Techies log on to Kannada

Techies log on to Kannada
The Times of India

Bangalore: Did somebody say English is what everybody wants to learn? Well, it’s not entirely so. Many technology professionals in the city are rushing to learn Kannada — to understand Kannadigas and Karnataka better.
You can see this in several companies. In some cases, the initiative was started as part of the Suvarna Karnataka celebrations.
In Honeywell, the HR department put up a suggestion on its internal website on teaching Kannada to about 100 of its employees. And within half hour of the item appearing on the website, as many as 900 employees expressed their eagerness to enrol!
“From the alphabet to words and then sentences, our idea is to help them read and write Kannada,” said Shrikant Lonikar, global head (HR), Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab. “We have conducted three batches covering 110 students so far. Each course lasted four months.”
At Infosys, a group of enthusiastic Infoscians initiated a programme called Kannadakali to teach and promote the use of Kannada among fellow Infoscians. At its Bangalore centre, over 500 Infoscians have been trained till date. The programme commenced two years ago. There are 18 volunteers for this programme today. One-hour classes are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays after normal working hours. The volunteers prepare the learning material, take the classes and also do other administrative work.
“The programme has helped employees face real life scenarios like conversing with auto drivers, shop keepers and also in emergency situations,’’ said an Infosys spokesperson.
Kannadakali will now be extended to other centres, and plans are under way to appoint an external language expert to train the students. The organisers even plan to introduce certification for the students.