You may study Malayalam for a year or two, and then live with it for forty. This class is about those forty years. What decays when you stop (retrieval speed first, then production, comprehension last) and what barely decays at all (accent and grammar). That's why a five-year lapse is a pause, not a reset. You also learn the four things that keep a language alive with the least effort, why integrative motivation outlasts instrumental motivation, the three plateaus and how to get past them, and why your accent is evidence of effort, not a defect. Words and phrases in this class: എല്ലാ ദിവസവും (ellaa divasavum) – every day കുറച്ച് നേരം (kurachu neram) – a little while പരിശീലനം (parisheelanam) – practice മറന്നുപോയി (marannupoyi) – I have forgotten ഓർമ്മയുണ്ട് (ormmayundu) – I remember വീണ്ടും തുടങ്ങാം (veendum thudangaam) – let's start again സുഹൃത്ത് (suhruthu) – friend ശീലം (sheelam) – habit ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടുള്ള (buddhimuttulla) – difficult മനസ്സിലാകും (manassilaakum) – will be understood പതുക്കെ പതുക്കെ (pathukke pathukke) – little by little In this class: • What fades when you stop using a language, and what survives • The four things that keep Malayalam alive with almost no study • Attach the language to something that will still be there in ten years • Three plateaus, and why your accent is not something to erase Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.