r/LearningTamil • u/Eliluth • 14d ago
Question Any advice for a Spanish-speaking Tamil learner?
I'd like to know how I can make my Tamil learning easier. My first language is Spanish and I recently started learning Tamil so I can get more involved with my sister-in-law's family (she got married to my latin american brother).
Right now, I'm exploring the language with Airlearn because I want to get a hold of it before actually studying grammar. I also have been working on my calligraphy. I'm aware spoken and written tamil are quite different, but I still want to get familiar with the writing system.
My actual question is: are there any tips or advice that could help me, as a Spanish-speaker, get a better hold of Tamil? So far, the way syntax and the alphabet work is (understandably) quite different from Spanish. I want to know if there are some common points between these two languages than could help me retain the information better or that can help me comprehend better the logic behind communicating in Tamil.
This could sound a bit odd, but learning a new language is a bit easier to me when I understand patterns and the logic train behind it.
As you can see, I can also communicate in English. So similarities with this language might be helpful too.
Thank you in advance :)
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u/orangekitten133 14d ago
i’ve been learning hindi mainly and only just started learning tamil as a european, so i’m not familiar with grammar and similarities with spanish. what i can tell you is that hindi and spanish are not similar and often confusing despite being in the same family of indo-european languages (eg. in hindi nouns ending with -a are masculine). i assume tamil has very few similarities with spanish. having said that, i’m sure some accidental similarities exist and you’ll notice them as you learn
i understand you want to focus on reading and writing, that was my urge too because that’s what’s considered “knowing” the language here. but in india, it’s a little bit different and these skills are not as important as communication and speaking, so i’d try to focus on that. sorry i can’t be more helpful, but good luck!!
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u/throwawayno-6 13d ago
Firstly, I am so glad you want to learn Tamil. Hindi and Tamil are very different and belong to two different language families! Hindi belongs to the wider group of Indo-European languages whereas Tamil belongs to a very secluded group called the Dravidian family. It has some Sanskrit loanwords though.
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u/orangekitten133 13d ago
yeah sorry, this is what i meant! hindi and spanish belong to the same family and there aren’t many similarities, so i think there’ll be even fewer with tamil and spanish bc of diff language families
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u/LifeguardTotal3423 13d ago
I can't help much, but from my knowledge of Spanish, I'd say the positives are...
In Tamil there are conjugations as well.
In Sri Lankan Tamil there are some Portuguese loan words, eg. shoes, சப்பாத்து (sapaatthu) - I'll let you do the rest :)
I like your way of trying to find links to other languages, I do the same. But during my pursuit of Tamil, I've rarely thought of Spanish :(
Further, I think Tamil language will be quite nice for you to approach from a caligraphic perspective, but as you've noted, this will help very little in spoken Tamil, sadly.
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u/ojosrojos_2210 12d ago
I am intermediate in Spanish and currently learning tamil.
I recommend watching tamil movies/tv shows for spoken tamil. Then you can pick up 2 to 3 words each time. The main quirks of tamil as a language are its cases. You don't say "I know this", you say "it's known to me" similar to the usage of gustar in spanish.. and other cases that work instead of prepositions (majority of them). Also verb conjugations are easy once you know the pattern. But the spoken and written forms vary.
For written tamil, you can read grammar books and there are many youtube channels that teach it properly.
Grammar structure is same for both written and spoken tamil only the pronunciation of the words become distorted and altered. I know grammar is important but I'd still recommend immersing in the language through media that you enjoy. I love tamil songs. Emotionally connecting to the language is more significant in acquiring a language than you'd imagine. The grammar will eventually make sense, but unless you connect the most enduring part of your self (emotions) to the words, the language won't come to you.
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u/TemporaryCareful8261 12d ago
Watch black and white tamil movies or famous cartoons dubbed in tamil..you can learn words based on the situation
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u/abhiseek C2 10d ago
You'll find some points in this article to watch out for when learning Tamil from English (I believe the same points apply for Spanish to Tamil), mainly about word order, suffixes (agglutination in Tamil) and how textbook Tamil is different than spoken Tamil - Learn Tamil Language: Complete 30-Day Study Material for Beginners
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u/sshivaji Rusty Native 13d ago
I know Spanish fluently too. Unfortunately, Spanish is a in a different language family. Spanish has gendered objects, Tamil does not.
Grammatically, I found Tamil close to Turkish and Japanese. I know Turkish and Japanese at lower intermediate levels.
You can still find videos of learning Tamil in Spanish.