RubanTools

Tamil Transliteration

Type Tamil words in Roman (English) letters and get the Tamil script output instantly.

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Common Words Reference

Tamil Vowels (Uyir)

a
aa
i
ii
u
uu
e
ee
ai
o
oo
au

Tamil Consonants (Mei)

k
ng
ch
ny
t
N
th
n
p
m
y
r
l
v
zh
L
R
nn

Tamil Transliteration Roman to Tamil Script

Tamil is one of the world's oldest surviving classical languages, with a documented literary history spanning over 2,000 years. Recognised as a Classical Language of India in 2004, Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu, a Union Territory language of Puducherry, and has official status in Sri Lanka and Singapore. The Tamil script consists of 12 vowels, 18 consonants, and 216 combined characters, making accurate digital representation essential for communication, content creation, and official records.

How Transliteration Works

Transliteration maps Roman (English) phonetic characters to their Tamil script equivalents based on pronunciation rules. This differs from translation - it converts sounds, not meanings. For example, typing "vanakkam" produces the Tamil greeting in script. The tool uses a standardised phoneme mapping aligned with the Tamil Lexicon published by the University of Madras. Users who know Tamil but cannot type in the native script find phonetic input far faster than hunting for characters on a virtual keyboard.

Digital Tamil and Government Use

Tamil Nadu government portals, TNPSC examination notifications, and judicial records increasingly publish content in Tamil script. The Tamil Virtual Academy and the Tamil Internet Conference have promoted Unicode-based Tamil computing since 1999. With over 80 million native Tamil speakers globally and significant diaspora populations in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, tools that bridge Roman and Tamil script support communication across generations and geographies.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Tamil alphabet has 12 vowels, 18 consonants and 216 combination letters, totaling 247 characters, plus one special character (aytham).

No, Tamil has its own unique script that developed independently. Tamil is a Dravidian language, completely different from the Indo-Aryan Hindi written in Devanagari.

Tanglish (Tamil + English) is Tamil written in Roman letters, used in SMS and social media. For example, "vanakkam" for வணக்கம் (hello) and "nandri" for நன்றி (thank you).

Tamil is one of the oldest living languages, with recorded literary history of over 2,000 years. The earliest Tamil inscriptions date to around 3rd century BCE.

Tamil is official in Tamil Nadu (India), Sri Lanka and Singapore. Over 80 million people speak Tamil as their native language worldwide.