Mother explains in the kitchen in Tamil

How the whole thing sounds

The situation: a mother tells her son in the kitchen what to do. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.

• ▶
  இண்டைக்கு நான் ஆட்டிறைச்சி கறி சமைக்கிறன். நீ உதவி செய்வாயா?

  iṇḍaikku nāṉ āṭṭiṟaicci kaṟi samaikkiṟaṉ. nī udavi seyvāyā?

  Today I am making mutton curry. Will you help?
• ▶
  சரி. நான் என்ன செய்ய வேணும்?

  sari. nāṉ eṉṉa seyya vēṇum?

  Sure. What should I do?
• ▶
  முதல்ல காய்கறியை சீவி நறுக்கு. வெட்டும் பலகை அங்கே இருக்கு

  mudalla kāygaṟiyai sīvi naṟukku. veṭṭum palagai aṅgē irukku

  First peel and cut the vegetables. The board is over there.
• ▶
  பூண்டும் கத்தரிக்காயும் போதுமா?

  pūṇḍum kattarikkāyum pōdumā?

  Are there enough garlic and eggplants?
• ▶
  போதும். பிறகு தண்ணி சேர்த்து கொதிக்க வை

  pōdum. piṟagu taṇṇi sērttu kodikka vai

  Enough. Then add water and bring it to a boil.
• ▶
  உப்பு போடட்டா?

  uppu pōḍaṭṭā?

  Should I salt it?
• ▶
  கொஞ்சம் போடு, அதிகம் வேண்டாம். பிறகு நல்லா கலக்கு

  koñcam pōḍu, adigam vēṇḍām. piṟagu nallā kalakku

  Put in a little, not too much. Then stir well.
• ▶
  சரி. இறக்கின பிறகு கொஞ்சம் ஆறவிடலாமா?

  sari. iṟakkiṉa piṟagu koñcam āṟaviḍalāmā?

  Good. When I take it off the fire, should I let it cool a bit?

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.

Next

• The whole phrasebookAll situations in one list
• I want to exchange thisA customer has returned to the shop with a…
• The phone will not chargeA customer at the service center tells the…
• Rain for the whole dayTwo neighbors at the gate look at the sky…
• How to get to the hospitalA visitor asks a shopkeeper at the corner…