Miscellaneous Tamil Queries

[bitterlemons]

Piyaara,

I've attempted a literal translation:

Sabaash, sariyana potti! - Bravo! a Good fight/competition.

 ‘Netrikann thirapinum kutram kutramae!’ - context here: Shiva's third eye is the eye of destruction - if opened, it burns the person upon whom it is turned. The person saying this line is standing up to Shiva to say, even if you open your third eye, a wrong is wrong.
There's a lot more to the context, but literally: Netrikann - eye in the forehead, Thiarapanum: if it opens, Kutram: fault/wrong/error.

Nee munthinda nokku, naan munthinda nekku’ - If you win, it's yours, if I win it's mine. (I don't know the movie context of this line, but minthinda literally means to get ahead - I translated that as win, based on the probable context.)

 

Neenga nallavara kettavara?’ - are you a good man or a bad man (Nalla - good, Ketta - bad)

Kadavulae, Kadavulae’ - Oh God (Kadavul - God)

Mannippu, thamizhla enakku pidikkatha vaarthai - Forgiveness is a word I don't like in Tamil. (Mannippu - forgiveness, pidikkatha - don't like, Vaarthai - word)


Naan oru thadavai sonna nooru thadavai sonna madiri’ - If I say something once, it is like my saying it a 100 times - classic line, need to use it on my kids! :-) (oru thadavai - once, sonna - say, nooru - 100, madiri - like)

[chandranc]

some others.



 ‘Manandal Maha Devi. Illayael Marana Devi!’
If I wed, it'll be mahadevi...or it'll be maranadevi(the goddess of death).

 ‘Nee munthinda nokku, naan munthinda nekku’
If you win it's yours if I do it's mine.

 ‘Parattai, keduthuttiye parattai!’
Oh man! (parattai!) you've ruined it.

 ‘Maapu, vechuttanya aappu!’

[panjabigator]

Piyaara,

I've attempted a literal translation:

Sabaash, sariyana potti! - Bravo! a Good fight/competition.

 ‘Netrikann thirapinum kutram kutramae!’ - context here: Shiva's third eye is the eye of destruction - if opened, it burns the person upon whom it is turned. The person saying this line is standing up to Shiva to say, even if you open your third eye, a wrong is wrong.
There's a lot more to the context, but literally: Netrikann - eye in the forehead, Thiarapanum: if it opens, Kutram: fault/wrong/error.

Nee munthinda nokku, naan munthinda nekku’ - If you win, it's yours, if I win it's mine. (I don't know the movie context of this line, but minthinda literally means to get ahead - I translated that as win, based on the probable context.)

 

Neenga nallavara kettavara?’ - are you a good man or a bad man (Nalla - good, Ketta - bad)

Kadavulae, Kadavulae’ - Oh God (Kadavul - God)

Mannippu, thamizhla enakku pidikkatha vaarthai - Forgiveness is a word I don't like in Tamil. (Mannippu - forgiveness, pidikkatha - don't like, Vaarthai - word)


Naan oru thadavai sonna nooru thadavai sonna madiri’ - If I say something once, it is like my saying it a 100 times - classic line, need to use it on my kids! :-) (oru thadavai - once, sonna - say, nooru - 100, madiri - like)

Im really happy here...I think I may have learned something
 ‘Netrikann thirapinum kutram kutramae!’

I recognized "kann" as being "eyes" from that song in Bombay...
"Naan" and "nee" remind me a lot of telugu's (or was it kannada's) 'ninnu' and  'nennu'.......I still can not pronounce those words correctly....

the word 'vaarthai'...is that word from sanskrit originally?

And what does the word ennaka mean?

My interest in Tamil stems from the fact that it's such an old language (I've read that one can pick up a Tamil ancient text and read it today with no difficulty in meaning) and that it's good to know a Dravidian language too...Tamil I'm sure is pretty useful

[piyaara]

 bitterlemons and chandranc, many thanks for your translations and explanations.

 Incidently, I can throw some light on the Annamalai dialogue Kadavulae, Kadavulae’ - Oh God (Kadavul - God).  While trying to rid of a snake in a hostel, Rajini manages to walk into the bathroom where Khushboo is completely naked and is in a state of shock.  Everytime he sees her after that the shock returns: the image of her in the bathroom comes back into his consciousness and he mutters, "Kadavulae, Kadavulae."



 panjabigator I always thought eyes was 'Kangalal' as in the film title Kangalal Kaidhu Sei Arrested by her eyes.  Maybe 'Kann' is the singular?  Needless to say I've no idea and hope someone will illuminate.

[palacerani]

Kangalaal - by the eyes

Kann - eye, singular
kangal - eyes

[panjabigator]

thanks rani sahiba
How do you say 'thank you' in Tamil?

Also, can someone break these phrases down for me?
Puriyillai
Enakku puriyavillai
Yenaka theriyaad

I think 'ennaku' means "to you" and I assume "yenaka" is related.  I think 'theri' means 'where' because of the joke with 'therima' that I posted (or rather, tried to post).  I also looked up 'no' and found 'illai.'

btw...I got these phrases from this site http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/understa.htm#T

[panjabigator]

Can someone who knows Devanagri post these in it?  Otherwise, I'll have to dig up some sort of a converter to transliterate tamil to devanagri.  What is the tamil script called?

