Learn to READ Malayalam - using vinyl ("LP" record) covers and such movie-based resources

Most of us in this forum can read Thamizh (Kamal Akarsh is an exception). A good % can also read Hindi.

OTOH, while many of us can understand Malayalam (some can speak as well), I think only very few can read.

This thread is an attempt to give READING lessons for the Malayalam language, from AnA AvannA, in a structured, regular, periodic way

The inspiration is the availability of a lot of Malayalam disk covers on the musicalaya website. And also the craving inside to teach language related stuff.

Question - why should anyone learn to read Malayalam?

Answer - a) To keep brain-cells active (and escape Alzheimer's etc.)

b) Additional skill in life that comes at negligible cost (max 5 to 10 minutes a day for a couple of months)

c) Could come handy in case of travel to Kerala (impress the people around )

d) Read cinema titles

Introduction

Like most Indian languages, Malayalam too has vowels & consonants in separate groups and a set of symbols to indicate the "combinations" (called உயிர்மெய் "uyir mey" in Thamizh).

While many Malayalam words are also common to Thamizh and also some Malayalam alphabets resemble Thamizh letters, the Malayalam alphabets are "designed / assembled / grouped" mostly like vadamozhi / Hindi. (For example, different characters for ka / kha / ga / gha / nga in one set, which is like Hindi and unlike Thamizh.)

That way, to get the Malayalam READING skill, if someone knows Hindi alphabets, it's an advantage.

If someone knows only English / Thamizh, they need to embrace this new concept for consonants.

However, the good thing is, we'll first start with vowels - which is more or less like Thamizh

This one is a great resource - the google transliteration tool for Malayalam and I would encourage everyone to use it freely for practicing the words that we'll be using in this course - at least 5 minutes a day (you don't have to know Malayalam, all that is needed is only English typing):

http://www.google.com/intl/ml/inputtools/cloud/try/

Day 1 (= Lesson 1)

First two vowels (a,A / அ,ஆ / अ,आ / അ, ആ)

The first two vowels are same like Thamizh / Hindi and I've given the vowels in four languages above for convenience.

Since English vowels are not phonetic, it's preferable to look at the corresponding Thamizh or Hindi to understand how it sounds

The first Malayalam letter in somewhat bigger font is given below, along with some words and their corresponding renderings in other languages as well as meanings.

അ

is the first letter.

Some words that start with this letter:

അമ്മ - அம்ம - अम्म - amma -MOTHER

അച്ഛന്‍ -அச்சன் - अच्छन - achchan - FATHER

അക്ഷരം -அக்ஷரம் -अक्षरम - aksharam - ALPHABET

അതിസുന്ദരി -அதிசுந்தரி -अतिसुन्दरि -athi sundhari - VERY BEAUTIFUL (WOMAN)

Now the interesting part - pictures of a couple of vinyl covers

You'll be able to spot the letter അ in them easily as these movie titles START with that letter

First one, same "mother" word, amma / അമ്മ



Another one - with a picture of Kamalahasan & Lakshmi, having the same first letter but a juicier title

anthi veyilile ponnu / അന്തി വെയിലിലെ പൊന്ന്



BTW, if someone wants the vinyl cover pic of avaLude rAvukaL, please go to musicalaya website

The second Malayalam letter is just the extended version of that first letter.

ആ

Some words that start with this letter :

ആ - This letter itself is also a word and has meaning - ஆ / आ / aa / THAT

ആദ്യം -ஆத்யம் / आद्यं / aadhyam / FIRST

ആണ്‍ -ஆண் /आण / aan / MALE

ആവശ്യം -ஆவஷ்யம் / आवश्यम/ aavashyam / NEED

Let me post the vinyl cover pics in a separate post, just to keep it simple

Try to focus only on the first letter for now as you'll have plenty of time to worry about the rest of the characters in the coming days.

