Oh, I love Tamil, follow it somewhat and dream of speaking it someday. But Malayalam is my mother tongue and I so miss speaking it. That somehow means I miss my Mom, Dad, Geetu… the works.
I wish I could read, speak and write every language in the world. It would be wonderful, don’t you think, to able to understand everyone?
I feel very embarrased when I cannot speak a language fluently. When I speak broken Kannada, I get the feeling people think me a snob. I don’t like that. When I get a phrase right and sound like a local, I think “Man, that’s neat!”. I like that feeling.
MumbaiyiluLLa Indu engane ithra manOharamaaya MalayaLam samsaarikkunnu ennathaaNadbhutham! By the way, if you really want to write Malayalam using the computer, take a look at varamozhi.sourceforge.net. With the help of Varamozhi and related software, fonts etc., I (and a number of others) have been able to blog in Malayalam.
I know to read/write Malayalam but my immediate concern lies in getting to speak Malayalam again. My hubby doesn’t speak Malayalam (his mother tongue is Gujarati) and I don’t have any relatives in Atlanta with whom I can converse regularly. Adaanuh problem…
I thought Atlanta was a hive of Mallus. I have a couple of Mallu friends there myself.
My wife and I talk in Malayalam, though the kids usually speak only English. Now that we are getting Surya TV, my daughter is slowly picking up Malayalam.
i used to yearn to speak marathi…but my new room-mate solved that problem….we just prefer talkin in marathi though neither of us speaks that at home…..
Back when I shared a house with a colleage at Pune, we used to talk to each other in the language we felt most comfortable. He would talk to me in Gujarati, his mother tongue and I would reply in Hindi.
Better yet, my network maintainance guy used solve my problems in Marathi and I would reply to him in Hindi. He used to go around telling people I understood everything he said. Mostly I just guessed based on the English terms that he used. The most Marathi I could ever speak “Mala Marathi Mahit Nahi”
well thats how i learnt gujarati….2 of my aunts are gujju’s and they would talk to me in gujarati (inspite of being very fluent with english) and i would reply in english…in time i picked it up too
technically….no……my family is from kutch but we have been in Maharashtra for way too long….we still speak kutchi at home….but absolutely everyone in my family speaks marathi very fluently….in fact my dad and uncles and aunts studied in a marathi medium school
My wife and I decided to help each other. I was supposed to talk to her in Malayalam, while she was expected to respond in Hindi. After four years, her Malayalam has improved a lot, while I still can’t manage more than few words of colloquial Hindi. I expect it’s the effort one puts into it that makes a difference.
Me, too…if only just to speak to (and understand) Amma! I especially felt that when I was at the ashram in Kerala this past summer. When I see her in the US, there are lots of people in my position….not so there! As a westerner, you have to line up early to just maybe get one of a few tokens to get a question translated, whereas the Malayalees just get to go right up and talk with her, without any barriers. So, I’d love to be able to speak Malayalam.
Btw, hi! I saw that you added me and so I added you back. FYI, I’m in a serious crunch time in my grad program now (masters thesis, dissertation proposal and about 20-25 internship applications with five essays each due over in the coming weeks). I just wanted to warn you, lest I sound like my journal is always full of school stress. ;-D
As a westerner, you have to line up early to just maybe get one of a few tokens to get a question translated, whereas the Malayalees just get to go right up and talk with her, without any barriers. So, I’d love to be able to speak Malayalam.
🙂 Can understand what you mean! My problem is, Malayalam is my mother tongue and yet I am so hopeless at it..:-(
warmpinkglow says:
I really want to speak Tamil.
October 11, 2005 — 2:56 pm
Lakshmi says:
Oh, I love Tamil, follow it somewhat and dream of speaking it someday. But Malayalam is my mother tongue and I so miss speaking it. That somehow means I miss my Mom, Dad, Geetu… the works.
October 11, 2005 — 3:03 pm
mrsgollum says:
tamil nalla teriyum..
