Save Telugu

This topic has been long pending in my mind, but the specialty of today, Feb 21, reminded me that it would be the right time. Today is International Mother Language Day

The other day, while I was in a call, my mother asked me, “Disappoint ayyava?” - though I was a bit disappointed, I was rather surprised with the question. Definitely, my mother and father are the last ones from whom I hear Telgish - bring back the question,how much Telugu the current conversational Telugu contains.

On the other hand, every Telugu bloggeri is trying to invent Telugu alternative words or make exact Telugu translation to replace some latest terms to revive their mother tongue – bloggari (blogger), antherjalamu (internet), jalamu(net), salegudu (web), nesarlu (thanks), tapaa (blog post) – to name a few. Even, there are many online forums where these mother language lovers fight over what should be the perfect Telugu term for an internet generation word.

But, I think the safeguard/revival of the language should be taken priority over trying to add new words to the dictionary. I have no reservations using the terms blogger and internet, just like train and calculator than their respective innovations, Dhumasakatam and Ganana yantram. New words from not only English, but also any language can be invited into Telugu in the same way as some Telugu words have made to English, Hindi, Tamil and others.

The terms Marchaavaa? vs Change chesava?, Rasaavaa? vs Write chesava?, Pilichava vs Call chesava, Pampinchava vs Send chesava, Veltunnava vs Goingaa, Vastunnava vs Comingaa, Raava? vs Not comingaaa - it is disappointing to say this, but the second terms are widely used compared to the former ones. And, the worst thing is, people make a mockery of someone who says Adi marchaava? instead of You changed thattaah?.

Sadly, this situation (not the mockery part) is not only in Telugu, but for every Indian language. As far as I know the Tamizh are exceptions to some extent, however the effect is slowly reaching their lands – I have been hearing Try panninga, Change panninga often these days(not sure panninga is exact word).

So, I request everyone – when you speak in your mother language, try to speak completely in your language. No I late ho gaya and nenu today send chesta, please!

Please try to do your part to ensure Telugu (or your language) does not join Boro and Boa sooner or later.

Excerpt from the above THE HINDU link (http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article100977.ece):

Two unique languages disappear with death of last speakers -
When Boro died on Strait Island last November, Boa lost a friend. The world lost a language.
Last week, Boa also died. Another language died with her.
The death of these last surviving speakers of two Great Andamanese languages, Khora and Bo, has resulted in the extermination of their unique tribes on the islands.

The Telugu's English pronunciation blues - Part I

Disclaimer: This article is not to demean a particular section of the society. It is an analysis of problems faced by me during my journey Towards Better English (TBE), but most of these are still present in Telugu-speaking people. Some of them may apply to other Indians also.


Good pronunciation is one of the milestones on the path TBE. Every word should be pronounced in a way that most of the audience can understand.

This article is not directed towards accents, but various problems faced or common errors made by a typical South Indian, especially Telugites and importantly me. My ire is primarily against my primary and secondary school teachers of English whom I feel are the real culprits.

1.‘a’: The first trouble starts with the first letter of the English alphabet (again careful to not append ‘s’ after TBE-I ). The teachers start teaching the language by making us yell the letter “AAAAAAAAA…..”, “Beeeeeeeeeeeeee” and so on. I had got used to this “A” so much that I used to pronounce the article “a” in a sentence as A in ancient rather than A in away.

2.‘h’: Next comes the letter H. The teachers in Andhra Pradesh generally teach this as “Hetch” – and we, the Telugites, add the usual stress as we do with Telugu words. It took me 10 more years to know that the “Ha” sound is not required. That’s why I was always confused why “an” should come instead of “a” before hour and honor (i.e., why it is our and not ‘ha’wer).

Telugites can observe this with the ‘MH’ in Devanagari on Maharashtra RTC buses and the ‘H’ in Telugu newspapers.

3.‘o’: This is not as common as the above two, but it happens in some schools in AP. ‘o’ is a vowel. Generally vowel sound comes from inside, whereas the consonant sound involves lips and/or tongue.
But my teachers somehow chose to teach ‘o’ as in vote rather than in old/own.

Again, I was confused with the usage of “an” before ‘old man’ when I learnt that “an” comes before vowel sounds. I used to pronounce ‘old’ as ‘vold’.

4.‘v’: I had always pronounced this as ‘vee’ until an instructor in one of those English in my organisation remarked quoting me that the South Indians pronounce ‘v’ incorrectly and that the upper teeth should press the lower lip while producing the ‘v’ sound; especially for words like ‘victory’.

Somehow, I got rid of the first three, but still trying my best with the fourth one. I will write about pronunciation blues with some common words in the next one.