Free online platforms to learn Kannada

There are a host of offline Kannada courses that one can sign up for, if one wishes to pick up the language. But if you’re looking for something a bit more flexible, here are a few online platforms to try.

Talk in Kannada

An initiative by Sletu Balapa Foundation, a non-profit organisation, Talk in Kannada was launched in March 2019. Its website has a page dedicated to words used in daily conversations, and phrases needed to converse with people like flower vendors, milk men, shopkeepers and doctors. Started by Bhargavi Hemanth, the initiative has three active WhatsApp groups with around 400 members in total. “Members text on the group to clarify doubts and if they are unsure of how to convey a sentence in the language, ” says Bhargavi.

Where: sletubalapa.in/contact-join-us, and Sletu Balapa Foundation on YouTube

Kannada Gothilla

This podcast was started by Bengaluru-based Aakash Athawasya and Arvind Krishna in 2021. It has around 80 episodes, each 10 to 20 minutes long. Aakash describes their content as “situational”, targeted towards students and young professionals. Through the episodes, one can learn to give directions to a delivery agent, have conversations about the weather, and how to talk to a traffic cop impounding your vehicle, among others. Other episodes cover words connected to time (morning, afternoon, evening and night), and relationships (mother, father etc). The duo plans to add more episodes to the podcast soon.

Where: Kannada Gothilla Podcast on Spotify and Instagram

Kannada Gottilla

Kannada Gottilla, an online platform that holds short term Kannada
courses for a nominal fee, has posted content for free on their social media platforms.

“One can find simple words like ‘naanu’ (me) to sentences like ‘Adu torisi’ (show that) and ‘Straight hogi. Mall munde nillisi’ (Go straight. Stop in front of the mall) on our online pages. Some of our videos cover verbs, slang words, and Kannada proverbs. They also feature topics like ‘how to request for leave’,” explains founder Anup Maiya. The group plans to post more material online soon, he adds.

Where: kannadagottilla on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram