My Patti is 78 and lives in Chennai with my Thatha. She usually sends voice notes on WhatsApp to our family group on important occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc.). She’s recently also started sending them more regularly just in general.

My grasp of Tamil unfortunately was always quite limited and has definitely gotten worse in recent times and so I find myself having to listen to her voice recordings multiple times to piece together what she’s saying. She’s not great at English plus she prefers to speak/record voice notes rather than type anyway.

She’s getting on in age and I’ve got this guilt of not being able to communicate with her properly (without having to use my parents as translators). Like with my voice rather than this sort of fragmented back and forth.

Anyone else in the same boat? Curious to see how others are handling it.

"மெற்றோ" என்பது தான் ஆங்கில உச்சரிப்பின் சரியான எழுத்து வடிவம். ஆனால் "மெட்ரோ" என்பதை தான் எங்கும் காண முடிகிறது.

உங்கள் கருத்து என்ன?

Hey everyone,

Full disclosure right upfront: I have zero programming experience.

Yesterday, I was messing around in Google AI Studio for about 3 hours just for fun, vibe coding a small personal project. Since Japanese and Tamil share so many natural grammatical similarities (like sentence structure and postpositions), I always felt a direct Japanese-to-Tamil learning tool would make so much sense instead of translating through English first.

So, I asked AI Studio to spin up a super basic v0.1 static prototype called NihongoTamil and deployed it to Vercel:

👉 Link: https://nihongotamil.ai.studio/

⚠️ A few honest caveats before you click:

• It’s super raw: This is a 0.1 baseline prototype, not even a full demo yet.
• Stiff AI translations: Because it was fully generated by AI in one quick session, some of the translations and explanations are definitely clunky or stiff.
• Barebones features: It’s mostly static right now—just testing out the layout and concept.

Why I'm sharing this:

I initially made this just for my own personal use and learning experiments. Honestly, I don't have the technical background or time to build out a full-fledged platform by myself.

However, if anyone here shares the same passion for learning Japanese through Tamil, finds the direct grammar comparison useful, or wants to take this concept and build something way better—please feel free to steal the idea, take inspiration, or build on top of it!

Would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any ideas on how a Tamil-to-Japanese learning platform should actually look!

Thanks for reading! 🙌

I'm really sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but i was wondering if thottu is used in a context other than touch.

My teacher jokingly threatened a little girl (primary) saying "thottu viduven" from what i understand that means i'll touch and let you. But also he may have said thattu or thodu. So i was wondering the possible meanings

எல்லை அற்ற உலகின்

எல்லைகளைத் தாண்டி பிழைக்கும்

அகதிகள் யார்?

இரக்கம் அற்ற

இதயத்தின் கரைகளின் முன்

நிற்பவன் நான்

அகம் நீ

அகதி நான்!

Source: Iraiyanar Agapporul 7th Century.

When I was younger I wasn't as interested in learning Tamil as I was more comfortable in English. But now that I'm older I have taken more pride in Tamil and consuming more media in the language. The only thing that feels demoralising is when I try to talk to other Tamil people, they will inevitably always switch to English even when I'm speaking Tamil. I understand that my accent doesn't sound like a native perhaps but I feel my Tamil isn't terrible and I can speak enough to carry on a decent conversation. If it matters I'm originally from Singapore, and I encounter this behaviour mostly with Singaporean Tamils but sometimes with Indian Tamils also. Is there any advice you guys can give me to overcome this?

தமிழ்மொழியிலுள்ள மொத்த எழுத்துக்கள் எத்தனை?

Inspiration is a beautiful word/concept. To be inspired means to follow certain values and behaviors by getting deeply motivated watching others or a movie or just nature. In Tamil, nobody really uses that concept, and if they do, they just use the English word. There are two beautiful Sanskrit words for it - prerna and spurti, which other Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages use except Tamil. In Tamil they seem to use "udhvegam" which hardly conveys the concept since udhvega in Sanskrit means enthusiasm, not inspiration.

I'm 21 years old, born and brought up in Bangalore in a Tamil family. Even though Tamil is my mother tongue, I never had the opportunity to study it in school, and that's something I've always felt I missed. I used to tell my dad that not learning Tamil formally was one of the biggest things I wished for.

One of my biggest motivations was my grandfather, who was a Tamil teacher. After he passed away, I felt an even stronger desire to connect with the language and carry forward his love for Tamil in my own way. A while ago, I decided to do something about it. I taught myself to read Tamil through a YouTube channel called "Seed Succeed Bhanumathy."

Today, I can read bus destination boards, route signs, and simple Tamil text while travelling. I also find myself reading Tamil news, especially during elections. It feels rewarding, but I know I'm still only scratching the surface.

My real goal is to read Tamil literature comfortably. I want to understand Thirukkural, Bharathiyar's poems, and eventually other classic Tamil works without depending on translations. I don't just want to pronounce the words; I want to truly understand them.

The challenge is that I'm already 21 and busy with my studies and career, so I can't dedicate several hours a day to learning. However, I'm more than willing to consistently use my free time if it means making steady progress.

