Malayalam is the language of Kerala, in the south west of India, and of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. By tradition, the apostle Thomas brought the gospel to Kerala in the first century. Today Malayali Christians worship in Kerala, across the Gulf, and in congregations in Britain, Ireland, Germany, North America and Australia.
All three, which is still unusual. A Malayali pastor can preach, and a Malayali guest can read or listen.
Yes. A pastor can preach in Malayalam and the room follows in every other language you have running. Malayalam is a source language, not only a destination.
Yes. There is a Malayalam voice, so a guest can put one earbud in, close their eyes and listen.
Yes. Malayalam captions in the Malayalam script, on a phone or on the big screen.
Several pages in this section show real sentences from our own system. We publish sample lines only after a native speaker has read them, and for Malayalam that has not happened yet. If you read Malayalam, we would welcome your help.
The St Thomas Christians of Kerala hold that the apostle Thomas landed on the Malabar coast in the year 52. Whatever one makes of the date, Christian communities were established in Kerala very early, and for centuries they worshipped in Syriac, connected to the churches of the Middle East.
That inheritance can still be heard. Malayalam church vocabulary carries words that came through Syriac: many Malayali Christians call the Eucharist the Qurbana, and bishops are addressed as Mar, from the Syriac word for lord.
Today Kerala's Christians belong to many churches: Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholics, the Malankara Orthodox and Jacobite Syrian churches, the Mar Thoma Church, the Church of South India, and a large and growing number of Pentecostal and Brethren congregations.
A Malayali Christian family is never only Malayali. They are Orthodox, or Catholic, or Mar Thoma, or Pentecostal, and that shapes how they pray, what they call things and what feels familiar in a service.
Abroad, Malayalis often form congregations of their own tradition, and they also visit local churches, especially families whose children are growing up in the host country. When they come to yours, they may be from a liturgical tradition used to incense and chant, or from a Pentecostal one used to long and lively praise. Ask, rather than assume.
Church words differ between traditions too. If your church has fixed words it wants used, add them to Keywords.
Malayalam printing and the Malayalam Bible grew up together.
In the nineteenth century, the missionary Benjamin Bailey translated the Bible into Malayalam and had some of the first Malayalam printing type made to print it. His translation shaped Christian Malayalam for generations.
Bible printing helped settle Malayalam prose and spelling at a time when much writing was still done by hand, on palm leaf.
Many Malayali Christians know verses by heart in the wording of the translation they grew up with. Captions follow the preacher, but when a verse is read aloud, the familiar wording is what the heart is listening for.
Malayalam has its own script, with round, flowing letters descended from the old scripts of southern India. It has a large set of characters, including many joined letters for groups of consonants, and a reform in the 1970s simplified how many of them are written. Older and newer forms are both still in use.
Malayalam is a Dravidian language that builds long words by joining pieces together, so a single word can carry what English says in a phrase. On a phone, modern fonts display the script properly. On a big screen, set the captions large enough that the joined letters stay clear from the back of the room.
Malayalam is one of the most travelled languages of India, and its churches travelled with it.
Large numbers of Malayalis work in the Gulf states, and Malayalam congregations there are among the most active Christian communities in the region.
From the 1960s, nurses from Kerala came to work in hospitals in Germany, and later in Britain, Ireland, the United States and Australia. Many Malayali congregations abroad began around them.
Children of Malayali families abroad often understand Malayalam well and read it less. Run Malayalam and your host language side by side, and let each person choose.
Because Malayalam has a voice, a guest who reads slowly, a parent visiting from Kerala, or anyone who simply prefers to listen can put one earbud in and follow the whole sermon by ear.
The rest of the family can read captions in Malayalam or in English, in the same room, at the same time. Nobody has to choose for anybody else.
Yes. Malayalam can be the language coming off the stage, and the rest of the room receives it in whatever languages you are running. A visiting preacher from Kerala does not need to switch to English.
Yes. Malayalam has a voice, so a guest can listen through one earbud, read the captions, or do both.
That is what we aim for, and traditions differ, so your church can help. Add the words your congregation uses to Keywords, and they come through the same way every time. If you see a word that is wrong, send it to us.
Yes. Set the captions large enough that the joined letters of the script stay clear from the back of the room.
South India's other great language, and the other pages in this section.
Or open the full list of 200+ and check the three columns for the languages your room actually needs.
Nothing to install, no card, and your guests need nothing but the phone already in their pocket.