Purr-Nun'-See-AY-Shun...
Back to main Malayalam pronounciation page
Pronounciation for other South Indians
For anyone with background in any South Asian language, Malayalam pronounciation is relatively easy. Malayalam is, after all, one of the South Asian languages!
OK. What you're about to see might look very pointless at first, but believe me, it'll come in handy later! (In Malayalam we say that, in the same way a gooseberry (nellikkaa) is bittersweet, the advice that you hear at first may seem bitter, but ultimately, it will be sweet!!)
Now, below we have the third row of consonants in the Malayalam alphabet. This is the same as the third row of consonants in any other South Asian alphabet, so I know you can pronounce these (!!):
/Ta/ /Tha/ /Da/ /Dha/ /Na/
(/Ta/, for example, is pronounced like "tah" with a South Asian accent.)
These letters are called retroflex consonants. Keep this in mind; it'll be important later!!!
The sounds you actually have to learn are the following:
/La/ /zha/ /rra/
/La/ and /zha/: This is where the retroflex consonants become important.
You know how the retroflex consonants are pronounced essentially by flicking your tongue forward? The same applies to /La/ and /zha/.
/La/ is easier to pronounce. All you have to do is say /la/ like a retroflex consonant, i.e. moving your tongue back.
/zha/, though, is much more complicated. First you have to know how to pronounce the sound "rah" the way the Americans or English do. THEN you take THAT sound and pronounce it like a retroflex consonant!
The letter /rra/ is pronounced like the trilled Scottish/Spanish/Italian "r."
To pronounce this letter, you're supposed to vibrate the tip of your tongue against your gums....Not helping, eh? Don't know how to actually MAKE your tongue vibrate? I wish I knew how to describe that (for the sake of any students who find it too hard to make a rolling "r" sound). But if you CAN make your tongue vibrate, well then.......
Hooray! NOW you can pronounce all of the sounds in Malayalam just like a Malayalee!