Locale Ml in
Use when working with the Malayalam (India) locale (`ml-IN`) — its endonym മലയാളം (ഭാരതം), Malayalam script, left-to-right (LTR) direction, or spoken-population data. Reference data and translation guidance (register, grammar, idiom, typography) for this specific locale; see [[locale]] for general i18n/l10n concepts (BCP 47, plural rules, RTL) that apply across all locales.
Reference data for the Malayalam (India) locale — endonym മലയാളം (ഭാരതം), written in the Malayalam script, left-to-right (LTR).
Identifiers
- BCP 47 tag:
ml-IN - ISO 639-1:
ml - ISO 639-3:
mal - Script: Mlym (Malayalam)
- Region: IN (India)
- Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)
Speakers (approximate)
- L1 (native): 37,000,000
- L2 (additional): 1,000,000
- L1+L2 (total): 38,000,000
Base locale
This is a regional variant of Locale Ml 001 (Malayalam), the base/macro locale for this language.
Pluralization
CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).
- one —
n = 1(e.g. 1) - other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)
See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.
Translating into this locale
Apply Locale Ml 001 with the conventions of India (Kerala).
- Formats: rupee (₹), Indian grouping, dates DD/MM/YYYY; the Malayalam calendar (Kollavarsham) is used culturally.
- Context: Malayalam is the official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep; English mixing is common in business.
- Names: many Malayali names have initials before the given name; keep the initials.
Common pitfalls
- Dropping initials from names.
- Using Tamil or Telugu characters.
- The general pitfalls in Locale Ml 001 also apply.
Learn more
- Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
- Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
- Unicode CLDR locale data for number grouping, calendars, and currency (https://cldr.unicode.org)