The Malayalam of work — jobs, offices, salary, leave — and then the part almost nobody teaches: what Malayalam turns into on a form and at a government counter, where it becomes a different language from the one you have been learning. I am Dr. Reshmi R. Nair, an applied linguist from Kerala. I have taught hundreds of learners to speak Malayalam as it is actually spoken. THE WORKPLACE ജോലി - joli - work, and also a job പണി - pani - work, earthier and more manual, and it also means trouble സ്ഥാപനം - sthapanam - institution, establishment സഹപ്രവർത്തകൻ - sahapravarthakan - colleague ജീവനക്കാരൻ - jeevanakkaran - employee, staff member ശമ്പളം - shambalam - salary ജോലിസമയം - jolisamayam - working hours അവധി - avadhi - leave, a holiday യോഗം - yogam - meeting അപേക്ഷ - apeksha - application ഒപ്പ് - oppu - signature രേഖകൾ - rekhakal - documents പകർപ്പ് - pakarppu - a copy THE VERBS ജോലി ചെയ്യുക - joli cheyyuka - to work തുടങ്ങുക - thudanguka - to begin തീർക്കുക - theerkkuka - to finish something ഏൽപ്പിക്കുക - elppikkuka - to hand over, to entrust ഓർമിപ്പിക്കുക - ormippikkuka - to remind ശ്രദ്ധിക്കുക - shraddhikkuka - to attend to, to pay attention THE OTHER MALAYALAM — THE ONE ON THE FORM Official Malayalam uses a Sanskritised layer that spoken Malayalam never touches. You need to RECOGNISE it, and never try to speak it. പ്രസ്തുത - prasthutha - the aforesaid മേൽപ്പറഞ്ഞ - melpparanja - the above-mentioned ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട - bandhappetta - concerned, relevant അപേക്ഷകൻ - apekshakan - the applicant സമർപ്പിക്കുക - samarppikkuka - to submit നടപടി - nadapadi - action, proceedings തീർപ്പ് - theerppu - a ruling, a resolution ഉത്തരവ് - uttharavu - an order Linguists call this diglossia: one speech community keeping a high written variety and an everyday spoken one side by side. Kerala's version is unusually wide. Which counter has defeated you so far? Comment and I will give you the sentence. #LearnMalayalam #Malayalam #Kerala