TELUGU ( తెలుగు) LANGUAGE – INTRODUCTION FOR NON-NATIVES

The United States of America has 50 states. Likewise, India (the seventh largest country in the world) too has states (28),territories(6)& National capital Territory of Delhi(1) – altogether 35. Andhra Pradesh is one of the 35 states / territories in India. It is the northern most part of South India. Andhra Pradesh has a population of 76 millions. The language spoken by these people in Andhra Pradesh is TELUGU.

2. India has 22 officially recognized languages. Telugu language is one among them. Telugus are found, not only in 20 states in India, but also in 120 countries around the world. Thus, it is estimated that around 120 million people around the world speak Telugu. In India, it is the 2nd widely spoken language, next only to Hindi. In the world, it is the 6th widely spoken language.

3. Telugu is remarkable for its melody of sound. For that reason a British linguist, Mr. Henry Morris, called Telugu the ‘Italian of the East.’ Mr. Robert Caldwell, another linguist too opined that Telugu is the sweetest of all the regional languages in India. Mr. A. H. Arden. A grammarian states that the Telugu language is regular in construction, copious and in conversation a single word or a short phrase, conveys the meaning of the whole sentence.
4. It is melodious and sweet, like honey, hence Telugu is also known as “Tenugu” (‘tene’ in Telugu is honey). The melody of the language is on account of its words ending in vowel sound. Italian words too end in vowel sound, therefore Telugu is called the ‘Italian of the East’.

Let us study some Telugu words (in brackets:Italian Word and its English Meaning)

Telugu words
iMgleeShuఇంగ్లీషు(Inglese (Inglaiseh)-English)
rOmu రోము(Roma-Rome)
maarkettuమార్కెట్టు (mercato-market)
saMchi సంచి(borsa-bag)
sigarettu సిగరెట్టు(cigarette-cigarette)
paaspOrtu పాస్పోర్టు(passporto-passport)
teliphOnuటెలిఫోను (telephono-telephone)
saaraayiసారాయి (wine-wine)
aunuఔను (si-yes)

Thus we observe that the Telugu and the Italian words end in vowel sound, where as the English words end in consonant sound.

5. Because of its melody and sweetness, most of the South Indian devotional singers wrote ‘kritis’& ‘padaas’ (compositions) in Telugu. Many of such compositions (‘kritis’) by Annamayya, Kshetrayya, Iyagaraja, Ramadaasa are still being rendered by ‘Carnatik’ singers in concerts all over the world.

6. Telugu is pronounced as it is written, so ‘what you see is what you get’ (Wysiwyg). That makes Telugu quite easy to learn.

In Englishi) for the 44 sounds, there are only 26 alphabets. Hence the spelling and pronounciation vary from word to word.
ii) Name of the letter & its pronounciation differ.

Let us take the example of the letter ‘g’. It’s pronounciation varies in the following words
god (g = g)
rough (g = f)
gaol (g = j)
Likewise ‘O’ too varies.
in gone
in women (o = i)

On account of this peculiarity, George Bernard Shaw spelt ‘fish’ as ‘ghoti’
(gh = ‘f’ as in rough
o = ‘i’ as in women
ti = ‘sh’ as in nation)

In Telugu the name of the letter and its pronunciation are the same and hence there will not be any confusion in phonetics / sounds.

7. English is very rich in vocabulary. It is because of its assimilation of words from various languages to enhance its vocabulary. From Indian languages too, English has absorbed a number of words. Following are the examples ----

Bandicoot (big rat) --- from Telugu (pandikokku)
Muligattanni (pepper water) --- from Tamil (milagu tanni)
Catamaran (boat) --- from Tamil (kaattumaram)
Juggernaut (massive force) --- from Sanskrit (Puri’s Jagannath)
Like English, Telugu too is very rich in vocabulary. Because, it also has absorbed words from Sanskrit, Persian and English too.

8. As you know English, right away, you can recognise the following words, used in Telugu.

1. aMbulensu 21. kappu
2. bassu 22. kaabEji
3. kaaru 23. phridji
4. saikilu / skootaru 24. glaasu
5. laaree 25. tomaatO
6. taaksi 26. tee
7. trainu 27. bootsu
8. railu 28. beltu
9. roaddu 29. paantu
10. taimu 30. tai
11. tikettu 31. Shartu
12. bus staaMdu 32. thovvaalu
13. mailu 33. soapu
14. kilOmeetaru 34. toothpEShtu
15. baaMku 35. kaameraa
16. haaspitalu 36. kaasettu
17. stEShanu 37. kampyootaru
18. hotalu 38. kaMpaaktu disku
19. aappilu 39. philmu
20. kaaphee

(1. అంబులెన్సు 21. కప్పు
2. బస్సు 22. కాబేజి
3. కారు 23. ఫ్రిడ్జి
4. సైకిలు / స్కూటరు 24. గ్లాసు
5. లారీ 25. టొమాటో
6. టాక్సి 26. టీ
7. ట్రైను 27. బూట్సు
8. రైలు 28. బెల్టు
9. రోడ్డు 29. పాన్టు
10. టైము 30. టై
11. టికెట్టు 31. షర్టు
12. బుస్ స్టాండు 32. తొవ్వాలు
13. మైలు 33. సోపు
14. కిలోమీటరు 34. టూత్పేష్టు
15. బాంకు 35. కామెరా
16. హాస్పిటలు 36. కాసెట్టు
17. స్టేషను 37. కమ్ప్యూటరు
18. హొటలు 38. కంపాక్టు డిస్కు
19. ఆప్పిలు 39. ఫిల్ము 20. కాఫీ )

9. Many Britishers, who came to India, had learnt Telugu. They not only spoke Telugu, but also wrote, edited many books in Telugu. Some, such prominent Britishers were, Rev. Benzamin Schultze, J. A. Yates, J. C. Morris, William Carey, A D. Campbell, William Brown, W. M. Howell, C. P. Brown, Rev. Riecaz, A. H. Arden and many more. Of them C. P. Brown wrote & edited large number of books including dictionaries and grammar in Telugu.

10.Survival Kit:
When the non-natives, as mentioned above, could gain proficiency in Telugu, any one can learn easily the least --- the conversational skills. A set, of 94 sentences in telugu with their meanings for the routine situations, is being introduced in lots of 10 each.It will be an apt survival kit for a non-native tourist intending to visit any part of Andhra Pradesh.

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