Here are a few words, chosen for their usefulness to the traveler.  Keep your sentence structure simple.  Practice with friendly locals, and polish up your pronunciation.  You'll be surprised at the results, and will be able to pick up new words as you need them.  The polite forms have been given here, and you can also add "Sir", often pronounced "Saar".  or Madam to requests or questions.  The "~" symbol indicates where the object will go.  Usually before the verb.

greetings yes vanakam aama no don't have I don't have a book illay illay book illay is there (do you have) ~ Do you have a room? there is (I have) ~ Yes, I have a room ~ idikaa ? room idikaa? ~ idikay aama, room idikay Where is ~ Where is the station? ~ yengay ? Station yengay? how much is ~ How much is a room? this that ~ yevalam Room yevalam? idhi adhi How much is this? How much is that? please give ~ Please give coffee Idhi yevalam? Adhi yevalam? ~ kudingay coffee kudingay (I) want ~ don't want~ I want black coffee ~ vernu ~ vandaam black coffee vernu I don't want sugar a little a little sugar sugar vandaam kunjum sugar kunjum big ~ small ~ big car small book periya ~ chinna ~ periya car chinna book I know ~ I don't know ~ I know a little Tamil I don't know Tamil ~ terriyam ~ terriyaadhu Tamil kunjum terriyaam Tamil terriyaadhu please go please come don't you have don't you have a room? pongay vaangay ~ illayaa ? room illayaa? Thank you English "thanks" is common Goodbye (I go and come) (Said when you are leaving) Goodbye (please go & come) (Said when the other is leaving) nandri / thanks poyit vareen poyit vaangay NUMBERS one two three four five six seven eight nine ten unu rennu murnu naallu anji aaru yerlu yettu wombathi pathi

Indian languages use a few more sounds than most Western languages.  Some of the constants, like "d" or "t" have a harder and a softer version than the ones in English.  There are also long and short vowel sounds, and you will be more easily understood if you greatly exaggerate the length of your long vowels.  For example, to say "yes" in Tamil you would say "aama", but it would not be wrong to pronounce it 'aaaaaaama'.  It would be very hard to over lengthen long vowel sounds.

The vowels are pronounced as follows.
The short "a" is like the sound in "aha".  
The long form - "aa" - sounds like the drawn out sound of "ah, yes"

The short "i" is like the sound in "ill".
The long form - "ii" - sounds like the drawn out sound of "eel"

The short "e" is like the sound in "hey".  
The long "ee" is like the drawn out sound of "hale"

The short "o" is like the sound in "snow".
The long "oo" is like the drawn out sound of "pole"

The short "u" is like the sound in "rue".
The long "uu" is like the drawn out sound of "rule"

The short sound "ai" is like the sound in "height".
There is no long form.

Rather than give you further complex explanations of pronunciations, we suggest you take a few minutes with a friendly waiter or room boy and ask him how to pronounce the words.  There are a few sounds in Indian languages that do not exist in Western languages, and you have to learn to hear and say them for yourself.

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