A phone call is the hardest listening test of all. You cannot see faces or hands, the line may crackle, and parents speak quickly because they are happy to hear you. English speakers often freeze, waiting for a full sentence they can translate, and miss the caring questions that come one after another. In this episode: • Key words before you listen • Section one: hello and food • Section two: work and weather • Section three: health, plans and goodbye • Did you catch it? • Language bridge • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: വിശേഷം (vishesham) = news സുഖം (sukham) = well, fine എല്ലാവർക്കും (ellaavarkkum) = to everyone, for everyone കഴിച്ചോ? (kazhicho?) = have you eaten? രാത്രി (raathri) = night തിരക്ക് (thirakku) = busyness, rush കുഴപ്പമില്ല (kuzhappamilla) = no problem, it's fine തണുപ്പ് (thanuppu) = cold മരുന്ന് (marunnu) = medicine തീർന്നു (theernnu) = has run out, is finished മാസം (maasam) = month Learn Spoken Malayalam at Home: a complete course in everyday spoken Malayalam for English speakers. Native Malayalam pronunciation, every phrase in Malayalam script, Manglish and English, plus a language bridge comparing Malayalam with other world languages. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.