This American's love for Malayalam grew into a passion project. But how did it all start?
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00:00I went, sat, and ate. We would say, Nyan poyitthu, irinithu, thayitthu.
00:12Namaskaram, Nyan Elikittyanith, and welcome to my YouTube channel.
00:16Namaskaram, today's video is about Akkangali.
00:311, 2, 3, 4, 5
00:47Words that end with vowels typically take yoru at the end.
00:52For example, I told mother, amma, would become, Nyan ammayoru paranya.
01:16I thought, if I ever meet someone with a different background as me, I'd like to learn their language.
01:38After things started getting serious, I thought, okay, sure, let me start learning Malayalam.
01:47You know, there's that joke about the Malu radar, like you hear someone and you're like, nathagavde a?
01:54You know, it's like a cheat code.
02:04When I moved to Vietnam, I realized how much I was used to the Malayali community in Dubai, because it's non-existent in Vietnam.
02:16I had just been married three years at that point.
02:18I felt like, wow, we did so much around like Kerala culture and food and everything in the UAE that it's definitely missed once you leave it.
02:31I would say that I'm intermediate.
02:33I'm not a complete beginner, but I'm not an expert.
02:35I can't give a speech in Malayalam without a lot, a lot of practice.
02:38The word used to confirm something is ade.
02:41So when we make this into a question, adeo, it's like, is it?
02:47I would use the same techniques for teaching English to teach myself Malayalam.
02:53So making diagrams, drawing pictures, making sample sentences, things like that.
03:06Malayalis do feel that kind of really good feeling when they see their language being promoted or their culture being noticed.
03:16Suddenly, if I'm in a shop and I realize that the person is a Malayali, I'll be like, oh, and then the whole demeanor changes.
03:28The whole conversation changes.
03:34Several interviews are always just like, which do you like better?
03:37Or what is your favorite food?
03:39Or what is your favorite place?
03:41Oh, yeah, I really like Mohanlal in Vanaprastha, you know, or, oh, yeah, I do really like to eat Meen Polichat.
03:49You know, it's like, oh, cool.
03:51She knows about these things.
03:56I do remember when I was in Kolrikode, I was walking to a hotel and there were three guys sitting on a bench and they started, like, making catcalls at me.
04:07So I turned around and I said, do you have a problem, dude?
04:12And one of them just fell off the bench because he was so shocked.
04:17I talked back in Malayali.
04:31It started with me wanting to connect better with my partner.
04:34And now I'm helping others do the same.
04:37Ali Poli!