OddlyCircularShatbhuj

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[lisasmoak-blog]

Kannada Lesson 10

Lesson 10 - The Progressive Aspect 

 Welcome to the tenth installment in @currylangs’ series on Kannada, this time featuring the progressive aspect. The progressive aspect is an affix used to denote the ongoing nature of a particular verb in a certain tense. The basic form of a progressive verb is taking the present adverbial participial form (the form marked by -ಉತ್ತ (-utta) in the present tense), and adding the appropriately conjugated auxiliary form of the verb ಇರು (to be or to wait). The table below shows the difference between the regular form of ಇರು and the auxiliary form:

In order to construct the present progressive, simply take the present adverbial participle and then add the auxiliary form of ಇರು:

ಮಾಡುತ್ತ + ಇದ್ದೇನೆ = ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ

māḍutta + iddēne = māḍuttiddēne

present adverbial participle + 1st person singular form of ಇರು

ಮಲಗುತ್ತ + ಇದ್ದಾರೆ = ಮಲಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ

malagutta + iddāre = malaguttiddāre

present adverbial participle + 3rd person plural form of ಇರು

ಅರಳುತ್ತ + ಇದ್ದವೆ = ಅರಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದವೆ

araḷutta + iddave = araḷuttiddave

present adverbial participle + 3rd person neuter plural form of ಇರು

ಅರಳು (araḷu) = to bloom, flower, or blossom

It’s important to remember a fact about this form, especially when we get to a different compound form. The progressive aspect is essentially encoded in the part of the verb marked with -ಉತ್ತ (-utta), and the tense to which it applies is marked by the conjugation of the auxiliary ಇರು (iru). To change the tense of the progressive verb, just change the tense of conjugated ಇರು.

For practice, translate the following sentences:

The flowers are blooming.

The children are eating dinner.

The girls are writing.

My father is sitting.

The rabbit is running.

He is dancing.

We are leaving.

They are sleeping.

You (polite) are reading.

They (singular) are coming.

[currylangs]

Hello! We’re a team of 20 language nerds who are trying to make language lessons for south asian languages. Recently we’ve been a bit inactive but we’re trying to get things back up running!

We’re currently making lessons for: -urdu -sanskrit -telugu -hindi -bengali -tamil -malayalam -marathi -farsi -kannada

Please help boost us so that we can help south asians learning their heritage languages or anyone interested in south asian languages

[currylangs]

Kannada Lesson 5

The Dative Case

Welcome to the fifth installment in @currylangs series on Kannada! This time, we’re going to learn about the sixth case in Kannada, known as ಚತುರ್ಥಿ ವಿಭಕ್ತಿ (caturthi vibhakti - fourth case), or the dative case.

The dative is used to mark the recipient of a verb’s action but differs from the accusative case. The dative case marks a noun as the recipient, whereas the accusative marks it as the target. You mark a noun with the dative case when the verb is one of exchange or benefit, and also when a noun is the destination of a verb of motion. See the table below for the case declensions, and then a few examples.

Ex.

ನಾನು ಮನೆಗೆ ವಾಪಸ ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ.

Nānu manege vāpasa hoguttēne.

I come back home.

ನೀವು ಅವರಿಗೆ ಮುನ್ನೂರು ರೂಪಾಯಿ ಕೊಡುತ್ತಿರಿ.

Nīvu avarige munnūru rūpāyi koḍuttīri.

You (polite) give three hundred rupees.

*ಇವನು ತಾಯಿಗೆ ಸೇಬನ್ನು ಕತ್ತರಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ

Ivanu tāyige sēbannu kattarisuttāne.

He cuts an apple for his mother.

ಹಂಸಗಳು ದೆಹಲಿಯಿಂದ ಆ ಊರಿಗೆ ಹಾರುತ್ತವೆ.

Haṃsagaḷu Dehaliyinda ā ūrige hāruttave.

Swans fly from Delhi to that city.

*This sentence is a good way to remember the difference between the dative and accusative cases. The apple is the object unto which the action of cutting is “inflicted”, but the mother is the recipient of that whole process.

Personal Pronouns in the Dative Case:

That’s it for today’s lesson. Make sure to ask questions if you have any. See yall next week!

[asspiratedconsonant]

south asian language scripts: a summary

devanagari: Why Does Everyone Use The Same Goddamn Script

bengali: devanagari but with triangles

assamese: bengali but fake 

punjabi: devanagari but with swirls 

gujarati: devanagari without a hat   

urdu: arabic but fake

tamil: i don’t know what the hell this is but it sure ain’t devanagari

malayalam: tamil but more rounded and faker 

telugu: kannada??? 

kannada: telugu??????????

odia: circles everywhere 

sinhala: suddenly doesn’t exist, i don’t know 

tibetan: brushstrokes 

burmese: butts 

thaana/dhivehi: squiggles

[currylangs]

Sanskrit Lesson 3

In this lesson, we’ll go over the forms of “to do” in present tense.

As we mentioned in the previous lesson, the verbs that a noun/pronoun takes does not depend on the gender of the subject; it only depends on the number and person.

