If you are completely new to Telugu, don’t fret!
Telugu, Te-lu-gu, is a Dravidian language originating from the modern day states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in Southern India.
Telugu culture is home to many awesome and wonderful things, like Mahesh Babu, biryani, classical literature, and manly mustaches.
There are various reasons why one may be drawn to the Telugu language…
Perhaps it’s the elusive script with its many swirls and intricacies…
Or the sweetness in your ears when you hear it spoken…
Or perhaps even the iconic MUSTACHES you see everywhere in Tollywood…
Whichever reason it is, if you want to learn Telugu, you’ve come to the right place.
There are a few ingredients to learning any new language: consistency, hard work, and love.
If you study a little bit of Telugu every day, you will be conversationally fluent within a few years.
Here are some steps to learning Telugu:
Step 0: Get Used to the Pronunciation
Immerse yourself in Telugu! Listen to music, podcasts, and movies. Even though you don’t understand, get used to the sounds of the language.
Here are some ideas:
- Listen to Telugu words on Forvo
- Hear this boy pronounce Telugu vowels
- Check out the UCLA Phonetics lab
Step 1: Learn the Alphabet
If I said learning the Telugu alphabet was easy, I’d be lying to you (haha!).
It’s definitely possible though within a month’s time, to:
- Learn the vowels
- Learn the consonants
- Learn the vowel & consonant combinations
- And to start reading written Telugu
I’m going to make a course that explains this in more depth (probably in a year though, so don’t count on it right now).
Step 2: Follow A Structured Course
This step is very important. Find a structured course that will take you from beginning to end, progressively advancing you through simple Telugu phrases to more complicated grammar.
Here are some ways to go about this:
- Complete an Intensive Course in Telugu (highly recommended)
- Go through Charles Phillip Brown’s Academy Series
- Sign up for local or online Manabadi classes (HIGHLY recommended)
Step 3: Continue learning everyday!
You are a lifelong learner of the Telugu language. There are many things you can do to advance your skills, like:
- reading classic literature
- listening to the news
- meeting with Telugu friends and family
- honing your speaking skills through the OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview), or,
- even starting your own blog in Telugu!
Maybe one day, you can start speaking like American Isaac Richard:
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