Learn to speak Kannada  

Kannada Language

Kannada CD-ROM
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Where does Kannada come from?
Kannada (Kanarese) is a member of the Dravidian family of languages.

The Dravidian languages have their own alphabets, which go back to a common source that is related to the Devanagari alphabet used for Sanskrit. Kannada developed as an independent language in the 9th. century AD.

How many people speak Kannada?
About 35 million people throughout the world speak Kannada.

In how many countries?
Kannada is the State Language of Karnataka but it is also used in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra.

Kannada Culture

Kannada Music and Dance
Classical Indian music is mainly divided into two branches, North (Hindustani) and South. The South Indian music is called Carnatic, in reference of the Southern State of Karnataka. Carnatic music is nearly totally unified and the different schools are based on the same ragas (about 300 different ragas), same solo instruments, mainly the veena, flute violin and same rhythm instrument, the mridangam and the ghatam.

Kannada Food and Drink
Karnataka's culinary culture revolves round three staple items-rice, ragi and jowar. However, the people in the northern districts have a preference for wheat and jowar rotis (unleavened bread made of millet) eaten with spiced vegetable preparations. In rural Karnataka, ragi is widely used with each meal. This staple grain is steam cooked and rolled into balls the size of cricket balls and served with hot chutney or huli (a cousin of sambhar).

A typical Karnataka meal has many delicacies like Kosambari, a salad made of the broken halves of the soaked green moong dal (lentil) minus its skin, spiced with salt, green chili and mustard seed (oggarane) and mixed with tiny scrapings of coconut, cucumber and carrot and dressed with a little lime juice.

Then there are the playas which are vegetables steamed or boiled to retain the original colour and flavour. Also, no Kannada meal is complete without saaru—a clear pepper broth. Other popular Karnataka specialties are bisi bele huli anna, which is created out of rice, dal, tamarind, chili powder, and cinnamon; and chitranna—rice with the juice of lime, green chili and turmeric powder and sprinkled with fried groundnuts and coriander leaves.

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