Sanskrit grammar tables always list the third person first, so that’s what we’ll follow here.

The root form for “to do” is कृ kṛ, and as in many languages, the forms are slightly irregular. This is one of the most common verbs though, so you should commit these forms to memory.

Third person:करोति karoti (he/she/it does)कुरुतः kurutaḥ (they two do)कुर्वन्ति kurvanti (they do)Second person:करोषि karoṣi (you do)कुरुथः kuruthaḥ (you two do)कुरुथ​ kurutha (y’all do)First person:करोमि karomi (i do)कुर्वः kurvaḥ (we two do)कुर्मः kurmaḥ (we all do) 

Practice translating these sentences using the vocab from the previous lesson:

The (two) men do.

The woman does.

We two do.

You two do.

You do.

तौ कुरुतः। Tau kurutaḥ.

अहं करोमि। Aham karomi.

वयं  कुर्मः। Vayam kurmaḥ.

That’s it for this lesson! Ask us any questions you may have!  शुभमस्तु।

[sarcastxcmoose-blog]

Harry Potter being raised right, by Sirius Black who just ‘fuck rules, Moony, I’m not letting my Godson live in hell’ because he managed to transform into his animagi form and escape the scene of the crime before he got caught, and took Harry before Dumbledore said anything. Him technically being an Honorary Potter, still gives Harry the protection from Voldemort, while at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Him carrying a baby Harry, who just started speaking, his first words being, ‘Dada’, which makes him start to cry and ‘no, Harry, he’s not here. It’s only Padfoot and Moony now.’ And Harry giggling, because he’s only an infant, and is innocent like that.

Harry being sent to Neville Longbottom’s grandmother’s place during full moons so Padfoot can take care of Moony.

Harry when he’s 2, and can only call them ‘MoonMoon, and Pa'foo’ and laughing when they play Hide And Seek, and Moony just found Padfoot and Harry sleeping on the couch, Padfoot protectively draping his paw around Harry, in his animagi form, and Harry clutching onto the fur happily as he sleeps.

Moony and Padfoot buying a toy broomstick for Harry when he’s 4, and he learns to fly before he can walk, but, ‘Its only two feet about the ground, Moony, relax.’

Harry finding the portrait of the Black Family tree, and seeing Padfoot blasted off of it. Harry getting angry, and drawing Padfoot back onto the portrait, with 'Padfoot’, with his crayons, and putting 'Moony’ next to it, and later covering all the other people in his black coloured crayon. 'I’m covering them up.’

Moony and Padfoot telling Harry the truth about his parents when he’s 7, because 'He’s old enough, Padfoot, and he needs to know what really happened. We’d be no better than those Dursleys if we didn’t.’

Harry understanding completely, crying a bit, in the middle of the night, but making sure no one heard him. The next day, Harry asks about his parents, and what they were like.

Harry getting small things that belonged to Lily, that Moony and Padfoot got from the house, and kept for him, including a picture of James and Lily’s first kiss, and many small muggle items she had from when she was small. He also got a sweater that belonged to James, which was from his Quidditch Practicing days.

Moony and Padfoot teaching Harry small jinxes and counter Jinxes when he’s 8, and Harry sneakily using a jinx on Padfoot because it was a prank war, and every prank war means at least one man having pink hair.

Harry when he’s nine, and being prepped on everything to do with Hogwarts, and how to get away from trouble, and which teachers to avoid or go to in the school, if Harry can’t contact Moony or Padfoot.

Harry being 10, and waking up in the middle of the night, to see Moony and Padfoot sleeping together on the couch, Moony putting his head on Padfoot’s lap, while his hand is in Moon’s hair, as he was playing with his hair before he fell asleep. Harry giggling, because 'Moony and Padfoot are in loveeee~’ yet neither of them deny it.

Harry getting his letter to Hogwarts as soon as he turns 11, and Moony and Padfoot’s throw a small party to celebrate, inviting Neville as well.

The three of them going to Diagon Alley, and many people greeting Harry, and Padfoot boasting about it, while Moony laughs.

Harry getting to meet many kids who might meet him at Hogwarts, including Ddaco Malfoy, and Padfoot growling when he sees Lucius, and says 'they’re a bad sort, Harry, keep away from them,’ but he didn’t listen, and being the small outgoing kid he was, he went to say 'Hi! Are you going to Hogwarts too?’ And Draco, actually being surprised and smiling awkwardly because his father was talking to the shopkeeper, at the corner of the room, so he didn’t know what to say, and he nods. Padfoot smiling because Harry looks happy, and Moony thinks that maybe Draco might be different.

Harry promising to send them letters every single day, by owl, while he hugs them goodbye, and runs towards the Hogwarts Express, waving at them until they are no longer visible.

