Learning tamil

[srkitalianfan]

Besides Hindi I'm starting to learn a bit of Tamil and I thought that maybe it could be interesting to have a topic where we can share things about this language.
Well I'll start with a couple of requests for words translation. How do you say in Tamil
Hello
Welcome
My name is...

[James]

Hello is, "vaNNakkam".

If you can read devanagri, I believe it would look like this:  वणà¥�णकà¥�कम

The only other Tamil phrase I know is, "I don't know". 

I don't know if this is by gender, but I presume so.  In that case, this would be a man speaking:  enaka teriyaada

(final 'a's pronounced)

�नक तेरियाद

[Brindavani]

palacerani would know the best but I believe

My name is  : Yenna pair ..... : येनà¥�न पेर .....

[palacerani]

Besides Hindi I'm starting to learn a bit of Tamil and I thought that maybe it could be interesting to have a topic where we can share things about this language.
Well I'll start with a couple of requests for words translation. How do you say in Tamil
Hello
Welcome
My name is...

वनक�कम� - vannakam - welcome
�न�नोड पेर� - ennode peru - my name is

[palacerani]

palacerani would know the best but I believe

My name is  : Yenna pair ..... : येन�न पेर .....

That means what name? for what's your name it's

onge paer ennai - ओंग पेर �न�नै?

[srkitalianfan]

As far as I know there are not that many books for learning tamil, many don't give enough explanation about the alphabet etc. So I'm trying to find resources of what there's out there at bookstores or the web.
Here's a nice website with lessons online, grammar and writing exercises

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/tamil.htm

I'll add more as I find them

[MrB]

The Tamil Script Learners Manual is a great resource for learning the script. It's a freely downloadable PDF file and has two or three hundred pages explaining the alphabet, how to write and pronounce all the letters, and with many exercises. Highly recommended.

[Daniel]

Oh, I learned the script from the above link, and its great.  In fact, the author shared his lunch with me last december

[stimpy]

I just ordered myself  'Little Lifco English-Tamil dictionary: Script' by C Chettiar, is it any good?

I also bought second hand 'A Tamil Prose Reader' Cambidge University Press 1971, now how silly is that when I don't even know the script yet, but it was too tempting and it was only one euro.

[Daniel]

Are the aspirated consonants ध घ �� etc. native to tamil or any other dravidian language for that matter, or are they only imports from sanskrit?

[Totally Basmatic!]

When transliterated, how is it supposed to be pronounced - as in "vaNNakkam"? What kind of sound or pronounciation do the double capitalized N's express?

[Daniel]

I believe it is a retroflex N: ण in hindi script, ண� in tamil, I believe.

[srkitalianfan]

I still have huge problems with sounds but I'm working hard on them...
and all of a sudden I realised that Tamil has cases! Oh well better than tone languages though...so the first case I came across is the genitive-possessive.
It  is made by adding ooda at the end of a word, I'll add other cases later

[piyaara]

 The University of Pennslavania has a fairly good introduction to Tamil website.  The home page is here:

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

 ...and there are preliminary lessons including sample sounds here:

 http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/lessons/lessons.html

 Incidently, srkitalianfan, the link you provided does not work  , so I assume they changed the address to the one above.  Hope this proves useful to people. 

[priyachupke77]

Just a quick question, what does "Penne"  mean? Thanks in advance

[meenkaran]

Just a quick question, what does "Penne"  mean? Thanks in advance

Girl.

[crazyone]

Just a quick question, what does "Penne" mean? Thanks in advance

I shouldn't be answering this, but doesn't it mean 'girl'?

[crazyone]

Meenkaran, in Malayalam what is the difference between 'Penn" and "Penn Kutti"?  I feel like I hear the latter more.

[meenkaran]

Meenkaran, in Malayalam what is the difference between 'Penn" and "Penn Kutti"?  I feel like I hear the latter more.

Penkutti is like a more formal way of saying it. Literally it means small-girl. Pennu is more informal and casual.

[Daniel]

So its not a kind of pasta?

[palacerani]

So its not a kind of pasta?

  no. penkutty means little girl or baby girl, penn means girl. Penn is also used in Tamil.

[priyachupke77]

So its not a kind of pasta?

  no. penkutty means little girl or baby girl, penn means girl. Penn is also used in Tamil.

Thank you, everybody who responded to my question. I was telling a friend about the song "Penne En Penne" and we were wondering what "Penne En Penne" meant. Thanks!

[palacerani]

So its not a kind of pasta?

  no. penkutty means little girl or baby girl, penn means girl. Penn is also used in Tamil.

Thank you, everybody who responded to my question. I was telling a friend about the song "Penne En Penne" and we were wondering what "Penne En Penne" meant. Thanks!

Penn is girl. Penne means oh girl! like you're calling her. so penne en penne means oh girl, my girl. Not oh pasta, my pasta. 

[tabula rasa]

So its not a kind of pasta?

Oh God Daniel  :DROTFL - you're causing me to almost lose my job, laughing away to myself at the computer!

[priyachupke77]

So its not a kind of pasta?

  no. penkutty means little girl or baby girl, penn means girl. Penn is also used in Tamil.

Thank you, everybody who responded to my question. I was telling a friend about the song "Penne En Penne" and we were wondering what "Penne En Penne" meant. Thanks!

Penn is girl. Penne means oh girl! like you're calling her. so penne en penne means oh girl, my girl. Not oh pasta, my pasta. 

Thank you! I had figured it wasn't a type of pasta ;-)