kunjam tamil terium

"kunjam tamil terium" means "I know Tamil little bit".

It has been little over a year since I shifted my residence to Chennai (erstwhile Madras). Tamil is the first language of the city and without it one can not get along in city. English is also used but is limited to offices, big shops, theaters, malls, etc. Day to day interaction has to be in Tamil which makes it essential to learn the language.

Tamil was very different from the languages already known to me, namely Bengali, Hindi and English. So I found it very difficult to grasp. But as it is said necessity is the best teacher. Today I can say I know a bit of the language, though a conversation is still like a river flowing in front of me. I can get some water from it but cannot get the whole river. The credit of whatever I learn till goes to my colleagues at office, who took the pains of translating me things which went over my head.

I will like to recall few of the words I need to use on a daily basis...
evlo ... how much?
rombo jaasti ... too much/high
irru ... stop
veedu ... home
tanni ... water
anna ... elder brother
tambi ... younger brother
onne ... one
randu ... two
anju ... five
elu ... seven
ettu ... eight
pattu ... ten
ambadhu ... fifty
po/polama ... go/shall go?

... I think that’s it ... ohh no one more ...
kadal ... love :)

Hope this list grows longer in coming one year.