Harry keeping his promise and telling Moony and Padfoot all about Hermione Jean Granger, and Ronald 'Ron’ Weasley, who are his new best friends, and Draco Malfoy 'who is an absolute git sometimes, but can actually be a sweetheart.’ and how Hermione and Ron managed to help him battle a troll in the girls bathroom, as well as meet Fluffy, the three headed dog, and how they played a game of wizard chess, and defeated Lord Voldemort, who was stuck on Professor Quirrell’s head, and how, when he saw the Mirror of Erised, he saw Padfoot, Moony, Lily, and James, (Or mum and dad) standing next to him, while they sat in the house. Oh and 'I’m seeker for the Gryffindors! Just like dad!’

Harry receiving a howler the next day, which was the day before Ron received it, and hearing Moony scream himself raw, 'YOU WERE TAUGHT BETTER THAN TO FIGHT WITH SEVERUS— “Moony, it’s Snivellus, Harry meant no harm, I’m sure of it.” — AND HAD ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO DISOBEY ORDERS. PADFOOT, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY? “I’m proud of you, Harry, keep up the good work. Tell Snivellus that if he irritates you any longer, he’s gonna have to speak to me.” PADFOO-’ And the Howler ends, bursting into flames, while Ron is laughing, and Hermione smiles, while Draco hollers a “congrats Potter!” and I AM SORRY FOR TAKING UP YOUR TIME BUT I VERY WELL NEED THIS IN MY LIFE, AND SO DO YOU.

[bluesagebois]

before we begin explaining actual myths, we’d like to address a few misconceptions, or rather myth-conceptions:

first: contrary to popular belief, hinduism is not a polytheistic religion (polytheistic meaning believing in multiple gods), but rather a monotheistic one. yes, there are several gods we reference (i.e.: brahma, vishnu, shiva, etc.) but if western writers actually bothered to properly research, they would find that some denominations of hindus believe that all of these gods are merely forms/manifestations of the Supreme Deity, Parameshwara, and that everything in the universe i also a manifestation of him/them. this does not, however, take away from the significance of other deities.

second: the syllable aum (om) is not merely something you say while standing in the tree pose, but also the most sacred sound of both hinduism and some forms of buddhism (which originated from hinduism) and represents the complete creation of brahma and by extension, Parameshwara. that is to say: the sound aum is the frequency of the universe.

third: karma, pronounced [karma] and not [KARma] is the record of everything you’ve done in your life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. it dictates what happens to you after your life is over not what happens to you while you are still alive, so the phrase “karma’s a b*tch” when used in the context of minor inconveniences in life is, in fact, inaccurate.

fourth: who the fuck told y’all we worship cows? while it’s true we consider cows sacred, and many denominations of hinduism don’t eat beef because of this, you won’t find anyone treating cows themselves like literal gods. that just isn’t a thing.

fifth: no, you cannot randomly call yourself hindu because you think “third eyes” and “chakras” and whatever exotified bullshit you ran into in yoga class is sooooo trendy. some people do convert to hinduism – personally i know a few hindu converts who aren’t of south asian descent, and they are some of the most respectful and religious people i have met – but please, don’t pick and choose the parts of a religion that you think are cool and exotic. and for the love of the gods, don’t culturally appropriate. recognise that hinduism has a deep and interconnected history with south asian culture, and that not all of it is your place to take part in.

sixth: a bindi/bottu/tikka/tip is not just a “forehead decoration,” it is a symbol of shakti, power, and corresponds with the mythos behind chakras (pronounced [chakra] not [CHAKra]). do your fucking homework before you misuse a powerful symbol of south asian culture and don’t try to tell us that we’re overreacting.

seventh: not all hindus are peaceful, and hindu extremists do exist! hindus have a long history of islamophobia, for one, which has resulted in violence, and also discrimination against people of the sikh faith (see: indira gandhi, anti-sikh riots of 1984). also, the hindu nationalist (or hindutva) movement is as violent as any other extremist group you’d encounter. most hindus are generally pretty chill and don’t agree with these extremists’ views but even so, it’s dangerous to assume every hindu is gentle, because that overlooks and minimises the actions of these groups.

eighth: hinduism itself has no problems with the LGBT+ community. in fact many hindu deities have feminine/masculine/non-human forms (i.e.: vishnu and mohini,) and can therefore be interpreted as nb/genderfluid. there are also a few myths that challenge conventional heteronormativity.

[currylangs]

Kannada Lesson 3

Introduction to nouns

In Kannada, nouns (ಹೆಸರುಪದ/ನಾಮಪದ - hesarupada/nāmapada) are declined into one of seven cases:

nominative - ಕರ್ತವಿಭಕ್ತಿ/ಪ್ರಥಮ ವಿಭಕ್ತಿ - kartāvibhakti/prathama vibhakti - 1st

accusative - ಕರ್ಮಬಿಭಕ್ತಿ/ದ್ವಿತಿಯ ವಿಭಕ್ತಿ - karmavibhakti/dvitiyavibhakti - 2nd

instrumental-ablative - ಕರಣವಿಭಕ್ತಿ/ತೃತಿಯ ವಿಭಕ್ತಿ - karaṇavibhakti/tṛtīya vibhakti - 3rd

