Reshmi R Nair, Malayalam Linguist

In short: I’m Reshmi R Nair — a native Malayalam speaker and Malayalam linguist. I teach casual, everyday spoken Malayalam (never stiff textbook Malayalam) to complete beginners, NRIs, partners of Malayalis, expats and travellers, in clear English, through one-to-one online lessons and free learning tools.

My approach

Spoken Malayalam is a listening-and-speaking skill, not a memory test. I teach the warm, colloquial Malayalam Keralites actually use — explained entirely in clear English, using a simple romanised system so you can speak from your very first lesson, with the script introduced later only if you want it.

My learners are mostly heritage and NRI families reconnecting with relatives, partners who married into a Malayali family, expats and frequent visitors to Kerala, and language lovers drawn to Dravidian languages.

Qualifications & credentials

• Applied Linguistics
• MPhil, Linguistics
• MSc Mathematics
• MA English Literature
• CELTA-trained
• TEFL & TESOL certified
• C2 English (EF SET)
• IELTS · PTE · OET teacher-trainer
• 15+ years teaching internationally
• Contributor — Malayala Manorama & Mathrubhumi
• Published author of educational books

I’ve also contributed educational content to Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi, taught on iTalki, Preply, Verbling, AmazingTalker and Superprof, and hold a 4.9★ rating from 420+ verified reviews.

Published books

The Speak Malayalam series — six books taking a complete beginner from the script to real conversation, written for English speakers and heritage learners.

• Speak Malayalam: Foundations — the script, sounds and first words
• Speak Malayalam: Building Sentences — word order, cases and everyday structures
• Speak Malayalam: Real Speech — the colloquial Malayalam Keralites actually use
• Speak Malayalam: Going Deeper — verbs, tenses and pronouns in depth
• Speak Malayalam: Practice — graded exercises and drills
• Speak Malayalam: Answers and Reference — full answer key and grammar reference

See the series on Amazon →

Recognition

SpeakMalayalam is listed on Omniglot, the long-running independent reference on the world’s writing systems, and has been reviewed by All Language Resources, an independent review site for language-learning materials.