Kannada · ಕನ್ನಡ

About Kannada

Language family

Dravidian

Where it's spoken

Karnataka, India

Speakers

roughly 65 million speakers

Kannada has one of the longest classical literary histories among Dravidian languages, with inscriptions and literature going back over 1,500 years, and it holds official 'classical language' status in India as a result. It shares its Brahmi-derived, rounded script style with Telugu, reflecting a long shared regional writing tradition even though the two languages themselves are not mutually intelligible. Bangalore's tech-industry growth has also made Kannada an increasingly common second language for migrants from across India.