dative case - ಸಂಪ್ರದಾನವಿಭಕ್ತಿ/ಚತುರ್ಥಿ ವಿಭಕ್ತಿ - saṃpradānavibhakti/caturthi vibhakti - 4th

genitive case - ಸಂಭಂದವಿಭಕ್ತಿ/ಪಂಚಮಿ ವಿಭಕ್ತಿ - saṃbhandavibhakti/pancami vibhakti - 5th

locative case - ಅಧಿಕಾರಣವಿಭಕ್ತಿ/ಸಷ್ಠಿವಿ ಭಕ್ತಿ - adhikaraṇavibhakti/ṣaṣṭhi vibhakti - 6th

vocative case - ಸಂಬೊಧನಾವಿಭಕ್ತಿ/ಸಪ್ತಮಿವಿ ಭಕ್ತಿ - saṃbodhanāvibhakti/saptami vibhakti - 7th

Each case will be explained individually as they come. A side note: Here, one can observe the tendency of Kannada to use simpler words not only in pronunciation but also in meaning; for most people, it is more pragmatic to label the cases by number and remember their function, rather than use the traditional name from Sanskrit, which requires some amount of extrapolation to interpret the meaning. Something to remember for case declension is something called declensional sandhi, which refers to the sound or spelling changes that occur in a word as a result of declension. In Kannada, there are four declensional classes, and each case has different endings for different nouns. Fortunately, there are relatively simple ways to figure out whether a noun is of a certain class. (Note: when a complete vowel character is being given by itself in instructions, it refers to the sound, not the letter itself. For example, if an instruction says to drop the final ಉ, it means to drop the final u sound from the stem. So dropping the ಉ from ಬರು would make it ಬರ್.) 

First class nouns include all masculine and feminine that end in ಅ (a). These nouns drop the final ಅ before adding markers and declensional endings. 

Second class nouns include all neuter nouns that end in ಅ. These nouns drop the final ಅ before adding markers and declensional endings.

Third class nouns include all nouns that end in ಇ (i), ಈ (ī), ಎ (e), ಏ (ē), or ಐ (ai). These nouns add a final ಯ್ (y) (known as a ಯತ್ವ - yatva) before adding markers and declensional endings. Merge the letter with the ending.

Fourth class nouns (by far the most common) include all nouns that end in ಉ (u), ಊ (ū), ಋ (ṛ), ೠ (ṝ), ಓ (ō), or ಔ (au). These nouns add a final ವ್ (v) (known as a ವತ್ವ - vatva) before adding markers and declensional endings. Merge the letter with the ending.

Most nouns in native Kannada end in ಉ, and many nouns that have had that ಉ normalized for euphony require the final ವ್ to be added. If the form in the dictionary or vocabulary list has ಉ at the end, then it has been normalized.

The most basic case to learn is the nominative case, which simply specifies that a noun is the subject of a phrase, and has no prepositional, object, or adverbial functions. Every noun listed in a dictionary is given in its base form which, unlike other languages with case systems, is not its nominative form. That said, colloquial Kannada tends to ignore the nominative cases in a lot of cases. See the table below for the endings for the nominative case (ಪ್ರಥಮ ವಿಭಕ್ತಿ - prathama vibhakti - first case):

Something to remember: Just because a word is someone’s name does not mean it is automatically 1st Class declension, even though many are. The declensional class of noun does not indicate anything about its qualities (such as a woman’s name being worth less if it ends in ಇ and as a result is 3rd Class declension).

For today’s practice: Identify what class of noun each of these nouns belongs to, and then decline it in the nominative case. ನವಿಲು - navilu - peacock ಪುಸ್ತಕ - pustaka - book ನೀರು - nīru - water ರಾಮ - Rāma - a boy’s name/the name of the hero of the Ramayana ಅನ್ನ - anna - cooked rice ನಂದಿನಿ - Nandini - a girl’s name ಸಮಯ - samaya - time ಹಿರಿಯ - hiriya - elderly person ಮರ - mara - tree ಬಾಚಣಿಗೆ - bacaṇige - comb ಮಾವಿನಕಾಯಿ - māvinakāyi - mango Don’t hesitate to shoot us an ask if you have a question! See you all at the next lesson! 

[currylangs]

Sanskrit Lesson 2: Third Person Pronouns

In this lesson, we’ll go over the third person subject pronouns and the forms of “to be” that are used with these pronouns.

As we learned in the first lesson, neither the first nor the second person pronouns change based on gender; however, the third person pronouns do. Sanskrit has three genders: masculine, neuter, and feminine. Men are referred to using the masculine, while women are referred to using the feminine. For objects, you use the gender that corresponds to the noun’s gender. If you have a group with mixed gender, use the neuter dual or neuter plural.

Sanskrit third person pronouns are deictic, meaning that they rely on the speaker’s location. There are two major types of third person pronouns: proximal (close) and distal (far). These pronouns can be translated as this/these and that/those, respectively.

You’ll notice that masculine and feminine pronouns can also mean “it”. This is because objects that are considered genderless in English can be masculine or feminine in Sanskrit, meaning that you have to use masculine or feminine pronouns.

