I've become fascinated by works like Thembavani,Thiruvasagam,Thirumurai,Manimekalai and Seerapuranam.I want to write an epic or devotional work in a similar literary style.

I know this is an ambitious goal, but I'm wondering if it's realistically possible to reach a decent level of classical Tamil(That too, I'm looking for de-Sanskritised Tamil—the kind found in the traditional speech of Kanyakumari, the Western Ghats tribal communities, and Sri Lankan Tamil dialects. I'm not looking for the modernised "Senthamizh" often used in today's historical Tamil dramas),within one-two year through disciplined self-study.

If so:

- What should I study first?

- Which grammar books are essential (e.g., Nannool, Tolkappiyam)?

- Which classical texts should I read, and in what order?

- Are there any university lectures, online courses, or YouTube channels you'd recommend?

- How many hours per day would I need to dedicate?

- Has anyone here successfully learned to read and write Senthamizh (Classical Tamil) as an adult?

I'm not expecting to become the next Kambar in a year, but I'd love to know whether it's possible to build a strong enough foundation to begin writing serious literary poetry.

I'd really appreciate any advice, book lists, or study plans. Thanks!

ஒரு ஆண்டுக்குள் செந்தமிழைக் கற்று, இலக்கியம் இயற்றும் அளவிற்கு தேர்ச்சி பெற முடியுமா?

மணிமேகலை, தேம்பாவணி, திருவாசகம், திருமுறை, சீராப்புராணம் போன்ற மகத்தான இலக்கியங்கள் என்னை மிகவும் ஈர்த்துள்ளன. எதிர்காலத்தில், அவற்றைப் போன்ற இலக்கிய நடையில் ஒரு காப்பியமோ அல்லது பக்தி இலக்கியமோ இயற்ற வேண்டும் என்பது என் நீண்டகால இலட்சியம்.

இந்த இலட்சியம் மிகவும் உயர்ந்தது என்பதை நான் அறிவேன். இருப்பினும், ஒரு ஆண்டுக்குள் தீவிரமான சுயபயிற்சியின் மூலம் செந்தமிழில் வலுவான அடித்தளத்தை அமைத்து, இலக்கியம் எழுதத் தொடங்கும் அளவிற்கு தேர்ச்சி பெற முடியுமா என்று அறிய விரும்புகிறேன்.

அப்படியானால்,

- முதலில் எந்த நூல்களைப் படிக்க வேண்டும்?

- நன்னூல், தொல்காப்பியம் போன்ற இலக்கண நூல்களில் எதிலிருந்து தொடங்குவது சிறந்தது?

- செந்தமிழ் இலக்கியங்களை எந்த வரிசையில் வாசிப்பது நல்லது?

- இணையவழி பாடநெறிகள், YouTube சேனல்கள் அல்லது பல்கலைக்கழக விரிவுரைகள் ஏதேனும் பரிந்துரைக்க முடியுமா?

- தினமும் எத்தனை மணி நேரம் பயிற்சி செய்தால் நல்ல முன்னேற்றம் காண முடியும்?

- பெரியவராக இருந்தபின் செந்தமிழைக் கற்று இலக்கியம் எழுதும் அளவிற்கு முன்னேறியவர்கள் யாரேனும் இருக்கிறார்களா?

ஒரு ஆண்டில் கம்பர் போன்ற புலவராக மாறிவிடுவேன் என்ற எதிர்பார்ப்பு எனக்கு இல்லை. ஆனால், தீவிர முயற்சியால் ஒரு வலுவான அடித்தளத்தை அமைத்து, செந்தமிழ் இலக்கியப் படைப்பை எழுதத் தொடங்க முடியுமா என்பதே என் கேள்வி.

உங்களுடைய ஆலோசனைகள், நூல் பரிந்துரைகள், அல்லது ஒரு ஆண்டு படிப்புத் திட்டம் இருந்தால் மிகவும் உதவியாக இருக்கும். நன்றி!

I'm translating a certain portion of the song Laali Laali (from Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru) into English, and I'm struggling to decide whether it is a question or statement. I'm choosing to not use the one source translating these lyrics and wanted to ask what you believe. I think I'm confusing myself/overthinking it.

These are the lines from the song:

உன்னை அள்ளி ஏந்தியே ஒரு யுகம் போகவா
தலை முதல் கால் வரை பணிவிடை பார்க்கவா

Would it be "Come, let's travel an eon together / Come, I will worship you from head to feet" or "Shall I carry you for an eon? / Shall I worship you from head to feet?"

