Hindu Temple and Cultural Society of USA, Inc. Sri Venkateswara Temple (Balaji Mandir) and Community Center Sri Venkateswara Vidyalaya agus sug UNL oi aaram ba in’ ite mi zh paa da NG gaL ( Introductory Tamil Lessons ) 780 Old Farm Road, Bridgewater, NJ 08807, USA 908-725-4477Dedicated To Lord Sri VenkateswaraPreface This book is a compilation of numerous lessons taught in the Tamil language class of Sri Venkateswara Vidyalaya at the Sri Venkateswara Temple, Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA. These classes were conducted at the Temple over a period of two years, on a bi-weekly basis. The course in each language was designed to offer introductory lessons to enthusiastic children and adults, and prepare them to read, write, and, if possible, speak that language. All the students who attended the school for two years showed great deal of motivation in learning one or more languages. This project continues to be a tremendous success. Hand-written notes were distributed to the students in every class and this is now edited, in a better way, so that it will be one of the learning tools for future classes. Presently, this model book is prepared for Sanskrit and Tamil languages. Similar books will be released in the future for other languages (Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu) taught at the tempie. The education committee wishes to thank the Temple management for its support in this venture. We also would like to take this opportunity to thank the participating students and their parents. Education committee October 23, 1994Author's note This book, “Introductory Tamil Lessons", is divided into six small sections, dealing with some basic aspects of Tamil language. The reader is first introduced to the Tamil alphabets. They are first taught to pronounce the 247 alphabets in Tamil. An easy way to write Tamil alphabets is offered in the next seven lessons. Tamil letters are divided into six groups based on simplicity and repetition of the strokes involved in each letter. Special characters adopted from Sanskrit forms the seventh class. This is a new experiment and tumed out to be very effective in the class, at the Temple. Some simple words based on these letters are also given in each lesson. The third section is devoted to develop skills in correspondence in Tamil. This introduction is based on the students request. A model letter is also provided with blanks to be filled. In the next section, the students are taught to speak simple sentences in Tamil which are sentences that are regularly spoken at home. The next several lessons are devoted to Tamil vocabulary building. This is foltowed by simple poems in Tamil and some homework, which the students enjoyed the most. Novel word finding schemes are also introduced. The whole program is a great pleasure for me and | enjoy it thoroughly. This is iy fist effort to teach Tamil to kids who are born and brought up in USA. | take the responsibility for all the mistakes in this book. Please bring errors, if any, to my notice and | will make appropriate corrections in the next compilation of this book. Your suggestions to improve this book is most welcome. The Anglo-Tamil transliteration scheme developed by Sri. K. Srinivasan of Canada is followed in this text. | also referred to a number of first grade Tamil books in preparing the class notes. A list of references is included at the end. | thank Shri. S. Krishnamoorthy, Shri. A. Natarajan and Shri. B. Sreenivasan who participated in the Tamil teaching at the Temple, and Sri. K. Srinivasan for his transliteration scheme. | also wish to thank the Temple management, the students, their parents, and my family members for their enthusiasm and support. It also gives me a great pleasure to thank my wife, Mythily, for her constant support. | dedicate this book to Lord Sri Venkateswara, A. R. Srinivasan October 23, 1994Tamil Alphabets 12 Vowels Consonants 18 Combination letters 216 Aaytha ezhuththu 1 Total 247 Tamil Vowels sug awit agsgiasc (Tha mi zh u yir e zhu th thu k ka L) Tamil letter Transliteration Sounds like: a a a in abide a aa