Countries
Malaysia, Mauritius, Puducherry, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu
Hong Kong, Macau
Total No. Of Countries
62
0
46
👆🏻
National Language
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu
China, Guangdong
Second Language
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, kerala, Puducherry
Not spoken in any of the countries
Speaking Continents
Asia
Asia
Minority Language
Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles
Hawaii
Regulated By
Official language Commission of Government of Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur Tamil University
Civil Service Bureau, Government of Hong Kong, Official Language Division
Interesting Facts
- 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.
- Cantonese have lot of slangs, many of them include words that do not make sense at all and some also have English in them.
- Even though Cantonese and Mandarin are dialects of Chinese, Cantonese has 8 tones instead of Mandarin's 4.
Similar To
Malayalam
Chinese Language
Derived From
-
-
Alphabets in
Alphabets
24728
18
247
👆🏻
Phonology
How Many Vowels
128
0
32
👆🏻
How Many Consonants
1820
9
60
👆🏻
Scripts
Tamil
Chinese Characters and derivatives
Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Left-To-Right, Horizontal, Top-To-Bottom
Hard to Learn
Language Levels
310
2
12
👆🏻
Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks88 weeks
3
88
👆🏻
Hello
வணக்கம் (Vanakkam)
您好
Thank You
நன்றி (Naṉṟi)
谢谢
How Are You?
நீங்கள் எப்படி இருக்கிறீர்கள்? (Nīṅkaḷ eppaṭi irukkiṟīrkaḷ?)
你好吗？
Good Night
நல்ல இரவு (Good night) / irravu vanakkam (Good night)
晚安
Good Evening
நல்ல மாலை (Nalla mālai)/ மாலை (irravu vanakkam)
晚上好
Good Afternoon
பிற்பகல் வணக்கம் (perpagal vanakkam)
下午好
Good Morning
காலை வணக்கம் (Kaalai Vanakkam)
早上好
Please
தயவு (Tayavu)
请
Sorry
மன்னிக்கவும் (Maṉṉikkavum)
遗憾
Bye
சென்று வருகிறேன் (Sendru Varukiren)
再见
I Love You
நான் உன்னை காதலிக்கிறேன் (Naan Unnai Kadalikiren)
我爱你
Excuse Me
என்னை மன்னியுங்கள் (Eṉṉai maṉṉiyuṅkaḷ)
原谅我
Dialect 1
Kongu
Guangzhou
Where They Speak
Kongu
outside mainland China
How Many People Speak
77,000,000.0071,000,000.00
1.5
960000000
👆🏻
Dialect 2
Madurai Tamil
Xiguan
Where They Speak
Madurai, South Tamil Nadu
Hong Kong
How Many People Speak
77,000,000.0071,000,000.00
700
274000000
👆🏻
Dialect 3
Tirunelveli Tamil
Hong Kong
Where They Speak
South Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli
Hong Kong
How Many People Speak
77,000,000.0070,000,000.00
2
230000000
👆🏻
Total No. Of Dialects
103
0
188
👆🏻
How Many People Speak?
78.00 million60.00 million
0
1200
👆🏻
Speaking Population
1.06 %16.00 %
0
89
👆🏻
Native Speakers
70.00 million52.00 million
0
873
👆🏻
Second Language Speakers
8.00 million71.00 million
0.01
400
👆🏻
Native Name
தமிழ்
Kwang Tung Wa
Alternative Names
Damulian, Tamal, Tamalsan, Tambul, Tamili
Guangfu, Metropolitan Cantonese
French Name
tamoul
cantonais
German Name
Tamil
Kantonesisch
Pronunciation
[t̪ɐmɨɻ]
[kʰɐn˧˥tʰœːn˧˥sɨ˧˥]
Ethnicity
Tamil people or Tamilans
Han Chinese
Origin
300 BC
17th century
Language Family
Dravidian Family
Sino-Tibetan Family
Subgroup
-
-
Branch
-
-
Language Forms
Early Forms
Old Tamil and Middle Tamil
No early forms
Standard Forms
Modern Tamil
Standard Cantonese
Language Position
181
1
120
👆🏻
Signed Forms
Signed Tamil
Signed Cantonese
Scope
Individual
-
ISO 639 1
ta
No data available
ISO 639 2
ISO 639 2/T
tam
yue
ISO 639 2/B
tam
yue
ISO 639 3
tam
No data available
ISO 639 6
tam
yue
Glottocode
tami1289, oldt1248
cant1236
Linguasphere
tami1289
No data available
Types of Language
Language Type
Living
-
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb
-
Language Morphological Typology
-
-