Yes, I believe it would because it would make texting my grandparents from Bangalore so much easier, as sometimes they have trouble understanding what I am texting them.

I sent a message to my family WhatsApp group asking my mom where the cooking pot was because I wanted to make brown rice and rasam for dinner. Since my parents often say that I do not use Kannada enough, I decided to write the message in Kannada. I wrote, “Amma, rasam mattu kandu akkige handi ellide,” intending to ask where the cooking vessel was. A couple of minutes later, my mom called me, sounding concerned, while my dad asked questions in the background. The issue was that the word “handi” in Kannada can mean both “cooking pot” and “pig,” depending on the context. What I had effectively asked was, “Mom, where is the pig for the rasam and brown rice?” Since my mom and dad do not eat pig, this caused some confusion. I then had to spend several minutes explaining that I was not planning to cook pork and that I was only trying to find a pot.

I text in Kannada, Hindi and English with my family, as we are South indians.