ingey angey

Do you find language learning fun? I’m not sure if I ever did. It was something that happened automatically, or didn’t happen at all, and I’ve written about it before in the context of International Mother Language Day. But what if language learning can be fun, or even “romba fun”, as ingey angey leads us to believe? How delightful that would be!

ingey angey is a rhyming book that introduces Tamil words in a thoroughly enjoyable manner. What I would have loved along with the board book was an audio book, especially as words like kannakutty aren’t spelt in a way that reads naturally. Later on, we have the word kanna, which makes the pronunciation of the earlier word even more confusing.

Despite the few tiny quarrels with the book, I love the concept, the execution, and the artwork. I would love to see board books like this for every language! ingey angey is a book that deliberately moves away from language purity, allowing readers to play with a new language in a way that feels natural. It’s playful and accessible, no matter how old you are!