Origins of the Tamil Language
The Tamil Language is part of the family of Dravidian languages, spoken by the people in western Bangladesh, northern Sri Lanka, southern India, and southern Pakistan. There are 26 different languages in this family, with over 90 million speakers today across the world. We look at how to translate english to tamil with common tamil phrases.
Tamil has existed for more than 2,000 years making it one of the oldest living languages in the world.
Tamil in Singapore
The Tamil people are the 3rd biggest ethnicity in Singapore after the Malay community. They were among the first human settlements in Singapore with the Chola empire of Tamil Nadu. The name is either from Sanskrit or Tamil wherein both languages Singa means Lion and Pore means City; meaning The city of The Lion.
After both Singapore and India came under British rule, it expanded its trading Asian countries and has attracted a lot of immigrants. Today, Singapore houses over five hundred thousand Tamils and is one of the preferred destinations among migrants from Tamil Nadu.
Tamil has become one of the four official Singaporean languages. It is taught as a secondary language in most schools from primary to junior college level. There is a dedicated daily Tamil newspaper print called the Tamil Murasu, a full-time Tamil radio Station Oli 96.8, and a complete Tamil TV channel called Vasantham.
Basic Tamil Phrases
Tamil is a simple language and very easy for beginners to pick up. They help you connect with millions of people around the world.
Basics
English Meaning | Tamil Translated |
I | Naan |
He | Avan, Avar (with respect) |
She | Aval |
You | Nee, Neenga (with respect) |
They | Avunga |
It | Adu |
This | Idu |
That | Adu |
Greetings
English Meaning | Tamil Translated |
Father | Appa |
Mother | Amma |
Husband | Purushan |
Wife | Pondati |
Elder Sister | Akka |
Younger Sister | Thangai |
Elder Brother | Anna |
Younger Brother | Thambi |
Basic Words
English Meaning | Tamil Translated |
Come | Vaanga |
Go | Ponga |
Came | Vanthaanga |
Take | Ambulans |
Slow | olla |
Water | Thanni |
Home | Veedu |
Yesterday | Netru, Netthu |
Today | Indru, Innaikku |
Tomorrow | Nalai, Nalaikku |
Day | Pagal |
Night | Rathri |
Morning | Kaalai |
In the morning | Kaalela |
Evening | Sayndram, Saaynkaalam |
Sleep | Thookkam |
Food | Saappadu |
To Drink | Kudikka |
Enough | Pothum |
Shop | Kadai |
Numbers
English Meaning | Tamil Translated |
1 | Onnu |
2 | Randu |
3 | Moondru |
4 | Naala |
5 | Anchu |
6 | Aaaru |
7 | Ezhu |
8 | Ettu |
9 | Ombathu |
10 | Pathu |
Common Phrases
English Meaning | Tamil Translated |
What is your name? | Unga peru Enna |
What happened? | Ennachu? |
Did you have your lunch? | Saapttengala? |
Come home | Veettukku Vaanga |
Please sit | Ukkarunga |
Thank You | Nandri |
Common Translation Mistakes English to Tamil
English is a complex language and often this makes it difficult for literal translations for Tamil.
Making sure that your grammar and vocabulary is correct can ensure that you don’t end up in awkward situations.
Transliteration
Transliteration refers to the process of mapping from one language system to another based on phonetic similarities.
Many Tamil and English translate each word and every sentence from their mother tongue. This often leads them to form grammatically incorrect sentences, making it sound awkward.
Multiple Meanings
Tamil is very limited in language resources. It has limited uses outside of Tamil speaking country as not most businesses don’t speak that language.
As Tamil doesn’t have grammar, thesaurus or a good English to Tamil dictionary, translating sentences properly can be hard.
For example, the word ‘put’ has 54 different shades of meaning.
Using Google Translate: Translate English to Tamil
Most translators are built off reading billions of documents being translated and millions of translators adjust the translations as the machines adjust and learn. This has made translating phrases, sentences, and a large amount of text a lot easier, and has helped connect people all across the world.
Google Translator is a free translation service that is provided by Google that translates words, phrases, sentences, and large amounts of texts. The machine translation service was introduced in 2006, with only being to provide translation between English and Arabic.
Google Translate uses a statistical machine translation software model that learns from translated documents on the internet to predict the best match for the text that you want to have translated. The software analyzes large amounts of data and based on past translations and human help. However, often this isn’t enough to capture the slang and the real intent behind the message.
For Tamil, the accuracy and validity depend on documents that it has read. Often the english to tamil translation examples and content are translated to its literal meaning, lacking any cultural relevance or understanding of slang terms. Although it may be a quick way to get an overview understanding of the intended meaning, you’re most likely unable to grasp the full message.
Why Having Singapore Tamil Translators Still Needed
Can’t Replicate Local Tamil Translators
Translation tools are limited to the amount of data it has learned. When data is limited on one or both of the languages, the accuracy of the translation suffers, leaving you with a guess. Often words are translated in their literal translations where they substitute one word or group words for the translated word, instead of gaining the exact context of the sentence.
This is seen through Google Translate’s disclaimer:
“Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.”
Not Culturally Relevant
Being culturally involves using Transcreation. This is where the tamil translator preserves the context, intent, emotion, and tone of the original sentences. The goal is to duplicate the original message thoughtfully and seamlessly without realizing there was a translation, giving the audience an identical emotional experience as the original source message.
Transcreation provides an effective way for businesses and brands to authentically reach new markets in a meaningful and cultural way that achieves a greater brand recognition and engagement. This process comes from understanding the cultural aspect that needs to be curated to make your target audience buy your products and services.
Confidentiality
Free tamil translation tools rely on available data to help perform its translation, meaning your confidential data can be found online if it’s been used to translate on these translators. As translators don’t sign NDA contracts, sensitive data including medical documents, client personal information, and financial reports, can be searched and taken.
This is seen in Google’s Term of Services:
“When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google … a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.”
No Proofreading
Free tamil translation software or tools can only provide you with the translation. They don’t check for errors, and there is no guarantee that you’ll be able to spot inaccuracies. Having a proofreading service for business purposes or having a translation agency is crucial to make sure the intended message is correctly translated to the target audience.
Why Choose TranslatedRight For Translations Services to Translate English to Tamil
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With over 5000+ professional and experienced translators, we’ve filtered out the best translator using our stringent and detailed interviewing process, ensuring that you can hire only the best-qualified person for your specific translation document. This has allowed us to simplify the whole entire technical translation process, resulting in a smooth application process.
This is seen by satisfied customers from our competitive prices, friendly and efficient translation services.
If you’re looking for a professional translation service near me that can translate from a source language to the desired target language that conforms to the requirements of the technical side of your industry, Translated Right can help you today. Providing a streamlined and hassle-free process, get your document translated by a professional service today.