Kannada, a member of the Dravidian language family, is one of the 22 official languages of India and is the official language of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is spoken by about 50 million people.
Interestingly, the Kannada language has been spoken for about 2500 years, with the Kannada writing system being in use for the last 1900 years. It is the third oldest language of India and received Classical Language status on November 1, 2008. This historical language has about 20 dialects.
