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The hardest Tamil sounds for learners

• Short and long vowels

  Tamil has short and long pairs for most vowels, and length changes meaning: கல் kal (stone) and கால் kāl (leg), பல் pal (tooth) and பால் pāl (milk). Long vowels are held about twice as long. A short u at the end of a word is said with unrounded lips, close to 'uh': அது atu.

• Double consonants and voicing

  Tamil script has one letter for each consonant position, and the sound depends on where it stands. At the start of a word or when doubled, a stop is voiceless: அப்பா appā, பக்கம் pakkam. A single stop between vowels becomes voiced or softer: ட in படம் paṭam sounds like d, த in அது atu like the th in 'this', and க in பகல் pakal like a soft h or g. Doubled consonants are held a little longer.

• The ழ sound

  ழ ḻ, often written zh in English, as in 'Tamizh', is a sound few languages have. Curl your tongue tip far back toward the roof of the mouth without touching it and let the air flow over it, somewhere between an American r and an l: தமிழ் tamiḻ, மழை maḻai (rain), வாழைப்பழம் vāḻaippaḻam (banana). In some regions it is said like ள ḷ in everyday speech, but the careful sound is valued.