Andhra Pradesh   

German learns Telugu in 15 days

At a time when patronisation of Telugu is losing its charm and importance among the youth, a German national comes all the way to Andhra to learn the language! And he does it with aplomb in 15 days flat despite hailing from a distant land. Language is the key to understanding native culture and traditions, says Frank Noiburt as he reveals his passion for Telugu to M.L.Melly Maitreyi

`Namaskaramandi'- is how the voice greets you over the phone. Nothing strange in that Telugu customary greeting, which sounds quite normal in accent and diction. Yet, the minute the speaker introduces himself as Frank Noiburt, eyebrows do go up.

Noiburt is a German who has learnt to read, write and speak Telugu in just 15 days at the International Telugu Centre of the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University and qualified in the examination held on the last day of the course. He impressed his teachers not only with his written answers and his spoken skills, but also with an essay he had written on `Sankranti'.

A research fellow of Religious Studies and Indian History at the University of Heidelderg, Noiburt came to India for inputs on culture and traditions of Telugu people as part of his research project, which would take another two years to be completed. How could he pick up the language so fast? " I learnt the basics of Telugu from a friend, a German again, who studied Indology. That helped me in picking up the language fast. I enjoyed the experience," he told The Hindu .

The method of learning a language is the same everywhere, says Noiburt, who, apart from Telugu and of course, German, speaks French, English, Sanskrit and Hindi too.

Sharing his impressions during his three-week stay in the city, Noiburt said it was interesting to explore Hyderabad, particularly the old city and spots like the Golconda Fort.

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