Comments on: Useless Skills Part 4: Ability to Write or Read Malayalam http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/ Me Thinks...therefore, me am. Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:02:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: ferbie http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-295046 ferbie Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:40:10 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-295046 being a malayali born and raised in america and attempting to learn the whole alphabet for the first time ever, i was quite overwhelmed with the familiarity you need with the letters when reading the language. sure, its phonetic, but some letters can appear very ambiguous and the words themselves are not familiar since the literature is heavily sanskritized. after spending thirty painstaking minutes trying to read just a paragraph out of a malayalam article, i discovered around 10 words that seemed totally foreign to me. as far as literacy goes, malayalam does live in a world of its own, and i'm thankful for the comprehensive flexibility of english syntax. being a malayali born and raised in america and attempting to learn the whole alphabet for the first time ever, i was quite overwhelmed with the familiarity you need with the letters when reading the language. sure, its phonetic, but some letters can appear very ambiguous and the words themselves are not familiar since the literature is heavily sanskritized. after spending thirty painstaking minutes trying to read just a paragraph out of a malayalam article, i discovered around 10 words that seemed totally foreign to me. as far as literacy goes, malayalam does live in a world of its own, and i’m thankful for the comprehensive flexibility of english syntax.

]]> By: Kiran http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-200113 Kiran Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:53:27 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-200113 Malayalam rockss.. I love Malayalam and Kerala so muccchhhhhhhh Malayalam rockss..
I love Malayalam and Kerala so muccchhhhhhhh

]]> By: Mayooresan http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-194976 Mayooresan Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:04:18 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-194976 Man... I think this is the first time I've seen someone blaming his own mother language. I'm a native Tamil from Sri Lanka. Malayalam and Sri Lankan Tamil shares more words than Indian Tamil. I can understand your accent and language better than a Indian Tamil. When I was watching movies like "Vinnai thandi varuvaya" , "Vaaranam Aayiram" I happen to learn few more malayalam words. Afterall Tamil and Malayalam belongs to same language family unlike Hindi. Man… I think this is the first time I’ve seen someone blaming his own mother language.

I’m a native Tamil from Sri Lanka. Malayalam and Sri Lankan Tamil shares more words than Indian Tamil. I can understand your accent and language better than a Indian Tamil.

When I was watching movies like “Vinnai thandi varuvaya” , “Vaaranam Aayiram” I happen to learn few more malayalam words.

Afterall Tamil and Malayalam belongs to same language family unlike Hindi.

]]> By: Luke http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-194050 Luke Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:16:48 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-194050 Hey there...I'm an American going to visit Kerala for the first time in two months with some Malayali friends. I also happen to be an avid language learner, so I'm diving head-first into learning to read the Malayalam script. Having already learned Nagari while dating a Nepali girl, I can say that the seemingly-bewildering array of combined characters really isn't that bad. (Although it's harder for me to recognize them in Malayalam than in Nagari because Malayalam has so many curves and loops, they all look the same!) However, I think you're better off with the Malayalam alphabet than with English spelling...sure English only has 26 letters, but even native English speakers struggle from the day they start school to the day they graduate to learn how to spell English...it's a disaster! A very large portion of native English-speaking adults still can't spell, and rely heavily on computer spell-checkers. Plus, it could be worse...Japanese has two alphabets, plus ~5000 borrowed Chinese characters, which can take on various pronunciations depending on how they're used in a sentence. Now that's truly a writing system to hate! (Or to take on as a challenge...your mileage may vary :) Luke Hey there…I’m an American going to visit Kerala for the first time in two months with some Malayali friends. I also happen to be an avid language learner, so I’m diving head-first into learning to read the Malayalam script. Having already learned Nagari while dating a Nepali girl, I can say that the seemingly-bewildering array of combined characters really isn’t that bad. (Although it’s harder for me to recognize them in Malayalam than in Nagari because Malayalam has so many curves and loops, they all look the same!)
However, I think you’re better off with the Malayalam alphabet than with English spelling…sure English only has 26 letters, but even native English speakers struggle from the day they start school to the day they graduate to learn how to spell English…it’s a disaster! A very large portion of native English-speaking adults still can’t spell, and rely heavily on computer spell-checkers.
Plus, it could be worse…Japanese has two alphabets, plus ~5000 borrowed Chinese characters, which can take on various pronunciations depending on how they’re used in a sentence. Now that’s truly a writing system to hate! (Or to take on as a challenge…your mileage may vary :)