The most common distal pronoun has the neuter singular form तत् tat. It is used to refer to subjects that are far from the speaker.

Masculine: सः saḥ (he/it/that) तौ tau (they/those two) ते te (they/those)

Feminine: सा sā (she/it/that) ते te (they/those two) ताः tāḥ (they/those)

Neuter: तत् tat (it/that) ते te (they/those two) तानि tāni (they/those)

The most common proximal pronoun has the neuter singular form एतत् etat. Notice that these pronouns are the same as the distal ones, except they have ए e at the beginning and all the स sa become ष ṣa. These pronouns are used for subjects that are close to the speaker.

Masculine: एषः eṣaḥ (he/it/this) एतौ etau (they/these two) एते ete (they/these)

Feminine: एषा eṣā (she/it/this) एते ete (they/these two) एताः etaḥ (they/these)

Neuter: ऐतत् etat (this) ऐते ete (they/these two) ऐतानि etāni (they/these)

When we’re conjugating verbs, we only care about the person and the number. For the third person pronouns, the forms are as follows:

अस्ति asti (he/she/it is; singular) स्तः staḥ (they two are; dual) सन्ति santi (they are; plural)

Here is some vocab: पुरुषः puruṣaḥ “man” (masculine) पुरुषौ puruṣau “(two) men” (masculine) पुरुषाः puruṣāḥ “men” (masculine) महिला mahilā “woman” (feminine) महिले mahile “(two) women” (feminine) महिलाः mahilāḥ “women” (feminine) फलम् phalam “fruit” (neuter) फले phale “(two) fruits” (neuter) फलानि phalāni “fruits” (neuter)

Practice by translating these sentences. Keep in mind that your pronouns have to agree in gender and number with whatever you’re describing! These (two) are men. That is a woman. Those are fruits. ते पुरुषाः सन्ति। Te puruṣāḥ santi. एते महिले स्तः। Ete mahile staḥ. तत् फलम् अस्ति। Tat phalam asti.

That’s it for this lesson! If you have any questions, feel free to send us an ask! शुभमस्तु।

[spacepaladinranger]

South Asia

[Central, East, Southeast, West]

[currylangs]

Sanskrit Lesson 1

Welcome to our first Sanskrit lesson on currylangs! Before we begin, we highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the Devanagari script. In this lesson, we’ll go over first and second pronouns in the nominative case (that means subject pronouns). We’re also going to go over the forms of “to be” in the present tense. Let’s get started!

Like English, Sanskrit nouns and pronouns have singular and plural forms. However, Sanskrit also has dual number, which refers to groups of two. Whenever you have a group of two, you have to use dual.

The first person refers to the speaker and groups that include the speaker. The first person pronouns are:

अहम् aham “I”

आवाम् āvām “we two”

वयम् vayam “we”

The second person pronouns in Sanskrit, unlike most modern South Asian languages, doesn’t distinguish for formality (yay!).

त्वम् tvam “you”

युवाम् yuvām “you two”

यूयम् yūyam “you all”

These pronouns can be summarized in a handy table:

You see all those म् m’s at the end of all of those? When the pronoun is followed by a consonant, you should change the म् m to ं ṃ. For example, before a consonant, युवाम् yuvām becomes युवां yuvāṃ. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, it’s the common convention.

Present tense लट् लकारः First person (अहम्) अस्मि (aham) asmi “I am”

(आवाम्) स्वः (āvām) svaḥ “we two are”

(वयम्) स्मः (vayam) smaḥ “we are”

Second person

(त्वम्) असि (tvam) asi “you are”

(युवाम्) स्थः (yuvām) sthaḥ “you two are”

(यूयम्) स्थ (yūvam) stha “you all are”

You don’t always have to include the pronoun since the verb form tells you what pronoun should be there.

Here’s some basic vocab so you can start making sentences:

पुरुषः puruṣaḥ “man”

पुरुषौ puruṣau “̣(two) men”

पुरुषाः puruṣāḥ “men”

महिला mahilā “woman”

महिले mahile “(two) women”

महिलाः mahilāḥ “women”

For homework, try translating the following sentences! The vertical line at the end of each sentence is like a period.

अहम् पुरुषः अस्मि।

युवाम् महिले स्थः।

वयम् पुरुषाः स्मः।

You (all) are women.

We both are men.

You are (a) woman.

Congrats! You can now make basic sentences with the first and second person! If you all have any questions, feel free to ask me or sushi @kolija

Stay tuned for further Sanskrit lessons! शुभमस्तु।

[currylangs]

Kannada Script Part 1

ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ - Kannaḍa Lipi - Kannada Script - Consonants Hello everyone! Here’s a lesson on how to read and write in Kannada. Kannada, like most Indian languages, is an abugida, which means that each letter has an inherent vowel, which happens to be a ([ə])  in Kannada. So that means the base form of all letters in Kannada has this vowel. Furthermore, Kannada’s consonants are traditionally organized into 6 sets of five plus 1 set of six, and each set is related in some way. Each letter (or ಅಕ್ಷರ - akṣara) is given with its IAST romanization and IPA transcription.

