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How to learn Tamil reading and writing?

How to learn Tamil reading and writing?
Tamil Language

How to learn Tamil reading and writing?

Learning to write Tamil requires understanding vowels and consonants in their written form.

We speak a language while we write them using a script. We Tamilians speak in the Tamil language and use the Tamil-Brahmi script to write. Tamil Brahmi script is a variant of Brahmi script and has evolved from the same. The script has been in use from the 3rd century BCE in the old Tamil period. We fundamentally write Tamil from left to right. 

This blog explains the intricate details of Tamil writing including the vowels, consonants, short handwriting and so on. 

How to learn and write Tamil alphabets?

Learn to write the vowels

The 12 vowels are written as independent letters when appearing at the beginning of the syllable. The form depends on whether they are long or short vowels and the consonant they are paired with. Long vowels are held two times longer than short vowels. To represent vowels, diacritic marks are added to the end of the consonants in most cases, otherwise at some other locations. 

Do you know that the Tamil alphabets consist of 12 vowels and 18 consonants which combine to form 216 compound letters making it a total of 246 letters?

A special letter, aayudha ezhuthu adds to the collection resulting in 247 letters.

அ a ஆ aa

Tamil consonants carry the inherent அ a sound, so அ does not change the sound when added to the consonants,க. When ஆ aa is added to a consonant, a diacritic mark is added to the end of it, as in கா kaa

இ I and ஈ ii

When இ i is added to a consonant, a diacritic mark is added to the end of the consonant, as in கி ki. When ஈ Ii is added to a consonant, a diacritic mark is added to the top of the consonant, as in கீ kii.

உ U and ஊ uu

When உ  u is added to a consonant, a diacritic mark is added to the bottom of the consonant, as in கு Ku. When ஊ uu is added to a consonant, a diacritic mark is added to the end of the consonant, as in கூ kuu.

எ E and ஏ ee

When எ e is added to a consonant, a modified form is placed in front of the consonant, as in கெ ke. When ஏ ee is added to a consonant, a diacritic mark representing it is placed in front of the constant, as in கே kee.

ஐ ai

When ஐ ai is added to a consonant, a modified form is placed in front of the consonant, as in கை kai.

ஒ O and ஓ oo

When ஒ o is added to the constant, the diacritic marks for e and aa are placed surrounding the object as in கொ ko. When ஓ o is added to the constant, the diacritic marks for ee and aa are placed surrounding the object as in கோ Koo.

ஔ au

When ஔ au is added to the constant, the diacritic mark for e is placed at the beginning of the constant, and another diacritic mark is placed at the end as in கௌ Kau. When you learn Tamil online through online Tamil classes, start with vowels and then move ahead to learning consonants. We hope this answers your questions on how to learn and write Tamil alphabets. 

Learn Tamil consonants

There are 18 basic consonants in Tamil, divided into vallinam, mellinam, and idaiyinam which are hard, soft, and medium consonants, respectively. Learn Tamil consonants from Powerkid, and learn spoken and written Tamil in English from native speakers.

மெய் எழுத்துகள்

Vallinam – வல்லினம்- க் k, ச் ch, ட் t, த் th, ப் p, ற் tr.

Mellinam – மெல்லினம் – ங் ng, ஞ் ng, ண் n, ந் n, ம் m, ன் n.

Idaiyinam – இடையினம் – ய் y, ர் r, ல் l, வ் v, ழ் l, ள் l.

How to learn shorthand writing in Tamil?

Short Hand Writing (சுருக்கெழுத்து) is the art of representing spoken sound by characters. It is also called phonography. Which means sound writing. The symbols are called strokes. It was invented by Srinivasa Rao and was adopted in 1894.

Shorthand writing is writing quickly by hand, like while taking notes during lectures or speeches. It is the most important and needed skill for people working in fields like journalism, business, and administration. It requires a lot of practice to get trained in shorthand writing. Learning this technique in Tamil needs even more perseverance as the written text needs to be legible, readable and most importantly it should be in an understandable form.

How to learn short hand writing in Tamil?

Keep the factors like time, speed of writing, and standard system used in your respective field in mind before starting to learn short-hand writing. 

Tamil shorthand is based on English shorthand. We represent consonants as strokes as in English shorthand. The strokes are of two types, straight strokes, and curved strokes. These can be upward and downward in direction.

The following figure represents the light strokes.

Learn Tamil Langauge geGSTtHdICj7vfT5WSW2hB0khanljNmsgwFlAy85hBaaAiV5fFXbc5sVNx

This figure represents the thick strokes.

Learn Tamil Langauge O21MWyLJWGIrT5EbqgFsIVYurtiJVLcdsZGOrMDqAI11if4ccAoW4E8rDjgJSckebbFxhio8tEcOifwzberKLYikNbu7W1U0i hEbpe9oKPjcl2 CJnZjAHqQPmFeLDrpyqraZgQon3j fXeA

It is clear from the figures how the sounds of Tamil short are visually described. Hope this answers your question on how to learn shorthand writing in Tamil. 

How to learn Tamil reading and writing?

The best way to learn Tamil for a beginner is this- Tamil reading and writing can be introduced through alphabet books at first and gradually increasing the complexity step by step. Beginners can be made to read out short storybooks, and poems and practice them by copying and writing. Reading random texts from newspapers and articles frequently can help one improve. Listening to Tamil songs and audios is an interesting way to learn the language and understand it. Also if you are looking for how to learn Tamil reading and writing, you may also ask a native Tamil speaker to spell out Tamil words or have an easy conversation with them. 

Learn Tamil online by signing up to online Tamil class from Powerkid Academy

Powerkid tamil academy offers one-on-one online class in Tamil enabling students to connect with the tutors effectively. Our online class in Tamil enables personalized attention to the learner, and promotes interaction which is very crucial in language learning. The timings of our online class in Tamil are flexible and the learner is free to take the classes during their free time and leisure. The entire course structure, curriculum, and outcomes shall be customized to the learner’s needs.  

Grab the opportunity now! Call us at  +1 (512) 575-3590 or +91 74033 33135 and book your demo session. Enroll to our online Tamil class at Powerkid Tamil Academy by signing up at www.powerkidtamil.com. Learn Tamil online from the world’s largest Tamil Academy. 

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