In learning to read, it's very important to memorize how a particular character looks - if necessary by writing ourselves on paper / paintbrush etc to embed in the mind. Let me come to that in another post today as to how to "exercise" / "practice"

Two vinyl covers for this letter too, one being a rAsA one

aa raathri / ആ രാത്രി (meaning "that night", music by Ilayaraja, having the lovely SJ number kiLiyE kiLiyE)



aa nimisham / ആ നിമിഷം (meaning "that minute" or "that moment")



As I said before, there are tons of other vinyl covers that start with ആ in the musicalaya website and please look at them to familiarize and embed this character in mind

Now, exercise (until we hit our Lesson 2 next week sometime) :

Go to this website:

http://www.google.com/intl/ml/inputtools/cloud/try/

Type those 8 words (4 each for അ and ആ) a few times, while also loudly telling those words

That's all

(Challenge exercise : Instead of going to google, take a pen / paper and write down those eight words )

App ji,
I am dumbfounded by your energy and passion by your contributions. I never thought I would learn malayalam one day, until this thread. Hats off your passion!

Thank you very much!.

yw, V_Sji!

I'll try to post 2 lessons per week - that way, all the characters (alphabets) can possibly be covered in a couple of months, while also giving enough time for practice (to anyone who is interested). I know people are busy with many pursuits in lives and this won't be a top priority.

Just to keep the thread alive and maintain interest, I'll try to post a few more pictures (not necessarily vinyl covers but otherwise movie related links) between the lessons

In addition, more advanced reading lessons / exercises can follow after familiarization of alphabets / combos

Great job boss. Always wonder why are the Telugu/Malayalam/Kannada scripts so difficult to write. I mean in thamizh the toughest letter probably is the 'ங' and that's not half as difficult as the first two Malayalam letters posted by app.

Great initiative App.
I have taught myself to read Malayalam film titles but still get stuck at combo-letters and the combination factor you mentioned. Given my knowledge of MF, I tend to auto-complete. For example, Rajathantram. I can read Ra, Ja, tha, ra, m. That adds up to Rajatharam. But I sense something wrong there and educatedly guess that it is rajathantrahm

Hopefully you can give me a formal lesson and make me an expert

Thanks Nerd & plum for the appreciation!

Will post the next lesson (e-ee / இ-ஈ /इ-ई / ഇ-ഈ) on Wednesday.

So, two more days to get the first two (അ & ആ) strongly stored in mind!

As a fun exercise, let's try to guess the following names that start with these letters (i.e. person / place associated with the name written in Malayalam but with some English clues included):

1. A K അന്തോണി (central minister, as pronounced in Thamizh and not English)

2. ആദം & ഹവ്വ (First man & woman, Biblical)

3. അടൽ ബിഹാരി വാജ്‌പേയി (first name of former PM, BJP)

4. ആഫ്രിക്ക (dark continent, "இருண்ட கண்டம்")

5. അമേരിക്ക (U.S. of)

6. അഡ്‌ലൈഡ് (Oval, Cricket)

7. ആദി ഭഗവന് (Thiruvalluvar - Ameer connection)

8. അച്ചുവിന്റെ അമ്മ (Sathyan AnthikkAd - Meera Jasmine -Oorvashi -IR)

9. ആലപ്പുഴ (Kerala town / district of famous snake boat race)

10. ആലുവ (Another Kerala town near Ernakulam, famous for Sivarathri, on the banks of Periyar river)

Hopefully these are easy to crack, please post answers as soon as you figure out all or some or one

app - I know a few consonants adhai vechu kaNdupidichadhu

1. A.K. andhONi
2. Adham & Evu?
3. atal bihAri vAjpEyI
4. Afrikke (not africa)
5. amErikke (not america)
6. adilaidu
7. Adhi bhagavan
8. achuviNdE ammA
9. Alappuzha (not AlappuzhA)
10. Aluva

app_engine wrote:
As a fun exercise, let's try to guess the following names that start with these letters (i.e. person / place associated with the name written in Malayalam but with some English clues included):

1. A K അന്തോണി (central minister, as pronounced in Thamizh and not English)
---- A K anthOny (where is 'n' here?) I could see a, thO, ni
2. ആദം & ഹവ്വ (First man & woman, Biblical)
---- aadhi or aadhaam & EvaaL? (not sure exactly) I understood the second letter as 'tha', not sure of the third letter.
3. അടൽ ബിഹാരി വാജ്‌പേയി (first name of former PM, BJP)
----a ta la(what's the difference between 'la' and 'il' bihari) bi haa ri vaa j pE yi
4. ആഫ്രിക്ക (dark continent, "இருண்ட கண்டம்") ---- aa pri caa
----
5. അമേരിക്ക (U.S. of) ---- amEricaa

6. അഡ്‌ലൈഡ് (Oval, Cricket) a di le d ?