October 12, 2005 — 3:24 am
Lakshmi says:
Adayo? Enda bhaagyam…:-)
October 12, 2005 — 8:45 am
warmpinkglow says:
Ennaku Tamil thereeadu.
(It’s hard to transliterate!)
October 17, 2005 — 1:21 pm
notanangel78 says:
I’m going to mallu-land this weekend. so i’ll get to hear a LOT of malayalam:D (Even the TVM malayalam that is spoken really fast)!
October 12, 2005 — 12:00 am
Lakshmi says:
Good for you! At this point, Malayalam spoken at ANY speed will do…:-)
October 12, 2005 — 8:45 am
mrsgollum says:
gets to the best of us…and passes:)
October 12, 2005 — 3:25 am
Lakshmi says:
Hmmm, not really. It has been passing over and coming back since a long time now.
October 12, 2005 — 8:45 am
pink_illusions says:
Oh me too 🙁
October 12, 2005 — 6:44 am
Lakshmi says:
Girl, you live with your parents, don’t you? What excuse do you have….:-)))
October 12, 2005 — 8:46 am
pink_illusions says:
That I can barely speak Malayalam and it’s just easier to talk English with my parents *embarassed*
October 12, 2005 — 9:56 am
Lakshmi says:
Arre, ask them to start talking to you and then it will flow like you have never seen before…:-)
October 12, 2005 — 1:29 pm
arunshanbhag says:
Happy Vijaya Dashami!
don’t you get to speak Malayalam with hubby? what if he does not understand a single word! :-))
October 12, 2005 — 7:01 am
Lakshmi says:
Happy Dussehra, Arun! My day got off such a great start… my Kriya and meditation were wonderful.
Speaking Malayalam with Pinch… We decided that we’d do it on Mondays, at least I would! Plan has not kicked off yet..:-)
October 12, 2005 — 8:47 am
fugney says:
I wish I could read, speak and write every language in the world. It would be wonderful, don’t you think, to able to understand everyone?
I feel very embarrased when I cannot speak a language fluently. When I speak broken Kannada, I get the feeling people think me a snob. I don’t like that. When I get a phrase right and sound like a local, I think “Man, that’s neat!”. I like that feeling.
October 12, 2005 — 7:17 am
Lakshmi says:
I feel very embarrased when I cannot speak a language fluently. When I speak broken Kannada, I get the feeling people think me a snob.
Same here! With Malayalam, of course…Of course, language is not a barrier when it comes to true expression but it is such a handy tool, na?
October 12, 2005 — 8:48 am
fugney says:
Oh yes!:D
October 13, 2005 — 6:54 am
Lakshmi says:
Nalla idea aanuh. Pakshe *you’ll find me unusually uncommunicative*!
Ennaalum try cheyyaam!
October 12, 2005 — 1:31 pm
jayasankarvs says:
Ee prasthavanayil ethra English vakkukal undennu nokkoo..
October 13, 2005 — 4:10 am
Lakshmi says:
Enda cheyyaa? Pakshe shramichillaa ennu paraayaan pattilla..:-)
October 13, 2005 — 11:55 am
paappaan says:
EnthathiSayamE
MumbaiyiluLLa Indu engane ithra manOharamaaya MalayaLam samsaarikkunnu ennathaaNadbhutham! By the way, if you really want to write Malayalam using the computer, take a look at varamozhi.sourceforge.net. With the help of Varamozhi and related software, fonts etc., I (and a number of others) have been able to blog in Malayalam.
October 20, 2005 — 8:16 pm
Lakshmi says:
Re: EnthathiSayamE
I know to read/write Malayalam but my immediate concern lies in getting to speak Malayalam again. My hubby doesn’t speak Malayalam (his mother tongue is Gujarati) and I don’t have any relatives in Atlanta with whom I can converse regularly. Adaanuh problem…
October 21, 2005 — 6:13 am
paappaan says:
Re: EnthathiSayamE
I thought Atlanta was a hive of Mallus. I have a couple of Mallu friends there myself.
