08-16-2017, 09:30 PM
Tamil.. which is known as the most ancient of the world language, spoken by more than 70 million people around the world, including the India, Sri Lanka, the Malaysia and Singapore. It is very easy to study Tamil to those who speak Sinhala and other languages Indian subcontinent that Tamil and other languages of this region are co-existing so far.
12 vowels 12 (Uyir ezhuththu Soul letters)
18 consonants 18 (Mei ezhuththu Body letters)
And a unique letter for Tamil Aaytham = (not commonly used in spoken and written Tamil nowadays)
Tamil vowels 12
= a (as in apple)
= aa (a as in father)
= i (i as in sit)
= ii (ea as in teach)
= u (u as in you)
= uu (oo as in too)
= e (e as in elephant)
= ae (a as in tank)
= ai (as eye)
= o (o as in on)
= oo (o as in open)
= au (au as in australia)
Consonants 18
= k as in chalk
= ng as in sing
= ch as in search
= nj nch as in inch
= d as in board
= n as in under
= th as in teeth
= n as in tenth
= p as in deep
= m as in team
= y as in toy
= r as in deer
= l as in sell
= v as in wave
= between (y) and (l), sounds like lea in pleasure.
= l as in told
tr t as in seat
n as in fan
Note that Tamil consonant letter is also an unique letter of Tamil which letter s pronunciation is not in any world languages other than Malayalam. It sounds between la and ya . For Romanized writing purposes is written as zha or za .
Thami zh (Tamil)
Pa zha m (Fruit)
A za gu (Beauty)
So, remember, whenever we read or study Tamil in Romanized text, zh or za are always referred to . Don t be confused with the common pronunciation of Z.
(As a beginner, don t worry about its pronunciation and for now, spell as well as (la). Here is the actual pronunciation of : youtube.com )
For example let s take first consonant (k)
+ =
K + a = ka
+ =
K + aa = kaa
+ =
k + i = ki
+ =
K+ ii = kii
+ =
K + u = ku
+ =
K + uu = kuu
+ =
K + e = ke
+ =
K + ae = kae
+ =
K + ai = kai
+ =
k + o = ko
+ =
K + oo = koo
+ =
K + au = kau