Before we dive into the fun of learning Telugu let us briefly look at the basic principles behind learning any new language. What makes it simple and successful? What did work so far? What did not?

Let's first take a closer look at the typical methods used, like learning vocabulary as single, isolated pieces of information or learning grammar before listening to the language. All this has a severe impact on the time we need to invest and the success (or frustration) we experience during the process. We will then take a look at some alternative methods available today. So let's begin with the classic approach:

What would you do right now if I gave you a list of 10 English words along with their Telugu equivalents and told you to learn them? Here is an example:

Chances are you would look at the first English word, then look at the Telugu word, repeat it several times, then close your eyes and keep on repeating it, then cover up the foreign word, look only at the English and see if you could remember how to say it in the language you’re learning, then go on to the next word, then the next, and the next, and then go back to the first to see if you remembered it, and so on through the list. Right?

Well, almost all of us would try it this way. This is how we learned it at school, after all. But this is the most error-prone, exhausting, and frustrating way one can think of... read on.