×

Malayalam
Malayalam

Tamil
Tamil



ADD
Compare
X
Malayalam
X
Tamil

Malayalam vs Tamil

Add ⊕

Countries

Countries

India, Lakshadweep, Puducherry
Malaysia, Mauritius, Puducherry, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu

Total No. Of Countries

36
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Kerala, India, Lakshadweep, Puducherry
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, kerala, Puducherry

Speaking Continents

Asia
Asia

Minority Language

Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles

Regulated By

Academy for Malayalam literature, Government of Kerala
Official language Commission of Government of Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur Tamil University

Interesting Facts

  • Malayalam language has 54 literals. Same sounds have different versions to it.
  • Malayalam script is reffered as "Rod Script" and it is derived from the Grantha script, which was developed from Indic script of Brahmi.
  • Tamil is the oldest language in the world. Tamil was spoken in South India more than 5000 years ago.
  • The first legally recognized Classical Language of India is Tamil.

Similar To

Tamil and Sanskrit Languages
Malayalam

Derived From

Sanskrit Language
-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

53247
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

1512
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

4118
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Brahmic family and derivatives
Tamil

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

23
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

ഹലോ (halēā)
வணக்கம் (Vanakkam)

Thank You

നന്ദി (nandi)
நன்றி (Naṉṟi)

How Are You?

സുഖമാണോ? (sukhamāṇēā?)
நீங்கள் எப்படி இருக்கிறீர்கள்? (Nīṅkaḷ eppaṭi irukkiṟīrkaḷ?)

Good Night

ശുഭ രാത്രി (śubha rātri)
நல்ல இரவு (Good night) / irravu vanakkam (Good night)

Good Evening

ഗുഡ് ഈവനിംഗ് (guḍ īvaniṅg)
நல்ல மாலை (Nalla mālai)/ மாலை (irravu vanakkam)

Good Afternoon

ഗുഡ് ആഫ്റ്റർനൂൺ (guḍ āphṟṟarnūṇ)
பிற்பகல் வணக்கம் (perpagal vanakkam)

Good Morning

രാവിലെ (rāvile)
காலை வணக்கம் (Kaalai Vanakkam)

Please

ദയവായി (dayavāyi)
தயவு (Tayavu)

Sorry

ക്ഷമിക്കണം (kṣamikkaṇaṁ)
மன்னிக்கவும் (Maṉṉikkavum)

Bye

വിട (viṭa)
சென்று வருகிறேன் (Sendru Varukiren)

I Love You

ഞാൻ നിന്നെ സ്നേഹിക്കുന്നു (ñān ninne snēhikkunnu)
நான் உன்னை காதலிக்கிறேன் (Naan Unnai Kadalikiren)

Excuse Me

എക്സ്ക്യൂസ് മീ (ekskyūs mī)
என்னை மன்னியுங்கள் (Eṉṉai maṉṉiyuṅkaḷ)

Dialects

Dialect 1

Judeo-Malayalam
Kongu

Where They Speak

Israel, kerala
Kongu

How Many People Speak

38,000,000.0077,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Mappila
Madurai Tamil

Where They Speak

India
Madurai, South Tamil Nadu

How Many People Speak

38,000,000.0077,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Pandy Malayalam
Tirunelveli Tamil

Where They Speak

France, kerala
South Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli

How Many People Speak

38,000,000.0077,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

310
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

38.00 million78.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.57 %1.06 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

38.00 million70.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

38.00 million8.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

മലയാളം (malayāḷam)
தமிழ்

Alternative Names

Alealum, Malayalani, Malayali, Malean, Maliyad, Mallealle, Mopla
Damulian, Tamal, Tamalsan, Tambul, Tamili

French Name

malayalam
tamoul

German Name

Malayalam
Tamil

Pronunciation

[mɐləjaːɭɐm]
[t̪ɐmɨɻ]

Ethnicity

Malayali
Tamil people or Tamilans

History

Origin

9th Century
300 BC

Language Family

Dravidian Family
Dravidian Family

Subgroup

-
-

Branch

-
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early form
Old Tamil and Middle Tamil

Standard Forms

Malayalam
Modern Tamil

Language Position

2918
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Malayalam
Signed Tamil

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

ml
ta

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

mal
tam

ISO 639 2/B

mal
tam

ISO 639 3

mal
tam

ISO 639 6

mal
tam

Glottocode

mala1464
tami1289, oldt1248

Linguasphere

No data available
tami1289

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-
Subject-Object-Verb

Language Morphological Typology

Synthetic
-

Malayalam vs Tamil Speaking Countries

There are plenty of languages spoken around the world. Every country has its own official language. Compare Malayalam vs Tamil speaking countries, so that you will have total count of countries that speak Malayalam or Tamil language.

  • Malayalam is spoken as a national language in: Kerala, India, Lakshadweep, Puducherry.
  • Tamil is spoken as a national language in: Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu.

You will also get to know the continents where Malayalam and Tamil speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Malayalam language is 29 and position of Tamil language is 18. Find all the information about these languages on Malayalam and Tamil.

Malayalam and Tamil Language History

Comparison of Malayalam vs Tamil language history gives us differences between origin of Malayalam and Tamil language. History of Malayalam language states that this language originated in 9th Century whereas history of Tamil language states that this language originated in 300 BC. Family of the language also forms a part of history of that language. More on language families of these languages can be found out on Malayalam and Tamil Language History.

Malayalam and Tamil Greetings

People around the world use different languages to interact with each other. Even if we cannot communicate fluently in any language, it will always be beneficial to know about some of the common greetings or phrases from that language. This is where Malayalam and Tamil greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Malayalam and Tamil language. Malayalam word for "Hello" is ഹലോ (halēā) or Tamil word for "Thank You" is நன்றி (Naṉṟi). Find more of such common Malayalam Greetings and Tamil Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Malayalam vs Tamil Difficulty

The Malayalam vs Tamil difficulty level basically depends on the number of Malayalam Alphabets and Tamil Alphabets. Also the number of vowels and consonants in the language plays an important role in deciding the difficulty level of that language. The important points to be considered when we compare Malayalam and Tamil are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Malayalam and Tamil, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Malayalam is 44 weeks while to learn Tamil time required is 44 weeks.