Wanna learn some Tamil?

One of my friends at work is Tamil (Tom-uhl), and he's been teaching me some 'beginners' phrases. Accompanying each phrase will be a (pronunciation guide)* and brief explanation of what it is, and maybe what is isn't. *It's been my observation, and my friend has substantiated this point of view, that the last syllable in any multi-syllabic word is almost silent, and is almost indistinct (at least to my Western ear) from the preceding phonemes.

1. Vana kam : (Von-ugh Kom) An all-purposes, all-encompassing phrase for greetings and farewells. In Tamil, and maybe in other Indian tongues as well, expressions like Vana Kam have no temporal relevance- "Good morning" and "Have a good night" have no literal translation. That said, one could view Vana Kam as simply "Hello" for a greeting, or "Live/be well" for a good-bye.
2. Eppedy Iruke : (Epp-ih-dee Ee-roo-kay) "How are you doing?", or more accurately, "Are you well?" Iruke is less formal, and used when addressing familiar acquaintances. Irukinga is the formal form, and is used when first meeting another.
3. Nala Iruke : (Nah-lah Ee-roo-kay) "I'm well." Notice here, as with Eppedy Iruke, that Iruke denotes a state of being that is 'well'. Again, use Irukinga when engaging in a conversation with someone that you are unfamiliar with, or when that person is unfamiliar with you.

That's all I have for now. I'll posting more blogs with these little language lessons, maybe with some Japanese or Spanish. I'll also be devoting an entire post to a little history lesson of India- I'm finding the history and culture of South-Western and Southern Asia (don't mind me while I steer you away from the Eurocentric term "Middle-East") to be very interesting.

Vana kam,
Zach

P.S. Mouse Gestures for FireFox, and Queen's One Vision rock!