* The actual pronunciation of this conjunct consonant is contested, since theoretically, it should be pronounced jña [d͡ʒɲə] but in practice is widely pronounced gya [gjə] in colloquial speech, but according to Sanskrit phonological tradition, it should be pronounced as ngnya~gnya [ŋɲə~gɲə] (this consonant only appears in Sanskrit loanwords.)

The two conjuncts in the bottom row are the two most common conjunct ligatures in Kannada and are therefore treated as letters unto themselves.

The pronunciation of each letter is as follows:

ಕ - k as in the ck in lack

ಖ - kh as in the k in kit

ಗ - g as in the g in bag

ಘ - gh is like g but releasing air as you say it

ಙ - nga as the ng in the word bang

ಚ - c as in the tch in the word batch

ಛ - ch is like the ch in the word chat

ಜ - j as in the dge in the word badge

ಝ - jh is like j but with a release of air

ಞ - ñ as in the Spanish ñ

ಟ - ṭ as in the t in the word bat

ಠ - ṭh as in the t in the word tap

ಡ - ḍ as in the d in the word damp

ಢ - ḍh is like ḍ with a release of air

ಣ - ṇ is similar to the English n but you need to position the tip of your tongue on the back roof of your mouth instead of the front

ತ - t is like the English t but pronounced by putting your tongue to your teeth

ಥ - th is like t but with a release of air

ದ - d is like the English d but with your tongue on your teeth instead

ಧ - dh is like d but with a release of air

ನ - n is like the English n

ಪ - p is like the p in the word cap

ಫ - ph is like the p in the word pen

ಬ - b is like the English b

ಭ - bh is like b but with a release of air

ಮ - m is like the English m

ಯ - y is like the English y

ರ - r is like the Spanish r but not rolled (not all the time anyway)

ಲ - l is not like the English l, and you put your tongue to the soft part just behind your upper teeth, called the soft palate

ವ - v is similar to the English v but occasionally sounds like w

ಶ - ś is like the English sh

ಷ - ṣ is like the English sh (mostly a spelling convention)

ಸ - s is like the English s

ಹ - h is like the English h

ಳ - ḷ is like l except you place the tip of your tongue to the back roof of your mouth the same way you did for ṇ

ಕ್ಷ - kṣa is difficult, but pronounce this nonsense word and notice the ksh: shockshave

ಜ್ಞ - jña is pronounced most often as gya That’s it for today. Hope you had fun! See you all at the next lesson

[currylangs]

Kannada Lesson 2

Lesson 2: Verbs in Simple Present Tense

Now that we know a few pronouns, let’s get into some verb conjugation.

ಹೋಗು ‘hōgu’ is the infinitive for “to go”. To get a verb, we just add a bunch of suffixes to the infinitive. In the simple present tense, the pronouns would take these forms of the verb ಹೋಗು ‘hōgu’:

 ನಾನು ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ nānu hōguttēne (I go)

ನಾವು ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇವೆ nāvu hōguttēve (We go) ನೀನು ಹೋಗುತ್ತೀಯ nīnu hōguttīya (You go)

ನೀವು ಹೋಗುತ್ತೀರಿ nīvu hōguttīri (Y'all go)**

 ಅವನು/ಇವನು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾನೆ avanu/ivanu hōguttāne (He goes)

ಅವಳು/ಇವಳು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾಳೆ avaLu/ivaLu hōguttāLe (She goes)

ಅದು/ಇದು ಹೋಗುತ್ತದೆ adu/idu hōguttade (It goes)

ಅವರು/ಇವರು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾರೆ avaru/ivaru hōguttāre (They go-feminine and masculine)

ಅವು/ಇವು ಹೋಗುತ್ತವೆ avu/ivu hōguttave (They go-neuter) **I’ll assume that you know that the ನೀವು ‘nīvu’ forms are formally used for both singular and plural subjects from now on #stuff_from_the_previous_lesson So we basically take ಹೋಗು ‘hōgu’ the infinitive, add -ಉತ್ತ ‘utta’ to it to basically to convey that the action is/was/will be happening in a particular interval (don’t worry too much about it, just some grammar stuff that happens. I should mention that there are some exceptions where -ಯುತ್ತ  ‘yutta’ has to be added instead of -ಉತ್ತ ‘utta’. This happens when the infinitive ends with an ಎ e sound unlike the u ಉ sound that we’ve come across so far. We’ll dig more into that later). Then, based on the nature of the subject that we’re talking about, we add a specific suffix called the ಆಖ್ಯಾತ ಪ್ರತ್ಯಯ (ākhyāta pratyaya) and voila you have the verb. Example: Third-person singular feminine subject for the infinitive ಹೋಗು ‘hōgu’: ಹೋಗು + ಉತ್ತ + ಆಳೆ = ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾಳೆ

hōgu + utta + āLe = hōguttāLe

We could just have a generalized table to organize these specific suffixes that need to be added to the modified infinitives (Basically the infinitive that has the -ಉತ್ತ utta/-ಯುತ್ತ  ‘yutta’ suffix added to it) in order to obtain the simple present verbs for that infinitive.

