Is this thing still good? in Tamil

How the whole thing sounds

The situation: two people sort out an old cupboard and decide what to keep and what to throw away. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.

• ▶
  இந்தப் பெட்டியில என்ன கிடக்கு? எல்லாத்தையும் ஒரு தரம் பாப்பமா?

  indap peṭṭiyila eṉṉa kiḍakku? ellāttaiyum oru taram pāppamā?

  What is lying in this box? Shall we look at everything at once?
• ▶
  உள்ளடக்கத்தை மேசையில கொட்டுங்கோ. புழுதி படிஞ்ச பொருள் நிறைய இருக்கும்

  uḷḷaḍakkattai mēsaiyila koṭṭuṅgō. puḻudi paḍiñca poruḷ niṟaiya irukkum

  Empty the contents onto the table. There will be many dusty things there.
• ▶
  இந்தக் கிண்ணத்தின்ர விளிம்பு உடைஞ்சிருக்கு. இது இன்னும் பாவிக்கக்கூடிய கிண்ணமா?

  indak kiṇṇattiṉra viḷimbu uḍaiñcirukku. idu iṉṉum pāvikkakkūḍiya kiṇṇamā?

  This cup has a chipped edge. Is it still any good?
• ▶
  இல்லை. உடைஞ்ச துண்டு காலில பட்டா ஆபத்து. அதை போட்டிடுங்கோ

  illai. uḍaiñca tuṇḍu kālila paṭṭā ābattu. adai pōṭṭiḍuṅgō

  No. A shard would get into your foot — trouble. Throw it away.
• ▶
  இந்தக் கயிறு நல்லா இருக்கு, ஆனா கொஞ்சம் தேஞ்ச கயிறு. வைச்சிடுவமா?

  indak kayiṟu nallā irukku, āṉā koñcam tēñca kayiṟu. vaicciḍuvamā?

  The rope is not bad, only slightly worn. Shall we keep it?
• ▶
  வையுங்கோ. மூண்டு மீற்றர் நீளம் உள்ள கயிறு வீட்டில எப்பவும் தேவைப்படும்

  vaiyuṅgō. mūṇḍu mīṟṟar nīḷam uḷḷa kayiṟu vīṭṭila eppavum tēvaippaḍum

  Keep it. A rope three meters long is always needed in a house.
• ▶
  இந்த ஆணியள் எல்லாம் துருப்பிடிச்ச ஆணி. குவியலா கிடக்கு

  inda āṇiyaḷ ellām turuppiḍicca āṇi. kuviyalā kiḍakku

  All these nails are rusty. They lie in a heap.
• ▶
  அதை தனித்தனியா பாக்க வேண்டாம். மொத்தமா குப்பையில போடுங்கோ

  adai taṉittaṉiyā pākka vēṇḍām. mottamā kuppaiyila pōḍuṅgō

  There is no need to sort them separately. Throw them out in bulk.

Lines one by one

How to prepare for a conversation like this

Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.

And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.

• Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many times
  Teimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
• That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many times
  Xiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.

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