Tamil
Still speaking a classical language
One of the longest continuously used languages on earth, with literature two thousand years old that is still read.
- Its classical literature, the Sangam poetry, is around two thousand years old and Tamil speakers can still study it in the original.
- It is a classical language that never stopped being an everyday one, which is a very short list.
- Written and spoken Tamil differ sharply, and the written form is closer to the classical language than to conversation.
- It has retroflex consonants made by curling the tongue back, including some that other Indian languages lost.
- It is official in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore, which is a rare spread for a regional language.
A classical language older than Latin that never stopped being spoken: poetry from two thousand years ago, still read, still quoted, eighty million speakers. Chennai's film industry, Jaffna's poetry, Singapore's official signage: a classical language with a modern triple citizenship.
Where Tamil parts company with the languages closest to it, and what each one would cost you from here.
Reading about a language is not speaking it. These are the places I would go to find someone to speak Tamil with.
The Tamil Passepartout is not out yet
Five printed pages that carry you through the arrival. Leave your address and you hear about it first, and nothing else.
Leaving takes one click.
Short stories written inside a measured vocabulary, with the word lists and nothing invented for a textbook.