After fourteen episodes of sounds, script, numbers and time, most learners rush ahead to grammar. A few weeks later the old English habits creep back: long vowels shrink, double consonants go single, the curled sounds flatten and the final half u turns into a round "oo". The typical mistake is to assume that understanding a sound once means owning it, and to slip back into reading Manglish as English. In this episode: • Vowel length and the half u • Doubles, curled sounds and zha • R, l, nasals and breathy sounds • Rhythm and reading manglish • Script basics • Numbers and time • Language bridge • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: പടം (padam) = picture, photo പാടം (paadam) = paddy field മല (mala) = hill മാല (maala) = necklace വീട് (veeDu) = house. Flat lips: a relaxed half u. വന്നു (vannu) = came. Round lips: a full u. ആണ് + ഓ gives ആണോ? (aaNo?) = is it? ചോറ് + ഉണ്ടോ gives ചോറുണ്ടോ? (choRuNDo?) = is there rice? ഇല (ila) = leaf ഇല്ല (illa) = no, there isn't പടി (paDi) = step പട്ടി (paTTi) = dog പനി (pani) = fever പണി (paNi) = work പുലി (puli) = leopard പുളി (puLi) = tamarind മഴ (mazha) = rain കോഴി (kozhi) = chicken കഴിച്ചോ? (kazhicho?) = have you eaten? ആര് (aaru) = who ആറ് (aaRu) = six എന്റെ (ente) = my. Said simply as "ente". ഞാൻ (njaan) = I എങ്ങനെ (engane) = how, with the ng of "singer" സുഖമാണോ? (sukhamaano?) = are you well? ഭക്ഷണം (bhakshaNam) = food വരുമോ? (varumo?) = will you come? Rising on the final o. എന്താ പേര്? (enthaa peru?) = what's your name? Level, then falling. 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.