Reading the Malayalam script
๐ฏ Read your name and simple words.
๐ฃ๏ธ Say these out loud
- เด เด เด เด เด เด ๐ a aa i ee u oo the first vowels Malayalam has 15 vowels and 36 consonants โ the fullest set of any Dravidian script, because it also writes all the Sanskrit sounds.
- เด เด เด เด เด ๐ ka kha ga gha nga the throat consonants Unlike Tamil, Malayalam writes all four k-sounds separately โ which is why it can spell Sanskrit words exactly.
- เด + เดพ = เดเดพ ๐ ka + aa = kaa how the vowel mark works
- เดฎเดฒเดฏเดพเดณเด ๐ ma-la-YAA-lam Malayalam เดฎ + เดฒ + เดฏเดพ + เดณ + เด. The เด at the end is the nasal.
- เดตเตเดณเตเดณเด ๐ VEL-lam water Note the doubled เดณ โ the curled l twice over.
- เดจเดจเตเดฆเดฟ ๐ NAN-di thank you เดจ + เดจเตเดฆเดฟ, with the เดฆ tucked into the เดจ.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
๐ Old script and new script
Malayalam simplified its writing in 1971, separating some stacked consonants to make typing possible. Older books use the traditional stacked forms; newer ones use the reformed shapes. Both are correct and readers handle both.
- Traditional เดจเตเดฑ against reformed เตปเดฑ
- Signboards, newspapers and phones mostly use the reformed forms.
- Literature printed before the 1980s uses the old ones.
- Learn the reformed shapes first; the old ones come with reading.
๐ Among the people
The rounded letters exist because Malayalam was written with a metal stylus on palm leaf, where a straight line would tear along the grain. The whole look of the script comes from that one physical fact.
๐ Practise today
- Write your name in Malayalam.
- Copy the first consonant row daily for a week.
- Read five Malayalam film titles letter by letter.
