German woman speaks in Kannada, viral video surfaces amid language row

A video of a German woman speaking Kannada shared on X went viral. The visual surfaced amid the “Bengaluru belongs to Kannadigas” row, in which some claim that anyone who stays in India’s Silicon Valley needs to know the local language, further emphasising that other languages won’t be accepted in Bengaluru.
“German citizen Jenifer, currently staying in Karnataka, learns Kannada and tries to converse in Kannada with locals. Look at the appreciation she gets for speaking in Kannada. If Germans can, why can’t Indians learn and speak Kannada with Kannadigas?” an X user wrote while sharing the video of the German woman.
With nearly one million views, the post has gone viral. It has also prompted people to share varied comments.
“Same way, why can’t you learn Hindi?” asked an X user. Another added, “She is speaking out of her own will; that’s different from forcing.” A third asked, “Why should anyone be forced to speak in the local language?”
A fourth commented, “I once spoke in ‘broken’ kannada (still learning) in a thatte idly shop and one localite made a snide remark on my pronunciation. Immediately other localities came to my defence and appreciated the fact that I was trying. It earned me more respect and encouragement to learn.” A fifth expressed, “I agree. If you’re a resident of Bangalore, you should know Kannada. And I say this as someone from Maharashtra. All the Hindi speakers can cope.”
A sixth wrote, “Because every Indian state has its own language, so from your point of view, everyone should learn multiple languages. This is basically not possible for everyone, so we need one official or maybe national language for that, and we should respect every culture and language also.”
“To everyone coming to Bengaluru, you will be treated as OUTSIDERS in Bengaluru if you don’t speak Kannada or make an effort to speak Kannada. Write it down, Share it around. We ain’t Joking,” an X user named Manju wrote. This post sparked the “insider-outsider” debate among social media users. While some showed their support, others spoke up against it.