Translation (Anuvāda): Sanskrit to Malayalam and Malayalam to Sanskrit
From Sanskrit to Malayalam
Translate the sentence, not the words. First find the finite verb and its karta; then expand compounds into separate Malayalam clauses. Keep the tense: laṭ is present, laṅ is past, lṛṭ is future, and liṭ is perfect, often rendered as simple past. Preserve voice: karmaṇi prayoga, where the object becomes grammatical subject, should not be turned into active unless Malayalam demands it.
From Malayalam to Sanskrit
Choose the case by the verb's government. Verbs of giving take the dative; verbs of seeing take the accusative; verbs of being take the nominative. Match gender and number with the Malayalam noun. For reported speech, use iti and keep the original tense in Sanskrit. Avoid literal rendering of Malayalam idioms; give the Sanskrit equivalent.
Worked example
Malayalam: adhyāpakan vidyārthikaḷkkŭ pāṭhaṃ paṭhippicchu (the teacher taught the lesson to the students). The verb is causative: the teacher made the students learn. Sanskrit: adhyāpakaḥ vidyārthibhyaḥ pāṭhaṃ pāṭhayāmāsa. Here adhyāpakaḥ is karta, vidyārthibhyaḥ is dative plural, pāṭham is karman, and pāṭhayāmāsa is causative perfect. Apāṭhayat would be causative imperfect, not perfect; use it only when the tense is appropriate.
Traps
- Translating prati always as towards even where Malayalam needs a case.
- Missing the causative meaning.
- Changing singular or plural.
- Writing Malayalam word order in Sanskrit.
- Translating an idiom word by word.