7. ആദി ഭഗവന് (Thiruvalluvar - Ameer connection) --- aa ends with 'van' (not sure of other words)

8. അച്ചുവിന്റെ അമ്മ (Sathyan AnthikkAd - Meera Jasmine -Oorvashi -IR) --- aa chchu vi n te amma

9. ആലപ്പുഴ (Kerala town / district of famous snake boat race) aa la ppu zha

10. ആലുവ (Another Kerala town near Ernakulam, famous for Sivarathri, on the banks of Periyar river) aa le pe

Hopefully these are easy to crack, please post answers as soon as you figure out all or some or one

My answers above, but without the clues, it would have been difficult. Please correct me. I think I haven't answered two.

Great job plum & V_Sji!

Of course, plum did better

The correct answers :

1. A K അന്തോണി : A.K. அந்தோணி (A.K.Antony pronounced "unthONi") begins with short 'അ'

2. ആദം & ഹവ്വ : ஆதம் & ஹவ்வ (Adam & Eve pronounced "Adham & havva") begins with long 'ആ'

3. അടൽ ബിഹാരി വാജ്‌പേയി : அடல் பிஹாரி வாஜ்பேயி (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) begins with short 'അ'

4. ആഫ്രിക്ക : ஆஃப்ரிக்க (Africa pronounced Afrikka) begins with long 'ആ'

5. അമേരിക്ക : அமேரிக்க (America pronounced amErikka) begins with short 'അ'

6. അഡ്‌ലൈഡ് : அட்லைட் (Adelaide pronounced ad-lied) begins with short 'അ'

7. ആദി ഭഗവന് : ஆதி பகவன் (Adhi Bhagavan) begins with long 'ആ'

8. അച്ചുവിന്റെ അമ്മ : அச்சுவின்டெ அம்ம (achuvinde amma) both words begin with short 'അ'

9. ആലപ്പുഴ : ஆலப்புழ (Alappuzha, formerly known as Alleppey) begins with long 'ആ'

10. ആലുവ : ஆலுவ (Aluva, formerly known as Alwaye) begins with long 'ആ'

As you can see, there had been some negligible errors in your posts - both of you get A+

TRIVIA / DIGRESSION (for the moment)

For those who can read Thamizh, you would have noticed that Malayalam uses the same notations for converting consonants to ye-yEh sounds (from the above quiz).

These are called 'oththa suzhikkombu' & 'retta suzhikkombu' in Thamizh.

The short one example : டெ = റെ (te) (as seen above in അച്ചുവിന്റെ / அச்சுவின்டெ)

The long one example : பே = ‌പേ (pE) (as seen above in വാജ്‌പേയി / வாஜ்பேயி)

So, for such people, two less characters to learn

Small treat for quiz scorers plum & V_Sji, an image link:

aniyaththipRAvu (Fazil's Malayalam original of kAdhalukku mariyAdhai) :

അനിയത്തിപ്രാവ് (அனியத்திப்றாவு - Sister, dove)

app_engine wrote:1. A K അന്തോണി : A.K. அந்தோணி (A.K.Antony pronounced "unthONi") begins with short 'അ'

App ji,
As I asked before where is that 'n' in anthONy. അ - a, ന്തോ - thO, ണി -Ni? Or is it implied indirectly based on the next letter? Please explain.

V_S wrote:App ji,
As I asked before where is that 'n' in anthONy. അ - a, ന്തോ - thO, ണി -Ni? Or is it implied indirectly based on the next letter? Please explain.

sorry for not answering that question! Actually, it is kind of "advanced" section in a "learn to read Malayalam" course

"ന്തോ" is a combinational letter (n+th+O, "nthO"), a feature absent in modern Thamizh.

