7 months ago
3
From a non-native, who erstwhile struggled to talk Kannada, to gathering an online assemblage that helps thousands larn the language, 24-year-old Sakshi Baid’s travel is each astir ‘More Than Kannada Gottilla’.
Originally from Mumbai, Ms. Baid moved to Bengaluru 3 years agone to prosecute her engineering degree. Fluent successful six languages already- Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, English, French, and German, she assumed Kannada excessively would travel easily. But erstwhile she arrived, the metropolis felt similar a caller satellite and conversations astatine markets, autobus stops, and shops seemed retired of reach. Language, she said, became the archetypal partition betwixt her and the metropolis she wanted to cognize better.
Her curiosity astir Karnataka began with mundane questions - wherefore truthful galore localities successful Bengaluru ended with ‘halli’, however Karnataka got its name, and what made Kannada dependable truthful distinct. Gradually, that curiosity turned into determination to larn the language. In the beginning, she said determination were nary elemental resources for beginners, truthful she decided to thatch herself.
Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. Baid said she ordered astir 20 Kannada books specified arsenic learning Indian and determination languages and began studying Kannada connected her own. But astir of what she recovered was excessively ceremonial to usage successful regular life. Written Kannada, she said, was arsenic antithetic from spoken Kannada arsenic Shakespearean English is from mundane English. So, she turned the connection into her mundane habits - watching Kannada films with subtitles, listening to however radical spoke portion buying vegetables oregon travelling by autorickshaw, and noting down phrases she could usage later.
However, assurance and not grammar oregon pronunciation, she said, was the hardest portion of learning a language. “Speaking successful beforehand of autochthonal speakers felt much challenging than memorising grammar oregon pronunciation. While a fewer laughed astatine aboriginal attempts, astir radical encouraged to support going, an acquisition that made maine recognize the warmth and pridefulness Kannadigas felt for their language,” Ms. Baid added.
In February 2024, Ms. Baid launched her Instagram page, ‘More Than Kannada Gottilla’, arsenic a mode to stock simple, conversational Kannada lessons with different non-Kannadigas. Her videos were abbreviated and applicable - teaching the phrases 1 mightiness request to speech to a neighbour, a shopkeeper, oregon a cab operator and assistance radical consciousness astatine location successful a metropolis that whitethorn consciousness overseas due to the fact that of connection barriers.
The thought struck a chord. Within months, her leafage grew to implicit 3.9 lakh followers, attracting not conscionable newcomers to Bengaluru but besides autochthonal Kannadigas who appreciated her efforts to beforehand their language. Many began helping her close pronunciations and suggest amended phrases, making the leafage a tiny online assemblage of learners and teachers, she said.
Over time, the leafage became much than a hobby, erstwhile Ms. Baid realised determination was a genuine request for structured, accessible learning tools for Indian languages. She has present precocious registered her ain institution successful Bengaluru, ‘Bolo Boli’, which is an ed-tech task that aims to make learning platforms for determination languages.
‘Bolo’ means speak, and ‘Boli’ means dialect, she said.
Through Bolo Boli, she plans to formalise what began connected societal media into due online and offline courses. The archetypal module, a foundation-level Kannada course, volition screen vocabulary, self-introductions, pronunciation, and numbers. If backing works out, she intends to bring section Kannada experts connected committee and unfastened carnal learning centres for the language.
The semipermanent program is to grow the exemplary to different determination languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia, and Bengali, she said.
“The disagreement betwixt English and determination languages needs to fade. Speaking English is not a awesome of pride, and speaking a section connection should ne'er beryllium seen arsenic a limitation,” she said, adding that done her work, she hopes to marque determination languages accessible, modern, and arsenic valued successful nationalist spaces and workplaces.
