How to Learn Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi and Kannada

While many Indian languages, such as Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi and Tamil are spoken by hundreds of millions of people, learning them can be quite a challenge. A big problem is a lack of learning resources. Learning materials that are available sometimes may not be very good. But it is still possible to learn these languages even if more work is required on the learner’s part. My goal is to give you some ideas on how to learn the Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi and Tamil languages and point you to learning resources.

MyLanguages.org offers a good basic foundation in the alphabet, transliteration and grammar for Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi and Tamil. Both script and transliteration are used. This website teaches adjectives, nouns, pronouns, negation (how to form negatives), plurals and verbs. They also offer some vocabulary and phrases. This is probably the best place to start. Get a notebook and take notes with you to study wherever you go.

Learn Telugu

Learn Kannada

Learn Punjabi

Learn Tamil

Amazon.com is the best place to start looking for language learning books, software and DVDs. You will find reviews for many items, so you can get a good idea of how useful they may be. These products may not be that great but you really don’t have a whole lot of choice. A so-so book, DVD or CD ROM will usually be better than no book, DVD or CD ROM at all. 

Language Lizard sells children’s products but these can also be great for adult learners. If possible, try to get a couple of preschool or early grade school level dual language books. They can be a great and simple introduction to a language. Language Lizard offers Punjabi or Panjabi and Tamil dual language books. They also offer a Dual Language Dictionary with CD ROM and book for both Tamil and Panjabi.

Google Books is an excellent resource for finding grammar books and dictionaries. The books available probably won’t be very easy to understand. But hopefully, other learning sources like mylanguages.org, YouTube and any materials you buy will give you a good basic foundation that will make these books a little easier to understand.

Don’t study directly from these books. Take notes from them and use as many examples as you can. Then use your notes for study. It may be easiest to divide your notes up by grammatical concept, such as verbs (further subdivide by tenses), adjectives, negation, pronouns, etc. Some books are:

Webster's Telugu to English Crossword Puzzles: Level 2

Learn Kannada through English in 30 Days

Learn Tamil in 30 Days through English

Bharat Junior English Punjabi Dictionary

A tutor may be a necessary resource to learn a language that isn’t widely learned. Visit How to Learn a Less Commonly Learned Foreign Language to get some ideas on how to find a tutor and how to go about learning from them. You can either learn from someone you already know, advertise to find a tutor or use a free service like italki.com.

YouTube.com can be an excellent language learning resource. Native speakers of many languages have videos with alphabets, vocabulary and grammar. You can also search for movies or TV shows with subtitles. For example, you could search “telugu movie subtitles” and search through what comes up. Here are some ideas of what you can find:

Telugu Colors

Kannada Movie with English Subtitles

Learn Tamil through English – Lesson 1

Punjabi Phrases