Telugu and Hindi words have the same spelling, so anyone can easily read the script of either language. But how?

In this blog,  I will try to explain how one can read Telugu script if Hindi language is known to him and vice versa.

Hindi language writing system: 

This script is written from left to right in a linear way. Therefore, in my opinion, if someone knows the alphabet and consonant vowel groupings and the conjunct letters, it is so easy to read this script. 

Note: All consonants have the default vowel अ is combined so that it is very easy to pronounce them. In consonant vowel groups this अ vowel must be removed before another vowel is added. Thisअ vowel removed form of the consonant will have a mark beneath it ( ्). It is called halant ( हलन्त ). For example, क् च् and ठ् so on. These kinds of consonants without vowel sounds is pronounced half their original sound. The following are some Hindi words that we would like to consider for writing them in Telugu as well.

1. उष्ण 

2. अंतरिक्ष

3. सत्कार 

4. आत्मा 

5. पथ्य

If one looks at the above words, all these words are commonly found in Telugu language too with sligh modification at the end of the last syllable -- in some words.

Let see how Hindi language is written left to right by splitting the words into their constituent sounds.

1. उ + (ष् + ण)

Here conjunct letter is formed between ष् and ण because ष् is without अ vowel in it. It is in halant form. Therefore it forms a conjunct letter with its right side adjacent constant ण.

These sounds are packaged as उष्ण. Modern Hindi lets us leave in this form too. However the consonant consonant combing lets the language look aesthetically pleasing.

On the same note, the constituent sounds of the remaining 4 above Hindi words are given below.

2. अं  + त‌ + (र्‌  + इ ) +क्ष 

3. स + (त् + (क् + आ)) + र 

4. आ + (त् + (म् + आ))

5. प + (थ् + य)

Telugu Writing system:

In this language, the script is written left to right and in the case of conjunct letters it is written vertically. The script is written both horizontally and vertically. It is, therefore, a non linear writing system. Though the sounds are the same, how they are packaged makes non Telugus shudder to read the script. In this blog we are going to remove that fear. 

Let us write the above five words in Telugu script. They have been chosen so that apple to apple comparison can be made.

1. उष्ण --> ఉష్ణం 

2. अंतरिक्ष -> అంతరిక్షం

3. सत्कार -> సత్కారం

4. आत्मा -> ఆత్మ

5. पथ्य -> పైత్యం

Just like in Hindi language, each consonant in Telugu has inherent అ (अ) sound in them. Therefore, when this అ (अ) is removed each consonant letter gets ్  ( నకార పొల్లు) just like halant ( ् ) in Hindi. For example, క్ (क्),  చ్(च)and ఠ్ (ठ)so on. These kinds of consonants without vowel sounds is pronounced half their original sound.

Let see how Telugu language is written left to right and top to bottom by splitting the words into their constituent sounds.

1. ఉ + (ష్ + ణ్ + అం)

Here conjunct letter is formed between ష్ (ष्) and ణ్ (ण) because ష్  is without అ (अ) vowel in it. It is in halant form. Therefore it forms a conjunct letter with its right side adjacent constant ణ్. 

Here we see a stark difference between Telugu and Hindi scripts. Hindi is a left to right linear writing system. However, Telugu is a non linear writing system. Now how to read Telugu script then? 

A left to right arrow in the case of Hindi conjunct letter takes a clockwise 90 degrees turn with vowel sound in Telugu gets attached to the first consonant with halant while the reading order remains the same that is associating the vowel to the last consonant just like in Hindi. 

To summarise, when reading a telugu script, we read from the top to bottom in a conjunct letter. During that process we disassociate the corresponding vowel sound from the top consonant and pronounce it 1/2 and this continues till the last consonant to which we associate the vowel sound that was disassociated the top consonant. I think this illustrates clearly how a Telugu word is writing and read. Internally, the spelling and sound systems are the same. Telugu adds either ము or అం to vowelify any word so that it sounds nice to ears. No wonder it sounds so sweet to non Telugus as well. It is the language feature. The following picture illustrates this process pictorially. 

On this  note, the constituent sounds of the remaining 4 above Hindi words are given below in Telugu language using Telugu alphabet.

2. अं + त‌ + (र्‌ + इ ) +क्ष 

Let us look at the following diagram to understand this word how it is spelled in Telugu. This one is written like in a linear fashion as there are no conjunct letters. Of course, క్ష ( क्ष) is a conjunct constant accepted in both alphabets, so there is no problem.

3. स + (त् + (क् + आ)) + र 

The following picture shows how these Hindi language alphabet is transformed into Telugu alphabet through a lookup table. It just proves the point that spelling of a given word is same. Only the final packaging with respective conjunctive letters change: left to right for Hindi and top to bottom for Telugu.

4. आ + (त् + (म् + आ))

5. प + (थ् + य)

Now let us put down the procedure for converting a Hindi word spelling into Telugu word.

1. Split Hindi word into its constituent atomic sounds.

2. Use look up table between Hindi to Telugu alphabets and change Hindi alphabets to corresponding Telugu alphabets.

3. Now except the conjunctive letters everything remains the same. So focus on these letters. Imagine an arrow head on the right side going from the left side beneath these conjunctive letters. 

4. Let us rotate this arrow clockwise 90 degrees.

5. Now the final vowel in the sounds breakup goes with the first consonant with halant ( nakara pollu). The other consonants take their secondary forms. Replace them like that. Repeat this step for all the conjunctive letters in the spelling breakup of the word.

6. Now combine all the alphabets be it simple or conjunctive. Now we have the Hindi word spelling in Telugu.

Now let us put down the procedure for converting a Telugu word spelling  into Hindi word.

It is the same as above except the step 4. In this step we have the arrow going down from the top. Just rotate that anticlockwise 90 degrees. 

In step 5, the vowel sound in the first consonant goes with the consonant at the tip of the arrow head. That's about it.

Let see this procedure in action in the following picture.

In summary, we can say this: a person who knows Telugu can read and write Hindi very easily. It is also true with a Hindi person as well. 

Let us try these following exercises to get a hold on this process:

1. Convert the following Telugu spellings into Hindi

1. ఆకాశం (Sky)

2. నీరు (Water)

3. చంద్రుడు (Moon)

4. గురువు (Teacher)

5. అన్నం (Rice/Food)

6. నక్షత్రం (Star)

7. పర్వతం (Mountain)

8. కళ (Art)

9. దీపం (Lamp)

10. వర్షం (Rain)

2.  Convert the following Hindi word spellings into Telugu words

1. आसमान (Sky)

2. पानी (Water)

3. चंद्रमा (Moon)

4. गुरु (Teacher)

5. भोजन (Food)

6. तारा (Star)

7. पहाड़ (Mountain)

8. कला (Art)

9. दीपक (Lamp)

10. बारिश (Rain)

Write your answers in the comments section. I wish you all the best.