When a baby arrives in a Malayali family, the grown-ups switch into a whole new language: soft repeated words, special names for food and sleep, sing-song praise, and animal sounds that are not the English ones. A parent whose first language is English often tries to translate "Come to Mummy" or "Good girl" word by word, and the result sounds like a schoolbook rather than a cuddle. Grandparents on video calls use baby words the English-speaking parent has never heard. In this episode: • Calling and cuddling • Baby words for food, sleep, hurt and bye • Praising little ones • Pets and animals at home • Animal sounds malayali kids use • An invented scene: a video call with ammamma • Language bridge • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: വാ വാ (vaa vaa) = come, come ഇങ്ങോട്ട് വാ, അമ്മേടെ അടുത്ത് (ingottu vaa, ammede aduthu) = Come here, to Mummy കുഞ്ഞേ (kunje) = little one ചക്കരേ (chakkare) = sweetie (from chakkara, jaggery, a sweet) മുത്തേ (muthe) = my pearl, my treasure വാവേ (vaave) = baby, little darling അമ്മേടെ മുത്ത് (ammede muthu) = Mummy's treasure മാമം (maamam) = food (baby word) മാമം ഉണ്ണാം (maamam unnaam) = Let's eat our food ഉവ്വാവ് (uvvaavu) = a hurt, an ouchie ഉവ്വാവ് ആയോ? (uvvaavu aayo?) = Did you get hurt? സാരമില്ല, ഉവ്വാവ് പോയി (saaramilla, uvvaavu poyi) = It's okay, the hurt has gone ഉറങ്ങിക്കോ (urangikko) = go to sleep now ടാറ്റാ (taataa) = bye-bye അച്ഛന് ടാറ്റാ പറ (achanu taataa para) = Say bye-bye to Daddy പിച്ച വെക്കുക (picha vekkuka) = to take first baby steps 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.