Luke

]]> By: Jithin http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-178870 Jithin Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:23:27 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-178870 Well, I am American raised but am familiar with the language..I can only write a few letters, mainly the vowels in malayalam and can speak a little bit (but speak English 99% of the time), even though I'm not extremely mallu (should be expected anyway)..I think it's good to be familiar with the culture of your parents and keep the roots (and I don't mean you have to be perfect and match everything that describes a typical mallu)..but yea, many people don't use malayalam writing nowadays..even a few family friends I know who moved to US from Kerala has now forgotten because of constantly using English. Well, I am American raised but am familiar with the language..I can only write a few letters, mainly the vowels in malayalam and can speak a little bit (but speak English 99% of the time), even though I’m not extremely mallu (should be expected anyway)..I think it’s good to be familiar with the culture of your parents and keep the roots (and I don’t mean you have to be perfect and match everything that describes a typical mallu)..but yea, many people don’t use malayalam writing nowadays..even a few family friends I know who moved to US from Kerala has now forgotten because of constantly using English.

]]> By: angel http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-178366 angel Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:55:59 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-178366 I am from kerala and i know how to speak malayalam but, i dont know how to write and read malayalam. I am from kerala and i know how to speak malayalam but, i dont know how to write and read malayalam.

]]> By: dinu http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-166918 dinu Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:07:36 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-166918 you better hide your blog from those malayalam bloggers and crazy people :D you better hide your blog from those malayalam bloggers and crazy people :D

]]> By: Jennifer http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-164356 Jennifer Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:42:53 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-164356 Hi Again. Wanted to let you know the 'useless skill' of reading Malayalam has turned out to be quite useful for me recently. Today when I was trying to rectify some Onam dates for the Indian American calendar I edit at http://tinyurl.com/le3dtm I decided to take out the Matrubhumi calendar given to me by my father in law. Good that I knew the English transliterations and understood which holidays, the names of the holidays and stars. I was able to rectify the issue and it's all 'cause I keep trying to learn Malayalam! :) Hi Again.
Wanted to let you know the ‘useless skill’ of reading Malayalam has turned out to be quite useful for me recently.
Today when I was trying to rectify some Onam dates for the Indian American calendar I edit at http://tinyurl.com/le3dtm I decided to take out the Matrubhumi calendar given to me by my father in law. Good that I knew the English transliterations and understood which holidays, the names of the holidays and stars. I was able to rectify the issue and it’s all ’cause I keep trying to learn Malayalam! :)

]]> By: DPhat http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-163829 DPhat Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:49:34 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-163829 Malayalee Maamaa!! :) Malayalee Maamaa!! :)

]]> By: Rameez http://blog.binnyva.com/2009/06/useless-skills-part-4-ability-to-write-or-read-malayalam/comment-page-1/#comment-163365 Rameez Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:21:43 +0000 http://blog.binnyva.com/?p=162#comment-163365 Even I don't know how to write Malayalam properly. At times, reading produces hilarious results too. But there's something about Malayalam... "Shavam!!!" You never get the same satisfaction when you say "Corpse!!!" :D Even I don’t know how to write Malayalam properly. At times, reading produces hilarious results too. But there’s something about Malayalam…

“Shavam!!!”

You never get the same satisfaction when you say “Corpse!!!”

:D

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