For those who learned Tamil in school or even those who learned it later in life, how would you recommend I bridge that gap? Is it realistic to reach a high level of reading comprehension starting at this age? What books, resources, or study methods would you suggest?

I'd really appreciate any advice. Tamil is a language I genuinely love, and I want to do justice to it.

Sanga kaalathula irundha tamil literature, ippo irukuratha vida yezhuthu and pechu vadivathula rombave different ah Iruku. Yen, 80s la irukura movies la kooda letters like னா different ah irundhuruku. I know that something happened and periyar changes all the letters to a standard thing. But yedhunala ivlo maatrangal nadandhuchu? Pazhaya literature kum ippo pesura tamil kum yen ivlo difference? Oru madhiri yosichu patha, namma pesurathe vera oru mozhiyo nu thonichu.

Idha pathi yarukachum therinjidhu naal, pls solli kudunga. I'm really interested to learn about these.

Disclaimer: Ithu oru statement illa, just doubt nu kekuren. Yaarum offend aagika vendam.

Drop your favourite தமிழ் கவிதை

I've seen both அடுமனை and வெதுப்பகம் in tamil translation on the sign board for Bakery. What's the correct one?

Smaller one for dog.

drawing. தவ்வை is the only name i will accept. other names and puranam wont be accepted.

I read that tholkappiyam have rules for adopt words from other language, can you elaborate about that.

Sup tamil bros, I have decided to learn tamil, at least become competent to read newspapers and understand it by next diwali. This is my first time learning another language. Any suggestions? I usually struggle with burn out when trying to learn any new skill.

பெயர் சொல்லின் பின் -ர் சேர்த்தல்,

பாடகன் (ஆண்), பாடகி(பெண்)... பாடகர் என்னும் சொல் மரியாதையைக் குறிக்கிறது. அது இருபாலருக்கும் பொருந்தும் வார்த்தையா? அதேபோல் புலவர்,அரசர் போன்ற சொற்களும் இருபாலரையும் குறிக்குமா?

வாழ்வியல் கற்பித்தவரை கல்லாய் வடித்து,

வந்து காண்போருக்கு வரம் அளித்து

வழித் துணையாய் நிற்குமாறு மதிகெட்ட

மாந்தர் வேண்டும் இடமே கற்கோவில்

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வேண்டிய மனிதனுக்கு தெரியவில்லை - தெய்வம்

தந்த வரம் வழிபாட்டு முறையில் இல்லை

- அவர் அளித்த தத்துவம்தான் தன்

வாழ்வின் இடையூறுகளுக்கு தீர்வு என்று

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நீதி அளித்து அருள்புரிந்த ஆண்டவனை

வைத்து நிதி திரட்டும் கயவர்

கடவுளே கற்பித்தவைகளை தனக்கேற்றார் போல்

மாற்றி உரைப்பர் - இக்கயவரின் சொல்லிற்கு

செவிசாய்க்கும் கூட்டம் தன் நிலை

மறந்து செய்யும் செயல் அனைத்தும்

தவறென்று கூறித்திரியும் - இதை எதிர்ப்போர்

"மடையர்" ஆனால் ஏற்போர் "மாந்தர்"

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ஆண்டவனையே ஆண்டி ஆக்கி அழகு பார்த்த அயோக்கியர்களுக்கு நம்மை அடிமையாக்குவது எம்மாத்திரம்?🙃

I want to do my PG in Tamil literature, but I lost my connection to the world after the marriage if you understand what I mean😅 I plan to start my PG in Tamil literature ofcourse through distance education. But I don't know which university is good and has the value even done through correspondence as I plan to go further until research. Please suggest.

I've started a small custom embroidery business (blouses, sarees, and made-to-order apparel/logos) and I'm stuck on naming the brand. This is the contemporary brand and I have planned another one for the traditional niche which focuses on handloom. My traditional line is already named Thaazham, I thought of ideally something that connects to the idea of a bud, and that blooms to Thaazham in some way. Kindly avoid words like Izhai, Thugil, magizham, thalir. I have seen more brands with these names.

Would love suggestions, even just words you personally find beautiful.

Note - shouldn't feel too feminine-leaning since this line is for everyone.

I'm Tamil, she's punjabi, been together 2 yrs. when we're at family dinners everyone switches to tamil and she just sits there smiling politely. i always felt bad abt it. So last week i picked up her phone to change the song and there were like 30 min of voice recordings and airlearn streak widget. her saying saaptingala? over and over. trying to get the zh sound (the hardest sound in the language, i grew up with it and still fumble it).

I think she's planning to surprise my parents during ganesha (the next time we fly down to chennai) and now im getting super emotional about this.

anyway has anyone's partner pulled smth like this. do i pretend i don't know?? how do i not ruin it

Hi everyone, I've been searching for this book for a while. Unfortunately it's out of stock. I've already tried Moore Market. Do you know any other market with used books ?

Thanks for your help.