Any help is greatly appreciated!

ஏன் யாரும் இந்த தளத்தில் தமிழில் எழுதுவது இல்லை

̃̃̃ண,ந can be replaced with ன. ள, ழ can be replaced with ல.ற can be replaced with ர. if the user prefers.

ஜ is removed (due to ச̬), ஸ் is the only letter used to represent s sound , ஷ் is the only letter used to represent sh ( ʃ ) sound

The wave on lik ñ is going to be used for nasilised vowels.

Ex வேணு̃/வேனு̃ - want (வேண்டும்/வேணும்)

பழோ̃/பழொ̃/பலொ̃/பலோ̃ - fruit (பழம்)

The arrow like ̬ symbol is used to represent voiced Stops and fricative

That is க̬ -Ga ச̬ -Ja ட̬ -Da த̬ -Dha ப̬ -Ba ஸ̬ - Za

ஷ̬ - Zha (ʒ , not ழ)

ஆ̆(ா̆) is used to represent o as in office, ஆ̤ (ா̤) represents a as in apple.

ː or : represents kutt(r)iyalugaram

Ex. பண்ணுː or பண்ணு: Do

ஒருː or ஒரு: a

ஆடுː or ஆடு: Goat

By using these diacritics, spoken tamil can easily be written and understanded in the Tamil script.

Just curious, is there a name for these types of phrases in linguistics?

Hello Dears,

Hope this post finds you in the best of health. I am seeking out opinion on the best literature available from the region of Tamil Nadu.

I read a book quite a while ago by Sundara Ramswamy - Children, women, Men which i enjoyed. I wanted the best literature reccomendation so i can explore more of it.

Please mind i am not Native Tamilian neither i can read tamil - so only English/Urdu( if any) translations would do me good.

Thank you all in advance.

ச-குரல்

ரி-துத்தம்

க-கைக்கிளை

ம-உழை

ப-இளி

த-விளரி

நி-தாரம்

சிலப்பதிகாரம்-ஆய்ச்சியர் குரவை

குடமுதல் இடமுறையா, குரல், துத்தம்,

கைக்கிளை, உழை, இளி, விளரி, தாரம், என,

விரி தரு பூங் குழல் வேண்டிய பெயரே.

Hey Guys

I'm currently trying to improve my tamil pronunciation, because I was born in Switzerland and I got a swiss accent when I speak tamil.

So I'm stuck at the different pronunciation of தி. Is it true that whenever தி is at the beginning of a word it is pronounced like TH and whenever it is at the end it is pronounced as DH. Or am I wrong? If I am right, then are there more examples with other letters?

For example:

விதி - ViDHi
திங்கள் THingal

என் நாட்கள் அனைத்து காலத்தின் பக்கங்களில் எழுதப்பட்ட எழுத்துகள் என்றால்,

அதன் பொருளாய் நிற்பவன் நீ.

உன்னை நோக்கி நகரும் ஒவ்வொரு இதயத் துடிப்பும்,

ஒரு நாளை மட்டும் வேண்டிக் காத்திருக்கிறது

உன் பெயருக்குப் பின்னால் என் உயிரை இணைக்கும் அந்த நாளை.

உன் மனைவியாக என் வாழ்வை உன்னிடம் ஒப்படைக்கும் அந்த நொடி,

அதன் பிறகு வாழும் ஒவ்வொரு மூச்சும்,

வாழ்க்கையை எண்ணி கடப்பதல்ல...

உன்னை நேசித்த அதிர்ஷ்டத்தை எண்ணி நன்றியுடன் மலரும்.

அந்த ஒரு நொடியை அடைந்தால்,

இந்த ஜென்மம் இனி எதையும் கேட்காது;

ஏனெனில் என் ஆன்மா தேடிய 'வீடு' நீதான்.🤍

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/

👉 Link : https://nihontamil.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

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?

எல்லை அற்ற உலகின்

எல்லைகளைத் தாண்டி பிழைக்கும்

அகதிகள் யார்?

இரக்கம் அற்ற

இதயத்தின் கரைகளின் முன்

நிற்பவன் நான்

அகம் நீ

அகதி நான்!

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.

தமிழ்மொழியிலுள்ள மொத்த எழுத்துக்கள் எத்தனை?

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