I think I am getting that 'lzh' sound down....its like the retroflex D in the hindi word /la.dkaa/ (boy) except you say the letter 'L' which your tongue in the same position, correct?

[bitterlemons]

Panjabigator,

sorry I am on my work PC, so no font downloads...

Translations:

Puriyillai - I don't understand (to ask if someone understands, you can say "puriyillai aa?"
Enakku puriyavillai - I don't understand, said in a formal manner.  Puriyavillai is the formal, written form of the word. (Written tamil is sufficiently different from spoken tamil to make learning to write a real challenge)
Yenaka theriyaad - the phrase should be Yenakku Theriyaadu - the phrase means I don't know. Theriyaadu means don't know. Enakku/Yenakku are the same word.

Thank you - is Nandri (Nun-dri - short i)
Thank you very much is Mikka Nandri

The sound lzh - I forget where you are from, but if you have an American accent (or can speak in one) it is very similar to the sound of the letter "r". Your description of the way you're producing the sound, sounds to me like the retroflex "l" sound (the one in the word Mangal - not l but retroflex l)


Regards,

Bitterlemons

[panjabigator]

Im american, but my family is punjabi and I can speak both Hindi and Punjabi.  I do have an american accent though;)

So when you say the word 'tamil' it sounds like it ends in the american R sound?

[palacerani]

So when you say the word 'tamil' it sounds like it ends in the american R sound?

Yep and it's written Tamizh.

[panjabigator]

Is there some online site which provides the sound?  I really would like to hear it!  Btw...thanks Palace!

[panjabigator]

is this the correct hindi transliteration?
तामिळ

[crazyone]

is this the correct hindi transliteration?
तामिळ

Nope!  That's a retroflex L, (just the L you make by putting the tongue on the roof of your mouth).  The retroflex L is common in Marathi and Sanskrit, but the 'zh' sound is only there in Dravidian languages so there's no Devanagari character for it.

[chandranc]

http://www.dishant.com/album/thenali.html

first song. second word.

last sound

keeps repeating through the song so you won't miss it.

The zza sound repeats in other words in the song too...try to spot it.

[palacerani]

You can practice by saying  vaazha pazham (banana). 

[chandranc]

who me?

 

[James]

Chandranc, I'm curious to hear the sound, too, but not knowing any Tamil (beyond vanakkam) I'm not sure where the second word ends.    There is a table of the Tamil alphabet here that also lets you hear the individual letters when you click on them, and I was wondering if you or Palacerani could point out the appropriate letter so I could hear it (in transliteration listed on the site)?  Thanks!

[chandranc]

james, thank you for that link.

that was EXACTLY what I was searching for, do you have something like this in other languages too..because I'd love to hear the chinese version of this page.

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/au/zha.au

that's your sound.

it's written like this of course.


as regards the song, the second word starts when they pause/breathe. alangatti (pause) mazzai...

[James]

james, thank you for that link.

that was EXACTLY what I was searching for, do you have something like this in other languages too..because I'd love to hear the chinese version of this page.

Unfortunately I don't...actually, I can't remember who (Daniel?  Mr B?  Sorry guys), but someone from the forum posted this link ages ago on the last software version of this forum before it was hacked (and subsequently deleted).  I just did a quick google search to find it again.

Thanks for pointing out the sound, though, and gosh...it really does sound like an 'r' to me...an English/North American 'r'.  Of all the sounds that might be the same as English, I never would have guessed Tamil would share that one with English.  Go figure... 

[chandranc]

now listen to the song..

[MrB]

that was EXACTLY what I was searching for, do you have something like this in other languages too..because I'd love to hear the chinese version of this page.

Chinese probably has too many characters for a straight equivalent of that page, but there are some interesting resources around that are not far off. Have a look at http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?t=3839 for some pointers. In particular, the MDBG Chinese-English dictionary is worth a look: it does far more than Chinese-English translation, including English-Chinese, together with pronunciation of the resulting words.

[chandranc]

Thank you Mr B (or should one say she she..)

this , someone suggested as the oral alternative beginner lesson,  considering I have been spreading the japanese equivalent everywhere.

http://chinesepod.com/

[Fantam]

http://www.dishant.com/album/thenali.html

first song. second word.

last sound

keeps repeating through the song so you won't miss it.

The zza sound repeats in other words in the song too...try to spot it.

Here is an old song from Thiruvilaiyadal http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/26/s/movie_name.5448/singer.164/ wher you can hear the sound better. Listen to the second song 'Pazham Neeyappa'. Pazham means fruit.

[panjabigator]

http://lrrc3.sas.upenn.edu/tamilonline/
http://www.ibiblio.org/tamil/paadanool/
for you serious tamil learners out there

[jamesronsson]

I hope this is the right thread for this:

I've just finished watching Azhagi, and have need of some translation assistance. At the very beginning of the movie, there's a brief spoken intro, without any subtitles. I'd love to know what the narrator is saying, if some could have a listen to it:
http://loftandregainedparadife.net/azhagi-intro.mp3