a in tall g i i in India * ee . Ein Easter 2 u w in tube cd 00 00 in proot a e e in end 4g E a incake a ai 7 in side ? o in won 9 o 0 in joke oa ow ow inowl 4 akh akh in lakh {akh is known as the aaytha ezhuththu)Tamil Consonants Gini agpgissc (Me y e zhu th thu k ka L) Tamil letter Transliteration & kg a NG & ch, s 6 NY c td oi N 8 th, dh a a a pb w m a y ft r a ' ai v y zh a L 5 R ot n Sounds like: ic in picture ing in king ch in much ing in stingy tin put 1 in almond th in faith in in Hindu p in skip ‘m in gum y inboy rin water 1 in rail ve in love zhin Tamizh (see below) trintree 1 in pin To pronounce L, bend your tongue inside and touch the upper part of mouth. While pronouncing zh fold your tongue along its length, sides going up , and pull it inside.8 [46 1s | ge w | ua | @) gi Gg tf | | ys rn w|i | fi | #| te | "9 1S | S| ge Qala | s 4 tf | im] gm m A} MD | a a hig am wa | om | gt g ue [mel ¢ g GES | KGB | g09 me D/O} a Wh es | > eS «|e =| to | ‘a 2 # ee)u LD (pa da m) ob Li (ma da m) uLL i (pat ta m) WEL (mat ta m) 31 Lon (a m ma) 30 un (a_ Pp, pa) ur u un (paa p paa) Lom Lor (maa maa) Lesson 1 cou un t tada taa,daa um ob ow wn paa m ma maa 1 ab a 4 i } a aa ' 3 2 : -> picture To -> a monastery -> kite -> level \ -> mother \ +> father : -> baby -> uncle Ehz ft -> is known as “kaal" in Tamil. It appearson the right side of a letter to produce the "aa" sound.Lesson 2 @ § 5 on I ee , fa faa ai a an oO o on vova vaa | la laa Qu. -> place (ida m) ow -> wetness (ee ram) wow -> tree (ma ram) Lot Wg -> mango tree (maa ma ra m) uisuUg W — ->spinning top (pam ba ram) un 5 -> look (pa) uo -> tooth (pal) un ob ->milk (paa |) ain oD -> tail (vaa 1) UL Um f ->lookatthe picture. (pa dam paar) ut G un eum -> baby, come. (paa p paa vaa)Lesson 3 ot on on L LA LAA & & an kg ka,ga kaa,gaa é & én ch cha chaa 2 om a 00 e 3 9 2? ai ° oO 29% ->strength (u ra m) 2L6 ->body (u da |) om § ->town (00 r) a ol ->rat (ele) aag ->five people (ai va r) u & & W ->near, page (pak ka m) any ->as spicy hot (kaa ram) @ L Wi ->boat (O dam)i i NG NGa 6 6 NY NYa oa ort oon N Na Naa ot oO OTT n na naa 5 5 an n na naa 5 5 50 th,dh tha thaa u mi -> share (pa NG gu) ugeéaw -> scarcity (pa NY cha m) U em Lb -> money (pa Na m) bao Ww -> cheek (kan nam) om 5m -> purple (00 tha) oie a be om tt -> town (00 r) 5 & Wb ->gold (tha NG ga m) & on ->dream (ka naa) & oa ->eye (ka N) Lo @m ->sandLesson 5 oo ow wr y ya yaa YoY yr zh zha zhaa 9 9 on = R_~ Ra Raa @s Cae mS ke KE kai @u Cu ou pe PE pai 5 wl > Tamil {tha mi zh) am -> live (vaa zh) 5m Wi -> mother (thaa y) - un wi -> mat (paa y) - Bn w -> dog (naa y) - an wi -> mouth (vaa y), U tp WO -> fruit (pa zha m) @an Cen @aor ko ko kow @ut = Gun Quer po pO pow DS -> hand (kai) ou -> bag (pai) LO -> ink (mai) & MS -> jewelry (na kai) Cr g-> yesterday (ne R Ru) Qaim ->today (in Ru) BM sHon-> tomorrow (naa Lai)ki NGi ml chi NYi ti Ni thi ni pi) mi yl ri i dl vi ol zhi ui Ri RSARA ATE HH HE RAW A Oy Lesson 6 kee NGee chee NYee tee Nee thee nee pee mee yee ree lee vee zhee Lee Ree ®e asweeaowFtEerwa w @ eo Gme@e ku NGu chu NYu tu thu nu pu mu yu ru & koo §, NGoo @ choo 37 NYoo ©G too IT Noo gIT thoo noo moo yoo roo loo voo zhoo Loo Roo @¢9 ®@eeg Ae oe nooag = noo Ru aes noo ft Gar ku dai OL koo dai Cad) - vE li 00 si uli ane kaa su ug ~ ba Lu ~ ugTet ba loon Coes mE! kee zh ->hundred gt fl ->dust thoo si -> thread gist -> piece thoo L -> umbrella @ > close moo du -> basket @® -> hot choo du -> fence ar -> forest kaa du > needle un@ -> sing paa du -> chisel Coa -> mound mE du -> coin Cun@ -> put po du > weight Bn@ -> country naa du ->balloon (pms => brain moo Lai > up {mo -> corner moo lai -> down ir) -> edge ram BQ -> center na duLesson 7 3 ow ag j s sh an & h ksh sri amily -> jar yssus = ->_: flower jaa di pu sh pam ajlos ->glittering Cam, -> pair ja ri gai thread jo di gaineij -> Jawahar ¢ynan-> rose ja vaa har rO jaa Ugo er ->bhajan 2asemu) = ->_ heat ba ja nai ush Nam @mepiionet -> Hanumaan ha numaan Uajegenis -> snacks ba ksh sha Nam Signienas, -> grape thi raa t ksh ai wh avjeiaigl — -> Goddess of knowledge sri sa ras va thi wf gms -> SriRam sriraam