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We asked our youth to answer the following question:
"Is it necessary to know kannada to understand the culture of Karnataka?"
Their answers reveal how insightful and analytical minded these young folks are. They make us proud! Go ahead and read them!
-----Editors
I think it is necessary to know how to speak Kannada in order to understand Kannada culture. People who do not know Kannada would not appreciate the culture of Karnataka as much as a speaker of Kannada would. Without knowing Kannada you won't be able to understand other fellow Kannadigas, enjoy Kannada songs, movies, and dramas, or communicate with your grandparents and relatives. All of
these require you to know everyday Kannada words, along with some grammar and sentence structure. By going to Jnana Bharathi Kannada school students learn more about Kannada culture. But conversational Kannada is not essential to follow certain types of Kannada culture, such as drawing Rangoli, eating bevu bella during Ugadi, taking oil bath and placing lights around the house during Deepavali. However, knowing Kannada language will definitely make it easier to understand Kannada culture.
----- Swati Bhat, Age 17
To appreciate our Karnataka heritage, we don't need to know the language. It would work to our advantage if we knew our mother tongue, but that doesn't mean we can't cherish our way of life and cultural traditions without it. My culture shapes my everyday life even before I knew how to read and write Kannada. Even people in Bangalore city may not know enough Kannada to read and write, but that doesn't mean they don't have their family values, such as going to the temple, dancing Kolata during festivities, wearing mehendhi, and beautiful silk langas and sarees. The English language is so universal now, it is not always necessary to know Kannada. Kannada movies also come with English subtitle and all the story books, comics and Chandamama come in English which make people who don't know Kannada still learn and understand our way of life. I know my mother tongue, but I know many people who don't, but they still treasure our traditions and culture.
----- Shikha Bhat, Age 13
I think it is important to be able to speak Kannada, or at least understand it in order to understand 'Kannada Culture.' To be able to understand the culture, one has to get the experience first hand, and there is no way to do that unless he or she can communicate with other Kannada speaking people. One can not get the culture feeling completely in America; that can only be achieved in India where everyone is speaking only Kannada. In order to be able to fit into that culture, he or she has to be able to speak the language.
----- Shruti , age 14
I feel learning Kannada is a very important tool in understanding Kannada Culture. Because my grandma does not understand English, my being able to speak Kannada is all the more important. If there is no common language between two people, it is difficult to communicate. One aspect of Kannada Culture is classical music. My mother writes the music in Kannada. The reason for this is to maintain the correct pronunciation of the words. If a word is pronounced even slightly differently, it can give an altogether different meaning,which could ruin the song. As one can see, knowing Kannada can be useful in many situations. For this reason, a person ought to learn the language.
----- Amoolya, age 15
I think many people misjudge the real importance of learning one's own language. I believe it's essential to know how to speak Kannada in order to fully understand the culture. Most of us have relatives in India, and the only way to really communicate with say, our grandparents, is to speak Kannada. I don't mean to say that language is a barrier because I know that my grandparents speak English quite fluently. However, it's more of the phrases that we use when we speak that I'd like to stress. When you try to talk in Kannada and you really don't know how to speak it that well, you end up talking in a very contrived and unrelaxed manner. I think that makes you sound really out of place and uncomfortable. To me, personally, knowing how to speak in Kannada has allowed me to fit into my culture, especially in India. I know there are a lot of other defining points to culture, but the colloquial language really helps you put your foot in the door for everything else.
----- Amitha, age16.
Kannada can be useful in understanding the Karnataka culture, but it is not very necessary. First, when celebrating, you have a festival and dance to music, etc. But when you do the actual worship or puja, you have to recite slokas and you might need to know some of the language to pronounce and say the sloka correctly. Also, Kannada is not one of the main languages of India, so I don't hear it as much in India, except when I go to the city my parents were brought up in. Understanding the language has helped me a little. As you can see, you will possibly need to know some of Kannada to understand the Karnataka culture.
----- Megha Shankar, age 10
Although learning Kannada, and comprehending the language can be a wonderful asset to understanding the culture of Karnataka, it is not a necessity, especially with many other languages thrown upon us at school. I am very fortunate to be able to understand and converse in Kannada, however, I am nowhere near being fluent nor precise. I feel that knowing Kannada has definitely helped me understand the culture, and especially when visiting India, it has given me great comfort and a place of belonging. Born and brought up abroad and away from India leads me to encounter other languages , and to not give particular importance to Kannada. With other languages and cultures to learn and even experience, the awareness of the culture of Karnataka is lessened due to many obstacles. With my parents' awareness of the culture, I am too, aware, but to a lesser degree. I can understand the plight of many children along with myself who are unable to get in touch with that background and culture because of the society we live in. I can also empathize with those who cannot understand Kannada, as our life does not encompass around this language as well as the culture. For that, we have to thank Kannada Kuta, for bringing to us the culture of our parents although the society we live in is not conducive to learning about it.
----- Shilpa, age 15
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