New Language - Malayalam (Transliteration)

@OverClocked this one is bigger than it looks. Right now Malayalam in EFKey is only the native InScript layout. The Hindi and Telugu "Latin" options stay in Latin script, they don't convert anything, so I can't just reuse them for Malayalam.

What I have in mind: you type on QWERTY, the suggestion bar shows the Malayalam words (plus your original Latin spelling), and space commits the top one. So ente becomes എന്റെ and njan becomes ഞാൻ. Backspace right after it gives you the Latin back. It needs a proper Manglish → Malayalam dictionary first, and that's where most of the work is. No date yet.

Two things would help me get it right. Do you expect the word to switch to Malayalam while you're still typing it, or is converting on space fine? And do you usually mix English words into the same message? Once there's a first version I'd like you to test it.

@efko ,

Thanks for the planning. While my language might seem like a smaller part of the community here, it is actually spoken by more than 36 million people. 😅

I understand the difficulty of building a proper Manglish–Malayalam dictionary first. On the iOS stock keyboard with Transliteration, the initial suggestion is the Latin term, the second is the Malayalam word, and it is inserted with a space. Because we blend English words into messages, placing English suggestions first and Malayalam script in the middle makes sense. There is also four more Malayalam word suggestions in the bar. This is because the letter E can represent a short ഇ, എ or ഏ depending on the word context.

I've exact similar suggestion for Tamil language as well, this option exist in stock keyboard with multiple option.

Let me know if you need a seperate ticket for this or it can be treated with this itself.

Attaching the screenshot fyr from the stock keyboard.

@OverClocked Malayalam (Transliteration) is in build 452 and will be in 2.2.1 on the App Store: you type on QWERTY, ente gives എന്റെ and njan gives ഞാൻ, space puts in the Malayalam word, and backspace right after it brings your Latin back. In the bar the best Malayalam word comes first and your Latin spelling second, so an English word is one tap away, and the other spellings (ഇ / എ / ഏ) follow. On real chat text it gets the first suggestion right about 3 times out of 4, so tell me which words it gets wrong.

@efko

The Malayalam transliteration dictionary performs pretty well for an initial release. However, some errors have been identified so far, presented as Latin → Malayalam script, the correct Malayalam script in the bracket.

sughamano —> സുഖംആണ് (സുഖമാണോ)

sughamanu —> സുഖംആണ് (സുഖമാണ്)

steering —> സ്റ്റേറിംഗ് (സ്റ്റിയറിംഗ് OR സ്റ്റീയറിംഗ്)

six —> സെക്സ് (സിക്സ്)

basket —> ബസ്കേറ്റ് (ബാസ്കറ്റ്)

kitchen —> കിറ്റ്ചെൻ (കിച്ചൻ)

muhammed —> മൊഹമ്മെദ് (മുഹമ്മദ്)

mo —> മോ is correct. However, the short sound “മൊ” also should be a suggestion.

@OverClocked all of those words were in the dictionary, but English-style spellings like basket, kitchen, steering or sugham with gh were looked up under a different key than the Malayalam spelling, and when two words got joined they came out as സുഖംആണ് instead of സുഖമാണ്. Fixed for build 460 and 2.2.1 on the App Store: all seven now come first (സുഖമാണോ, സ്റ്റിയറിങ്, സിക്സ്, ബാസ്കറ്റ്, കിച്ചൻ, മുഹമ്മദ്), and mo also offers മൊ at the end of the list.

I have this exact issue also with Tamil language also. Can you address that as well?

If am typing correct in English with transliteration it should show "கரெக்ட் “, but it displays different suggestions "கோர்ரைட்ஸ் ","கோற்றேக்ட் " etc..

Please fix it.

@efko

In build 460

sughamano becomes സുഖമാണോ ✅

sughamanu becomes സുഖമാണ് ✅

six becomes സിക്സ് ✅

basket becomes ബാസ്കറ്റ് ✅

kitchen becomes കിച്ചൻ ✅

muhammed becomes മുഹമ്മദ് ✅

steering becomes സ്ട്രിങ് which is the word for “string”. It should be സ്റ്റീയറിംഗ് OR സ്റ്റിയറിംഗ് OR സ്റ്റിയറിങ് OR സ്റ്റീയറിങ് ❌

Only one word in the list is populated incorrectly now.

Also, Mo becomes മോ with “മൊ” in the suggestions, even though not on the bar but in additional suggestions. So it’s fine

@OverClocked the code for steering was already in build 460, but the updated Malayalam dictionary it needs never got uploaded, so it still matched string. Fixed for build 461 and 2.2.1 on the App Store, and build 460 gets it too once you open the EFKey app: steering now gives സ്റ്റിയറിങ് first, with സ്റ്റീയറിങ് and സ്റ്റിയറിംഗ് next to it.

Steering worked on build 460 itself after you pushed the dictionary update.