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

Hi app,

So I visited Trivandrum between March 9 and 11 and seeing the hoardings everywhere, it intrigued me to map the letters and it was easy when there was an English translation below and of course, letters like zha, ka were easy, from a Tamil background. So I came back to Chennai (never followed this thread fully. Only on and off), read this thread up fully in 1 day (know to read and write Tamil and Hindi/Sanskrit. So it was very manageable) and I've been looking up Mallu stories online and stumbled on this http://www.thenewsminute.com/cctv-footage-of-dalit-man-hacked-to-death

Shall try transcribing the Malayalam here. Tell me if I'm right or wrong

PiNAkka jAthikkAriye vivAham veithathin Dalit yuvAvine vettikkolluNNa CCTV drushyangaL

durabhimAnakkolayeN samshayam

piNakka jAthikkAriye vivAham veithin 21-kAranAya Dalit yuvAvine vayuvinte bandhyukkaL pattApakal vettikkoNNathAyi ArOpaNam. NgAyarAzhcha (?) vaikkitta UdumalappettaiyilAn sambhavam.

sambhavaththil vayu 19 kAriyAya Gausalyaykkum (I think it's Kausalya written as Gausalyay?) sAramAyi parukketrittuntam. sambavaththekkurichch police anveShaNam thutanyiyittuntu.

arivALugaLumAyi motor bikkugaLilEththiya mooNu akramigaLute cctv drushyangaL sAmooyhyamAyayamannaLil pracharikkuNNuntu. iva yaThArththamANNO eNNa vilaiyiruththAngal kazhiththittilla.

ettumAsam mubAN Rangar Gausalyaye vivAham kazhikkuNNath. Udumalappetta svaderiyAya Rangar PoLLAchchi PA Engineering College-il avasAnavarSha engineering vidyArththiyAn Rangar. Palaniyile swAdheenamuLLa jAthiyil janichcha Gausalya Udumalappettaiyile oru College-il BA Psych (?) paThikkuNNu. NgAyarAzhcha vaikkitta iruvarum shopping-in erangiyappOzhAN sambhavamuNtAyath. prathigaLe pitikootAl prathEyaga police sangham niyOgapettittuntu.

"Pallar allengil Devendrakula veLLALar eN parayuNNa jAthiyilpettavarAN ngannaL.peNNinrEth ngannaLekkAl uyarNNa jAthiyAN. avarute vivAhaththE thudakkaththin peNNinte veettukkAr ethirththiruNNu. 15 divasam mutinch Rangarin nEre vayabheeShaNiyumuNtAyi." Rangarinte bandhyuvAya Ganeshan parannyu.

"eth oru doorabhimAna kkolayeN vENNam samrayikkAl. kurachchu divasam (mungalch? think it is "a few days back". Amirite?) Rangarum Bhaarayayum thirichchu vaNNathAn. appOzhAN bheeShaNi uNdAyath" Ganeshan parannyu.

daridrakutumbAngamAN Rangar. koolippaNikkAraNAn achchan VeluchchAmi. ethin muncha (?) raNdu thavaNathnte magan nEre vayashrammuNdAyittuNden VeluchchAmi parannyu.

Sorry this is a tragic news about a caste feud and honor killing   and I took this up for translation. But this was the link I initially spotted.

WOW, DM, awesome!

Wonderful to see you getting this reading so quickly and also taking effort to read / transliterate and post!

Fantastic!

Well, there are some minor corrections to be made here and there (if I don't do that, I'm not a good guide ) and I'll post them as soon as possible!

Before I do problem words and some characters, one conceptual thingy (that applies to many words in this article and hence need not be repeated for every one of them).

That of "kutriyalugaram" (குற்றியலுகரம்) in Thamizh actually.

In words such as இன்று, நன்று, அது, இது (may be incorrect examples but those that end with "உ /u" sounds), there is part of the last mAththirai / syllable that is not explicitly pronounced. i.e. we don't say, "indR-u" with one mAththirai for the last u in full but cut it by half).

In Malayalam, such words are written simply as CONSONANTS , that is with that moon symbol on top.

So, they are not actually consonants but kutRiyalugarams

For example, in that article, in the heading, the last character of the word "ചെയ്തതിന്" , is a kutRiyalugaram. Means, you got to add "u" but not full mAththirai but half mAththirai!