The infinitive for “to do” is ಮಾಡು māDu and it would take these forms in simple present tense:

ನಾನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತೇನೆ nānu māDuttēne (I do)

ನಾವು ಮಾಡುತ್ತೇವೆ nāvu māDuttēve (We do)

ನೀನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತೀಯ nīnu māDuttīya (You do)

ನೀವು ಮಾಡುತ್ತೀರಿ nīvu māDuttīri (Y’all do)

ಅವನು/ಇವನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾನೆ avanu/ivanu māDuttāne (He does)

ಅವಳು/ಇವಳು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾಳೆ avaLu/ivaLu māDuttāLe (She does)

ಅದು/ಇದು ಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ adu/idu māDuttade (It does)

ಅವರು/ಇವರು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ avaru/ivaru māDuttāre (These do)

ಅವು/ಇವು ಮಾಡುತ್ತವೆ avu/ivu māDuttave (These do-neuter) So yeah, that’s it for today’s lesson. Feel free to work out what the verbs would look like in the simple present tense for the infinitive ಓದು ‘ōdu’. Also, translate the following sentences to Kannada for practice :)

He reads

They do

I run

We read

Hope you had fun. See you all next week!

[lisasmoak-blog]

It is a little long tbh

[speakswithbutterflies]

Colors in Hindi and Bengali*

*see captions for pronunciation.

[paperandinklings]

“Kannada film industry’s tryst with experimenting with interesting subjects has touched a new level. For the first time in south Indian cinema, a young Kannada filmmaker has dared to showcase the ‘taboo’ subject of lesbianism in his latest movie 141 amid threats from fringe groups.

The movie is all set to release on September 11 despite lack of support from the Regional Censor Board and the film fraternity.

The movie will be dubbed into Telugu and Tamil and will be released across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu on September 18. Incidentally, the movie was lying in the pipes for more than one-and-half-years, as the Regional Censor Board refused to clear it.

“Making this movie was a challenge for me. The Regional Censor Board was completely against my project. First, they refused to clear my title. Then, they did not give me the certificate contending that it was against our culture. I had to approach a revising committee to secure the clearance.

Even now, they have not permitted me to use posters extensively to promote the movie. My aim is to expose how the society and the government, who are opposed to lesbianism, which has gained acceptance elsewhere,” said director Bhavaji, who has also produced the movie.

Bhavaji made it clear that his movie did not have any ‘cheap’ content though it had been given an ‘A’ certificate. “Though the movie has been given an 'A’ certificate for the nature of content, but there are no scenes that will make the audience uncomfortable. The movie tells the story of two women, who are in love with each other and how they have to face the wrath of the society,” he added.

Owing to the sensitive nature of the subject, the director roped in new actors for the movie - Tanya (Russian) and Kavya to form the lead pair while Farooq Khan, a Hyderabad-based actor, is also seen in a prominent role.

The director had great difficulty in filming the movie, which was shot for over 30 days in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Udupi and Hyderabad. Praveen Olivier, who worked under Oscar award winning music maestro A R Rahman, has composed the music for the movie.

“It is such an irony that this movie was ready by end of 2013 and I am permitted to release it now without any kind of publicity. Neither the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce nor the Regional Censor Board appreciated my work. I am disappointed with the lack of their support,” said the director.

Now, Bhavaji is facing a different kind of threat from fringe groups, who are of the view that the movie is against Indian culture. He has received calls from them asking him not to release the movie.

“I might seek police protection if there is any opposition to film’s release. All I want to say to those who are opposing the movie is that it is not an X-rated film. I have tried to capture the sentiments of a lesbian couple and how the society treats them,” he said.“

SO MUCH KANNADIGA PRIDE RIGHT NOW.

[currylangs]

Marathi Lesson 1 - Intro and Pronouns

Intro

Hey everyone! नमस्कार [namaskaar]! मराठी [maraaThee] is an Indo-European language spoken by more than 71 million people primarily in and around the states of Maharashtra and Goa and some union territories in Western and Central India.

It has a lot of similarity to Hindi, especially with respect to grammar and vocabulary, and their script is the same, so that saves you the effort of learning Devanagari another time if you already know Hindi :) Pronunciation guides for South Asian languages are coming up, so till then we’ll have Devanagari with a systematic transliteration in square brackets e.g. देवनागरी [devnaagree] to go along with.

Pronouns

Pronouns in Marathi vary on the basis of gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number (singular, plural), formality (informal, formal, super-formal), and proximity (near, far) and clusivity (inclusive, exclusivity). Not all of these criteria apply always and we’ll go through the pronouns one by one. Specific criteria as above are mentioned where applicable and explained!