My wife and I talk in Malayalam, though the kids usually speak only English. Now that we are getting Surya TV, my daughter is slowly picking up Malayalam.
October 21, 2005 — 9:05 am
Lakshmi says:
Re: EnthathiSayamE
I barely know any Mallus here…:-(
October 21, 2005 — 9:45 am
hemya says:
i used to yearn to speak marathi…but my new room-mate solved that problem….we just prefer talkin in marathi though neither of us speaks that at home…..
October 12, 2005 — 1:51 pm
mallu says:
Back when I shared a house with a colleage at Pune, we used to talk to each other in the language we felt most comfortable. He would talk to me in Gujarati, his mother tongue and I would reply in Hindi.
Better yet, my network maintainance guy used solve my problems in Marathi and I would reply to him in Hindi. He used to go around telling people I understood everything he said. Mostly I just guessed based on the English terms that he used. The most Marathi I could ever speak “Mala Marathi Mahit Nahi”
October 12, 2005 — 3:13 pm
Lakshmi says:
Oh, once you start making the rounds of Govt. offices in B’bay, you learn all the Marathi you need!
October 13, 2005 — 11:58 am
hemya says:
well thats how i learnt gujarati….2 of my aunts are gujju’s and they would talk to me in gujarati (inspite of being very fluent with english) and i would reply in english…in time i picked it up too
October 13, 2005 — 1:46 pm
Lakshmi says:
Isn’t Marathi your mother-tongue?
October 13, 2005 — 11:57 am
hemya says:
technically….no……my family is from kutch but we have been in Maharashtra for way too long….we still speak kutchi at home….but absolutely everyone in my family speaks marathi very fluently….in fact my dad and uncles and aunts studied in a marathi medium school
October 13, 2005 — 1:45 pm
deelight says:
Enda visheshangal? Sukhom aano?
Deepti de oru news illelo, ende peti?
Enuf Malayalam right?
October 13, 2005 — 12:12 am
Lakshmi says:
Eppozhum sukham thanne..:-)
Deeptiyude email undaayirinnu korachu divasam munpe. *Just hibernating* ennuh paranjoo.
October 13, 2005 — 11:57 am
quizling says:
My wife and I decided to help each other. I was supposed to talk to her in Malayalam, while she was expected to respond in Hindi. After four years, her Malayalam has improved a lot, while I still can’t manage more than few words of colloquial Hindi. I expect it’s the effort one puts into it that makes a difference.
October 14, 2005 — 4:36 pm
Lakshmi says:
🙂
Sounds like a good idea. We’ve been trying to implement something similar since some time now.
October 15, 2005 — 7:46 am
warmpinkglow says:
That is an excellent idea. Though, hubby refuses to.
October 17, 2005 — 1:18 pm
iswari says:
Me, too…if only just to speak to (and understand) Amma! I especially felt that when I was at the ashram in Kerala this past summer. When I see her in the US, there are lots of people in my position….not so there! As a westerner, you have to line up early to just maybe get one of a few tokens to get a question translated, whereas the Malayalees just get to go right up and talk with her, without any barriers. So, I’d love to be able to speak Malayalam.
Btw, hi! I saw that you added me and so I added you back. FYI, I’m in a serious crunch time in my grad program now (masters thesis, dissertation proposal and about 20-25 internship applications with five essays each due over in the coming weeks). I just wanted to warn you, lest I sound like my journal is always full of school stress. ;-D
October 18, 2005 — 6:41 pm
Lakshmi says:
As a westerner, you have to line up early to just maybe get one of a few tokens to get a question translated, whereas the Malayalees just get to go right up and talk with her, without any barriers. So, I’d love to be able to speak Malayalam.
🙂 Can understand what you mean! My problem is, Malayalam is my mother tongue and yet I am so hopeless at it..:-(
October 19, 2005 — 6:10 am
pritygirl says:
i can help you, SERIOUSLY!!!!
November 21, 2005 — 3:46 am
Lakshmi says:
🙂 Thanks for offering!
December 6, 2005 — 2:43 pm