As seen in the trivia above, the first character is the 'retta suzhikkombu' and the last character is the 'thuNai ezhuththu', for the O sound in the "thO".

The middle character is a combo of n & th : ന് + ത് = ന്ത്‌ (nth)

This combo concept is alien to modern Thamizh (except in vadamozhi usage like sree & ksha : ஸ்ரீ & க்ஷ)

No problem at all app ji. Thanks for explaining in detail. Very interesting to know this. From thamizh perspective, I concluded from the starting 'rettai suzhi kombu' and ending 'thunaikaal' letter (ന്തോ) that the middle letter is just 'tha'. So malayalam's best kept secret is, there can be multiple letters ('n' and 'tha') between them.

So, we had the lesson, exercise & quiz for the first two alphabets of Malayalam (that sound exactly like the first two alphabets of Thamizh & Hindi)

അ = அ = अ = the 'a' sound as in under
ആ = ஆ = आ = the 'aa' sound as in far


As one can discern, both characters appear very similar, except for the small extra hook in the right bottom in the case of the long sound!

Let's get ready for Lesson 2 today

Lesson 2

Second two vowels (e,ee / இ, ஈ / इ, ई / ഇ , ഈ)

As in the case of first two, these are exact equivalents of their counterparts in Thamizh & Hindi.
On the other hand, the English part of the first one is somewhat tricky When it's read as an alphabet only, the equivalent is "e" ; but when it occurs in words, it sounds the way how English letter 'i' sounds in words (it, in, India, impossible)

Let's get the words for these letters, to practice :

ഇ

ഇന്ത്യ - இந்த்ய / इन्द्य / inthya (India)

ഇളയരാജ - இளயராஜ / इलयराज / Ilayaraaja (Ilayaraajaa)

ഇഷ്ടം - இஷ்டம் / इष्टम / ishtam (Desire)

ഇവിടെ - இவிடெ / इविडे / ivide (Here)

The character looks somewhat like the Thamizh ஐ but with a flat line in the bottom portion.

Nerd,

IMHO, இ is a difficult Thamizh character to learn - it looks like jilEbi It's relatively easier in Malayalam!

Time for vinyl covers, for ഇ

First one is quite a long name, please focus only on the first character

ഇത്തിരിപ്പൂവേ ചുവന്ന പൂവേ (iththirippoovE chuvanna poovE)

As you probably figured out, "poovE" means same in both Malayalam & Thamizh ("hey flower!")



The second one is ഇന്നല്ലെങ്കില്‍ നാളെ (innallengil nALe)

This title roughly means "tomorrow, if not today".

Many TN-ers have a small confusion initially in Kerala w.r.t. "yesterday & today" words. (Not as clearly distinct as in Thamizh)

ഇന്നലെ ("innale" means yesterday, I saw Joe sir translating this as "today" in the viswaroopam thread of the hub)

ഇന്ന് ('innu' means today)

ഈ

A few words for practice of this fourth letter:

ഈ - ஈ / ई / ee - The letter is also a word, means "this", for e.g. "ee puzha" means this river

ഈറ്റ - ஈற்ற (ஈட்ட) / ईटट / eetta - Reed , not as translated in movie posters inside TN "இன்ப தாகம்" )

ഈച്ച - ஈச்ச / ईच्छ / eechcha - Fly / Housefly (thEn eechcha means honey bee)

ഈന്തപ്പന - ஈந்தப்பன / ईंदप्पन / eenthappana - Date palm, the tree that produces dates - I mean fruits

As one can see ഈ shares the first character same as its short form (ഇ) with an extra hook on the right top ("superscript" kind).

We'll see this hook on the right top used for some more letters too, as we progress! So, please make note of this "super script" thingy!

Two vinyls for ഈ

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about these movies or the two movies posted above for the kuRil

(If someone finds the vinyl covers or the associated movies offensive - due to their reputation for adult / pAluRavu content or something like that, please let me know...we can find alternates).

ഈ വഴി മാത്രം (ee vazhi mAthram, only this way)



ഈറ്റില്ലം (eetrillam, labour room...eetru = delivery + illam = home)