Geo Language Services

Malayalam

Malayalam is spoken by millions in the Indian state of Kerala and is known for its rich literary tradition. It is a Dravidian language with unique script and syntax.

  • Classification

    Dravidian

  • Speakers

    46.4 million

  • Script

    Malayalam

  • Text direction

    Left-to-right

  • Official language

    India

Malayalam

Malayalam is a member of the Dravidian language group spoken mostly on the southern and south-eastern parts of India, whereas as the majority of languages in northern and north-eastern India are part of the Indo-European language group.

Malayalam is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is spoken mainly in the state of Kerala, in southwest India. In 2013 it was awarded Classical Language status.

Malayalam evolved from Tamil and its name “Malayalam” probably comes from the words “mala” and “emal” meaning “hill region”. The speakers of Malayalam are called Malayali.

Malayalam has the most number of letters of all languages spoken in India. The script contains a total of 578 characters that are made out of combining consonants, vowels and diacritics into syllabic characters. With the problems of printing Malayalam due in part to this, a simplified version of the script was created in the 1970s.

Interestingly, it is spelled the same forward as it is backward, making it one of the longest single-word palindromes in the English language.

At Geo Language Services, we ensure that Malayalam translations are not only linguistically accurate but also culturally resonant, reflecting the nuances of the language and culture.

Services offered for this language

Translation / Transcreation / Subtitling / Localization / Adaptation / Copywriting / Authoring / Proofreading / Revision / Editing / Translation quality assurance / Terminology / Linguistic validation / Glossary creation / Dubbing / Voice-overs / Transcription / Typesetting / Simultaneous interpreting / Consecutive interpreting / Conference interpreting / Telephone interpreting / Public service interpreting / Interpreting equipment hire / Foreign language consulting

Interesting fact

Because it is derived from both Tamil and Sanskrit, Malayalam has the largest alphabet of all Indian languages, and includes letters to represent almost all the sounds found in Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages.

How can we help you?

Let us know about your needs, and we’ll guide you through every step of the way.