A Comprehensive Guide to Learning Malayalam as a Second Language

If you want your child to make use of their spare time in a practical manner, there is nothing like learning a new language. Being bilingual or multilingual can prove to be incredibly advantageous, both in your personal and professional lives. Malayalam is the official language of the state of Kerala in India. Globally, there are more than 38 million Malayalam speakers. Malayalam, which belongs to the Dravidian family of languages, is considered one of the hardest languages to learn for native English speakers as it has a complex spoken and written grammatical structure. But it is a beautiful language and a great language to learn if you want your child to add a more complex language to their repertoire. And today, you can find plenty of resources to help with that, including Malayalam stories for kids that are accompanied by English text to make learning easier.
In this article, we are going to look at a few benefits of learning Malayalam as well as tips to learn the language.
What Are the Benefits of Learning Malayalam?
Read on to know a few reasons why your child should learn Malayalam.
Explore a new culture
One of the biggest benefits of learning Malayalam, or any language for that matter, is that it opens a whole new world of culture, literature, music, and entertainment. As the learning progresses, you will find your child getting more interested in the culture that is tied to the language.
Connect with other Malayalam-speaking people
There are millions of Malayalam speakers around the world. And knowing this language provides the unique advantage of being able to communicate with them in their native tongue. This can be especially helpful if you travel to Kerala because it will make your experience much more convenient and enjoyable.
Improve your brain power
Learning a new language is one of the most effective ways to keep the brain healthy and sharp. Studies have shown that multilingual people have better processing and analytical abilities. Also, it can make your child better at problem-solving and critical thinking.
Understand your native language much better
When you learn a new language, it makes you look at your native language in a different light. It will help you understand how the latter works, its grammatical rules, intonation, pronunciations, and more, and how they differ from the other languages.
5 Tips to Learn Malayalam
As mentioned earlier, learning Malayalam isn’t the easiest task but it isn’t impossible. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to learn Malayalam in the fastest and most efficient way:
Set realistic goals
While it is important to set language-learning goals, they need to be realistic. Start with helping your child set short-term goals with tangible outcomes. For instance, they can set a weekly goal to learn a specific number of Malayalam words.
Smart study is crucial
There are various techniques to learn a language. Although classroom teaching plays an important role, certain techniques can speed up the learning process. For instance, a fun and easy way to learn new words is to use flash cards. Flash cards are quite effective in helping memorize new information.
Gather the right resources
In addition to Malayalam books and Malayalam short stories for kids, there are other resources that your child can use to learn this language. For instance, watching Malayalam movies and TV shows with accurate and interactive subtitles can be quite helpful. They can also listen to Malayalam music.
Use the language in your everyday life
As a beginner, it can seem challenging for your little one to use a new language every day, but it doesn’t have to be so complicated. There are many fun ways to make it a part of their daily routine. Using Malayalam words to refer to everyday objects is a good place to start.
Have fun
Children learn best when they have fun. So, make sure they don’t forget to have fun while learning Malayalam. Using games and other forms of entertainment that integrate learning can help them practice their skills even when they aren’t too inclined to sit and study.
Learning a second language as a kid is believed to be much easier than doing it as an adult. So, if you want your child to become proficient in Malayalam, they need to start young. Even with just a few minutes of learning every day, with consistent practice, they can create a strong foundation that will help them develop incredible language skills. As parents, you can support and guide them in this journey by providing them with quality resources, such as the best Malayalam books for beginners.
Today, you can find numerous books, including story books, that are specially designed for teaching and learning Malayalam and English as a Second Language.