That way, it can be transliterated as "cheythathinu"  

Likewise in a number of word endings as applicable in the context

BTW, the first character of that word is not 'Va' (Thamizh வ = Malayalam വ ) but "cha" (Thamizh ச = Malayalam ച) and these two could be initially confusing for a Thamizh person.

What is even more confusing for a Thamizh person is the Malayalam character for "kha" (the Hindi ख = Malayalam ഖ )

To make it more clear,

व  = വ (വനം = vanam)

च  = ച (ചന്ദ്രിക = chandrika)

ख = ഖ (മുഖം = mukham)

Okay. Yeah! I'm sure I got cha right in several other places but got it wrong here. Damn! And thanks for clarifying the kutriyalugaram funda. Was severely having a doubt there and wondering if I had to stop or add an "u" at the end. nanRi hai  Will try transcribing some other article soon

Another conceptual thing is about n+n (which you've transliterated as N in a number of places).

Unlike Thamizh where there are three "n" sounding characters - tip of tongue, middle and strong (ந, ன, ண ), there are only two in Malayalam - soft and strong (ന & ണ) as in Hindi.

Then, what is this " ന്ന  "?

That is n+na  ( ന് + ന)


So, പിന്നാക്ക = pinnAkka / பின்னாக்க...

Another typical confusion for a Thamizh person can be noticed with your transliteration of the word for bride

വധു
വധുവിന്റെ

That second character (ധ) is "dh" (Hindi ध for which there's no Thamizh equivalent but the Malayalam character looks exactly like the Thamizh character for ya - ய).

So, it is vadhu (bride).

Let me share a humorous thing.

There is a beautiful place called Dhoni near Palakkad and the first time I noticed that on the buses, I was reading it wrong (ധോണി) and was wondering "what kind of name is that"

Some more observations / clarifications :

ബന്ധുക്കൾ = bandhukkaL (there is no Y as in bandhyukkaL)

ഗൗസല്യ = Gausalya - yes, correct - don't know why they named Kausalya in Malayalam like that

ഞായറാഴ്ച = gnAyaRAzhcha (ஞாயறாழ்ச = ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை)

തുടങ്ങിയിട്ടുണ്ട് = thutangngiyittuNdu (துடங்ஙியிட்டுண்டு)

മുമ്പാണ് = mumbANu (மும்பாணு)

ശങ്കർ = Shankar (शंकर / "ஷ"ங்கர்  - That corresponding "sh" is no longer used in Thamizh vadamozhi letters in general, except for ஸ்ரீ, which is equivalent of Malayalam ശ്രീ or Shree)

That way, സ്വദേശി = swadeshi / स्वदेशी

ബി.എസ്‌സിക്ക് = B.Sckku (பி.எஸ்ஸிக்கு)

പിടികൂടാൻ = pitikootAn (that last character is ன், the consonant. BTW, this is generally pronounced 'pidi koodAn', even though there is no D)

നിയോഗിക്കപ്പെട്ടിട്ടുണ്ട് = niyOgikkappettittuNtu (நியோகிக்கப் பெட்டிட்டுண்டு)

ഞങ്ങൾ /   ഞങ്ങളേക്കാൾ = gnangngaL / gnangngaLEkkAL (ஞங்ஙள் / ஞங்ஙளேக்காள்)

തുടക്കത്തിൽ = thudakkaththil (That last character is l / ல், துடக்கத்தில்)

മുൻപ് = munpu / முன்பு (കുറച്ച് ദിവസം മുൻപ്  = some days back, you're right)

വധഭീഷണി = vadhabheeshani, வதபீஷணி means "threat to kill"



I think I covered all the syntax that I saw

Yeah! Thanks  when I was reading the paper today morning, I saw his name as being Shankar and knew I'd goofed up ra with sha despite getting ra and sha right on other occasions. Perils of a non-Malayali learning the script I guess. Consistency is not there in deciphering it right 100% of the time. Thanks for the other corrections too. Will keep at it.

Started re-hosting the vinyl cover images.

Could take some time but will eventually be done

All images are back in their slots

Hopefully this hosting server will keep them longer!