Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Nov 2: Once a non-Kannadiga who could barely recognise a single Kannada word, 24-year-old Sakshi Baid from Mumbai has now become a proud promoter of the language. Today, she runs an online community helping non-Kannadigas learn Kannada, a journey that has transformed her from saying ‘Kannada gottilla’ (I don’t know Kannada) to confidently teaching it to others.
Originally from Mumbai, Sakshi moved to Bengaluru three years ago to pursue engineering. Fluent in six languages — Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, English, French, and German — she assumed Kannada would be easy to pick up. However, upon arriving in the city, she realised language was a major barrier. Whether at markets, bus stands, or shops, she found it difficult to communicate, making her feel like she had entered an entirely new world.
Determined to learn Kannada, Sakshi developed a deep curiosity about Karnataka — from wondering why many Bengaluru localities end with the suffix ‘halli’ (village) to learning how the state got its name.
With few simple learning resources available, she began studying the language on her own, even ordering around 20 Kannada books to aid her self-learning journey.
Sakshi says that while grammar and pronunciation are important, confidence is the key to learning Kannada. “Written Kannada is as different from spoken Kannada as Shakespearean English is from everyday English,” she explained.
To practice, she began incorporating the language into her daily routine — watching Kannada movies with subtitles, listening to how people conversed while buying vegetables or riding in auto-rickshaws, and jotting down useful phrases to try later.
“At first, many laughed when I tried speaking Kannada, while others encouraged me. These interactions helped me understand how much pride Kannadigas have in their language,” she shared.
In February 2024, Sakshi launched an Instagram page titled ‘More Than Kannada Gottilla’, aimed at teaching conversational Kannada through short, practical lessons. Her videos feature simple phrases useful for everyday interactions — with neighbours, shopkeepers, or cab drivers — helping non-Kannadigas feel more connected and confident in the city.
The idea struck a chord — her page quickly grew to over 390,000 followers. Many Kannadigas appreciated her efforts and even helped her improve pronunciation and phrase construction, turning her page into a vibrant online community of learners and native speakers.
Encouraged by this success, Sakshi recently registered a company called ‘Bolo Boli’ in Bengaluru — an ed-tech venture dedicated to creating learning platforms for regional languages.
The first module, a beginner-level Kannada course, will include vocabulary, self-introduction, pronunciation, and numbers. She hopes to collaborate with Kannada experts and, with adequate funding, open physical learning centres across the state.
Her long-term goal is to expand the model to other regional languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia, and Bengali. “Speaking English should not be seen as a matter of pride, nor should speaking our regional languages be looked down upon,” Sakshi emphasizes.
From a newcomer struggling with words to a young entrepreneur bridging linguistic divides, Sakshi Baid’s story stands as a testament to the power of curiosity, persistence, and respect for local culture.