schedule allows you to free up time and study consistently. Goals give you motivation and something to strive for.
2. Make it fun, if you learn how to make your study time enjoyable, chances are you will be more inclined to study. Watch a tv show with subtitles or listen to some music or songs in Kannada. You can listen to words online with the help of a Kannada dictionary that has a feature that lets you hear the words spoken, or you can watch films or listen to a Kannada podcast or watch a Kannada video.
3. Find a language partner. This is the best way to improve your conversation skills. It will help you gain fluency even faster and increase confidence while speaking.
4. Keep a closer look at their daily lives. Be very enthusiastic about learning about their cultures and what not you can learn about South Indians. Google has everything you can scrutinize the entire day. Read books too, that tell a tale of living in Kannada. Having thorough background knowledge of South India can help you understand Kannada more efficiently.
5. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Nothing helps you improve more than correcting your own errors. You are more likely to remember correctly in the next turnaround. Everyone makes mistakes, don’t be afraid to learn from them.
6. Practice with native speakers. Practising with native speakers is by far one of the most effective things you can do to improve your speaking abilities and increase your fluency. If you spark with a native speaker who will correct you and give you feedback then you will be well on your way to improve your speaking. Be a part of some native speaker’s community or join a language speaking club or cultural club or meet up with the native speaker to practise speaking in Kannada and increasing your fluency. You can even find native speakers online.
7. Devote time in learning Kannada pronunciation. Pronunciation often isn’t the first skill people think of working on when learning a new language. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t important. A decent accent can help you to improve your listening and speaking abilities and become fluent in that particular language. And the case is the same for Kannada too. Being able to pronounce words and sounds makes it a lot easier for you to remember and understand new words simply by hearing them. Once you are fluent and have a good accent then you will be able to understand rapid speech and speak fluently. To learn a decent accent you need to dissect the language into three parts and learn them. First learn the letters, their pronunciation and then learn the words and then whole phrases. Listen to the audios in Kannada spoken by native speakers and try to compare your pronunciation with the native speaker’s pronunciation. Take a phrase from a lesson and start by practising individual words and record your voice, replay it and compare with the original audio and then combine the words to make complete phrases imitating the original audio. This precise method of pronunciation practice is one of the most efficient and effective ways to learn pronunciation.
8. Imitate and don’t just repeat what you hear. Anytime when you speak, do your best to imitate the speakers you have heard and practised with. Try to match the way their intonation rises and falls. Pay attention to their word order. You can even match them with their body language. This degree of imitation may seem weird at the beginning, but it will reinforce fluency in the language.
9. Learn the Kannada grammar part properly to become fluent in the language. Kannada grammar is a crucial part of achieving your fluency. The feminine and masculine versions are very important and you need to know the proper use of those to become fluent in Kannada.
Bonus Tip:
Think in Kannada
Think in Kannada and talk to yourself in Kannada in front of the mirror; if possible, play roles like in the movie or like a shopkeeper and his customer etc. It improves in giving a response in the language in distinct situations. This will remove your hesitation and overcome pauses that usually strike while trying to speak a new language.
Finally,
Being fluent in a language is like playing music or dancing. You don’t want to just know it. You want to live in the moment and feel it as you use it. You don’t sit and think of what you are going to say. It may seem difficult at first but it is possible to become fluent in the language. There is no magic to become fluent in a language overnight. With little determination, focus, concentration, motivation and doing all of these can really help you increase your fluency.
Even you can book an online Kannada class to become fluent in Kannada.
Good Luck!!!