The learning curve

So today I was wondering how far my friend Pizzadude has progressed in his Spanish lessons, when a voice boomed over my head, "Kisi aur par ungli uthaane se pehle apne girebaan mein jhaank kar dekhna chahiye!" No, it wasn't Viv -- I highly doubt he even knows what 'girebaan' means. In fact, he's probably reading this and wondering what it means. Dude, it means... *straight face* ..."fallen arrows" okay?

So I have been trying to learn Tamil for some time now, and have been rather unsuccessful at that. It doesn't help that the in-laws speak fluent Hindi and English, but I must admit that having them around has helped the cause more than Viv's contribution.

So I decided not to be too hard on myself (it IS a tough language, okay!), and encourage myself by listing my progress report so far:

1. Last year, I could only say the number '9' in Tamil. (Ahem, that's because the train stations announce the emergency number 999 in all four of Singapore's national languages - English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.) This year, I can count 1 to 10 in Tamil. Thanks to the idea of counting in Tamil while doing crunches.

2. Last year, I could not differentiate between "kannadi" ("glass"), "munnadi" ("in front"), "pinaadi" ("behind") and "takkali" ("tomato"). Also "periya" ("big") and "nariya" ("a lot"). This year I can.

3. Last year, I did not know that "carrot" in Tamil is "carrot". This year I do. Woohoo! (Nooooo, this is NOT cheating!).

4. Last year, the first thing I'd say to Viv after he came home from cricket was, "Eeeeee! Po, kuli." ("Eeeeee! Go, bathe."). This year, I say, "Pongo kulingo." ("Please go and have a bath."). Respect!

5. Last year, Viv used to say that I don't know anything. This year, I can say "Onnaka onnum teriyaadu!" ("You don't know anything!") back to him. Nothing like a non-Tamilian yelling in Tamil I say.

6. Last year, I could not say "vattakozhambu" and "oorulaikazhangu". This year, I can.

7. Last year I did not know too many adjectives so I used "madiri" ("like") a lot, e.g. "koranga madiri" ("like a monkey"). This year, I can say "somberi" ("lazybum")! (I love that word. Easy to remember. Like strawberry.)

8. Last year, I only knew one question word "yaar" ("who"). This year, I know 'em all - yaar, yengay, yaen, yeppidi, yevlavu, yeppo and yetana.

9. Last year, I knew "mani" meant "time" because someone told me a joke about a Tamil economist for whom "time was mani". This year, I can ask "Yetana mani?" ("What time?")

10. Last year, every time someone from his family asked me, "Tamil teriyum?" ("You know Tamil?") I could get away with saying "Konjum konjum" ("A little"). That would amuse them so much they wouldn't ask anything further. This year, I can proudly proclaim, "Rombha nalla Tamil teriyum!" ("I know very good Tamil!"). Although even this seems to have the same effect on them. I don't know why. Teriyaadu.