English speakers say "I work at a bank" or "I'm in Year Ten", and they try to build those sentences word by word, often ending up with "njaan oru bank aanu", which means "I am a bank". In Malayalam, you "do a job" in a place, and the place takes the ending -il, "in". Kerala relatives also ask very direct questions about work, marks and plans for the future, and they mean them kindly. In this episode: • What do you do? • Where you work • The working day • Studies and exams • Ambitions and plans • Language bridge • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: ജോലി (joli) = job, work എന്താ ജോലി? (enthaa joli?) = what's your job? എന്ത് ചെയ്യുന്നു? (enthu cheyyunnu?) = what do you do? ഞാൻ ഒരു ടീച്ചറാണ് (njaan oru teecharaanu) = I'm a teacher ഞാൻ എഞ്ചിനീയറാണ് (njaan enjineeyaraanu) = I'm an engineer അവൾ ഡോക്ടറാണ് (aval doktaraanu) = she's a doctor ഞാൻ ഒരു ബാങ്കിൽ ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്നു (njaan oru baankil joli cheyyunnu) = I work at a bank വീട്ടിലിരുന്ന് ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്നു (veettilirunnu joli cheyyunnu) = I work from home ഓഫീസ് (ophees) = office ഓഫീസിൽ പോകണം (opheesil pokanam) = I have to go to the office മീറ്റിംഗ് ഉണ്ട് (meettingu undu) = I have a meeting ജോലി കഴിഞ്ഞോ? (joli kazhinjo?) = have you finished work? ഇന്ന് ഭയങ്കര ജോലിയായിരുന്നു (innu bhayankara joliyaayirunnu) = today was really busy ലീവ് (leevu) = leave, time off, the everyday word അവധി (avadhi) = holiday, leave, the more formal word ഇന്ന് ലീവാണ് (innu leevaanu) = I'm on leave today നാളെ അവധിയാണ് (naale avadhiyaanu) = tomorrow is a holiday 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.