What is Kelu:

Kelu is a simple app that helps people speak in local language (Kannada) by uniquely combining mobile technology with curated content and power of community.

Why we think we need Kelu:

1. Language is a key essence of any culture.

2. In a global world, people migrate across countries, states and cities and thereby across cultures and societies

3. When people move around to new places they want to be a part of local society and culture.

4. However currently language becomes a sort of barrier in understanding and mingling with society.

5. Though most people have a liking to learn new language, this seldom transpires into action due to reasons such as lack of travel time for classes, traffic, workload etc..

6. In practice, in day to day life we rarely need more than some hundred statements for conversations

7. Learning these statements would help anyone get a hang of the language.. We don’t need to make everyone Shakespeare, Kuvempu or Goethe

How does Kelu address the challenge of speaking locally:

1. People who come from other geographies/societies need not have to ‘learn’ the language to get started speaking the local language?

2. All the essential statements to just get started speaking them are consolidated in one place

3. These essential statements are contextualized (grouped based on conversation themes or tags) i.e. based on their current location (The set of things I need in Mysore may be different than what I need in Bangalore although it is Kannada in both places)

4. These statements are not just translations but reflect the way people in current society communicate. (People don’t speak pure Kannada in Bangalore) In other words exact translations may not make sense in local context.

5. Sound is available to assist them with pronunciation

6. Ability to personalize the key statements which they come across frequently..

7. Gives you access to the “Kelu” community, in case you need a specific translation. You can ask the community to get the answer. The community will also put up sentences that they feel will be useful to help people speak Kannada.

Where can I get Kelu app and what does it cost?

Kelu is available for FREE download at the Google Play Store

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kelu.yappy8&hl=en

Are people using Kelu already?

Yes, we have had over 6K downloads in 5 months since we uploaded on Google Play. We have over 200 sentences available and the app is seeing a high degree of engagement from its users.