Spoken Malayalam will not get you through a government form. This class teaches the other register — the written one. Malayalam is diglossic: the language of letters, forms and news differs from speech in vocabulary, verb endings and sentence length. You will hear the differences side by side, then learn the fixed structure of the അപേക്ഷ (application), the most important formal document in Indian life, read aloud in full, along with the sick-leave letter, email openings and closings, and the stock phrases you can reuse unchanged. Words and phrases in this class: അപേക്ഷ (apeksha) – application ബഹുമാനപ്പെട്ട (bahumaanappetta) – respected (formal opening) വിഷയം (vishayam) – subject ആയതിനാൽ (aayathinaal) – therefore അപേക്ഷിക്കുന്നു (apekshikkunnu) – I request വിശ്വസ്തതയോടെ (vishwasthathayode) – yours faithfully ഇതോടൊപ്പം ചേർത്തിട്ടുണ്ട് (ithodoppam cherthittundu) – enclosed herewith ആവശ്യമായ രേഖകൾ (aavashyamaaya rekhakal) – the necessary documents ദയവായി പരിഗണിക്കണം (dayavaayi pariganikkanam) – please consider this അവധി (avadhi) – leave, holiday അറിയിക്കുന്നു (ariyikkunnu) – I hereby inform നന്ദിയോടെ (nandiyode) – with thanks In this class: • Diglossia: why written Malayalam is almost a second language • The fixed structure of an application, with a complete example read aloud • A sick-leave letter, and the written -ആൽ that replaces spoken കാരണം • Email and letter openings and closings, and when English is the norm Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.