Reading the Tamil script
๐ฏ Read your name and simple words in Tamil letters.
๐ฃ๏ธ Say these out loud
- เฎ เฎ เฎ เฎ เฎ เฎ ๐ a aa i ee u oo the first vowels Tamil has 12 vowels, each with a full form and a mark.
- เฎ เฎ เฎ เฎ เฎ เฎฃ เฎค เฎจ เฎช เฎฎ ๐ ka nga cha nja ta na tha na pa ma the main consonants Tamil uses one letter where Devanagari uses four: เฎ covers ka, kha, ga and gha. That is why Tamil needs only 18 consonants.
- เฎ + เฎพ = เฎเฎพ ๐ ka + aa = kaa how a vowel mark works Exactly the system of Devanagari: the consonant carries 'a' and the mark replaces it.
- เฎคเฎฎเฎฟเฎดเฏ ๐ ta-MIZH Tamil เฎค + เฎฎเฎฟ + เฎดเฏ. The dot above เฎดเฏ removes its vowel.
- เฎตเฎฃเฎเฏเฎเฎฎเฏ ๐ va-NAK-kam greetings เฎต + เฎฃ + เฎเฏ + เฎ + เฎฎเฏ. The dots mark consonants with no vowel.
- เฎจเฎฉเฏเฎฑเฎฟ ๐ NAN-dree thank you เฎจ + เฎฉเฏ + เฎฑเฎฟ.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
๐ Fewer letters, more thinking
Tamil writes one letter for a whole family of sounds and lets position decide the pronunciation. This makes the alphabet small and the reading slightly harder โ a trade the language made a very long time ago and never undid.
- เฎ at the start of a word = k; between vowels = g
- เฎ = ch at the start, s in the middle
- เฎค = th at the start, dh in the middle
- A Tamil reader applies these rules without noticing, exactly as an English reader handles 'read' and 'read'.
๐ Among the people
Tamil letters have been written continuously for over two thousand years, from cave inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi to the rounded shapes used today โ a shape change driven by writing on palm leaves, where straight lines would split the leaf.
๐ Practise today
- Write your name in Tamil script.
- Copy the ten main consonants once a day for a week.
- Read five Tamil film titles letter by letter.
