WRITING THAANA FOR BEGINNERS

Writing thaana for beginners Dhivehi language thaana script letters are listed below in thaana alphabet order. Letters in the left column are placed against a horizontal line to show their position on a ruled page. Letters in the centre column are the English roman equivalents. The right column shows the printed letter style. Letters in the left column were scanned from Writing Thaana Book:1 published by Novelty Press, Malé 1994

Thaana is a simplified Arabic-style script, unique to the Dhivehi language, adopted by the Maldivian government over 400 years ago. Thaana is not difficult to learn because it is written as separate letters. Writing thaana is a pleasure. You can use it for other languages, like English, as well! Practise writing the letters for a while, and note how they appear in print. An adult's writing would look more like the thaana print version. Thaana is written from right to left, so the letters are written from the right.