The first person pronouns in Marathi are: मी [mee] - I आम्ही [aamhee] - we (exclusive) or I (super-formal) आपण [aapaN] - we (inclusive)

The difference between inclusive and exclusive is whether the listener is included or not. For example, if I want to say ‘we can eat’ where I am including the listener, I’ll say आपण खाऊ शकतो [aapaN khaa’oo shakto]. Where I am excluding the listener or just being archaic/hoity-toity about being able to eat by myself, I’ll say आम्ही खाऊ शकतो [aamhee khaa’oo shakto].

The second person pronouns in Marathi are: तू [too] - you (informal) तुम्ही [tumhee] - you (formal) आपण [aapaN] -  you (super-formal)

This is quite straightforward. Notice that the आपण [aapaN] is repeated but has a completely different meaning. The informal pronoun तू [too] is used for friends and close family - in many cases, even elder female relatives, although many families address all elders with the formal pronoun तुम्ही [tumhee]. Formal pronouns are also used for people you know but not that well, and who are elder, like your school teachers or parents’ friends. The super-formal is rarely used except for dignitaries and in formal announcements, and other than आपण it is the same as formal addresses, so we can ignore it henceforth.

Also, note that the [N] is pronounced by trying to say a normal [n] but with the tip of your tongue curled backwards (it’s called retroflex). In our transliteration scheme the capital letters T, D, and N will stand for the respective retroflex sounds.

That’s all for today! We’ll deal with third person pronouns in the next lesson since they can get quite complicated.

[intheirlanguage]

What do the Languages of India Sound Like?

India has a population of 1.2 billion people (just slightly behind the PRC) and with that comes some 400+ languages and multiple language families in one country. Obviously I’m not going to show every single language found in India. I’m going to focus on the 22 languages as defined in the Eight Schedule to the Indian constitution, so you can get a teeny-tiny sample of some of the languages of the second most populous nation on earth and how they sound.

All videos are from youtube. They should all play fine in the US, cannot guarantee that for anywhere else. However for pretty much all of these (except a few on the bottom) there are like a bajillion things like just type the language name into youtube and you’ll get like a good 50 movies showing up.

Borrowing of English words is very common in India so don’t be surprised if you’re listening to one and suddenly you there’s English for like two words and then back to whatever language it is.

Also there is a chance that some of the videos may not actually contain the language they’re supposed to contain. I do not speak any of these languages and I had to go off of what labels the video had as well as basic google searches if I could. If there is a mistake, I apologize. And if you catch a mistake let me know so I can get it fixed.

What does Hindi sound like?

Cucumber Benefits For Health and Beauty In Hindi - खीरे के लाभ @ jaipurthepinkcity.com

What does Bengali sound like?

Purnodoirgho Prem Kahini 2 | Trailer-2 | Bengali Movie | Shakib Khan | Joya Ahsan | SIS Media

What does Telugu sound like?

(Some English at beginning) PARICHAYAM ||Telugu Short Film By Klapboard Productions|| Harish Nagaraj Film

What does Marathi sound like?

Puranpoli - Emotional Marathi Short Film | Pocket Films

What does Tamil sound like?

Kalyana Parisu | Tamil Serial | Episode 616 | 29/02/2016

What does Urdu sound like?

Sairbeen 29th February 2016.BBC Urdu

What does Gujarati sound like?

Promo : Aa Namo Bahu Nade Che - Popular Gujarati Natak 2016 - Sanjay Goradia

What does Kannada sound like?

FOREIGN RETURNED - Kannada Short Film - Puneeth B.A

What does Malayalam sound like?

“അപ്പൻ ആരാ മോൻ” - Malayalam  2016 Comedy Short Film Appan ara mon

What does Odia sound like?

Dr Maya Gantayat Interview on Cerebral Palsy in Odia language

What does Punjabi sound like?

Ambarsariya Trailer - Diljit Dosanjh, Navneet, Monica, Lauren, Gul Panag | Latest Punjabi Movie 2016

What does Assamese sound like?

Touching Story Of A House Wife | Assamese short film - A New Dawn (Eti Notun Prabhat)

What does Maithili sound like?

गोनू झा के किस्से  (भाग -1) | Maithili TV programme | Maithili Serial | Gonu Jha

What does Santali sound like?

MON JURI TINJ 2014 Santali Movie Trailer

What does Kashmiri sound like?

*Kashmiri Folk Medley - Aabha Hanjura & Sufistication - Kappa TV

What does Nepali sound like?

फेसबुक प्रेम Comedy Guys Episode -3 |Nepali Comedy |Govinda Koirala|Suresh Thapa|Buddhi Tamang

What does Konkani sound like?

WIKITONGUES: Ashwath speaking Konkani

What does Sindhi sound like?

Sindhi language

What does Dogri sound like?

Satsang In J&k Local Dogri Language

What does Manipuri sound like?

Words of Life Manipuri (মৈইতৈইলোন) People/Language Movie Trailer

What does Bodo sound like?

Good News Bodo: Meche People/Language Movie Trailer

What does Sanskrit sound like?

Sushma Swaraj’s Sanskrit Speech in World Sanskrit conference in Bangkok

*Breaks my rule about no songs because I really couldn’t find much that wasn’t music and I figured something is better than nothing.