Gondi (Adilabad) Phrasebook

A book of commonly used Gondi language phrases and sentences with Telugu, English, and Hindi meanings each written in three scripts - Telugu, Roman and Devanagari scripts.

The Gondi language of erstwhile Adilabad District, Telangana, India, is spoken by more than 2,50,000 people. The Gonds, who call themselves Koytur and refer to their language as Koyang, have a rich cultural and linguistic heritage. Despite the high level of lexical borrowing from state-recognized languages such as Hindi, Marathi and Telugu, one can clearly see that Gondi is a distinct language with its own phonological patterns and grammatical structures.

A unique feature of this phrasebook App is that the phrases are presented in several languages with multiple scripts. This will enable learners to learn other languages and scripts through whichever language and script they are most comfortable. An additional use for this App is for literate Gonds who wish to learn how to read and speak one of the other three languages presented (Telugu, English, or Hindi).

Due to the complexities of language it is often difficult to obtain an exact word-for-word match when translating phrases, so we have attempted to communicate the same meaning in each language, even whilst using different words. There may be ways of improving our attempts, and hence we welcome constructive criticism in order to enhance the next edition.

Our prayer and hope is that this Gondi Language phrasebook App will assist all those who are genuinely concerned with preserving and developing the Gondi language and culture, and that these activities will go hand in hand with development and modernization within the region.

Published by:
Integrated Tribal Development Agency, Utnoor, Telangana, India

In Association with:
SIL International – Partners in Language Development

First Published in print: 2005, 250 copies
Second Edition: 2008, 1000 copies
Android App Edition: October 2017

Tags: ggo, wsg, gondi, koyang, phrase book, phrasebook, language learning, multi-lingual education, mle, Telangana, India, study, learn, english, hindi, telugu