When I wrote my Tamil song lyrics quizzes, I had two problems:
- I can't write in Tamil (not on paper, nor on a computer)
- I can't spell right in Tamil (ந vs ன, ர vs ற)
I overcame the first using a Tamil transliterator. I write in English, and you see it in Tamil.
The problem of ந vs ன was simple. ந occurs as the first letter of a word, and just before த. Nowhere else. (Is this always true?)
But ர vs ற can't be solved except through experience, and I'm short of that. So, rather than bother my family with every quiz, I used the wisdom of crowds. I googled both spellings of the word. The correct spelling has more Google hits than the incorrect one.
I did this so often, I made a Google gadget out of it.
Just type the word in English, click 'Search', and my gadget will search in tamil. It's amazing how much stuff there is in Tamil on the Web, from song lyrics to texts (thirukkuraL, for example).
You can add this gadget to:
- your desktop (in the Search Gadgets box, type "http://www.s-anand.net/a/tamilsearchgadget.xml")
- your website or blog (click here for the code)
- Google Reader.
Here's the transliteration table:
| Tamil | English |
|---|---|
| அ | a |
| ஆ | A or aa |
| இ | i |
| ஈ | I or ee |
| உ | u |
| ஊ | U or oo |
| எ | e |
| ஏ | E |
| ஐ | ai |
| ஒ | o |
| ஓ | O |
| ஔ | au |
| க | k or g |
| ங | n |
| ச | ch or s |
| ஜ | j |
| ஞ | n |
| ட | t or d |
| ண | N |
| த | th or dh |
| ந | n |
| ப | p or b |
| ம | m |
| ய | y |
| ர | r |
| ல | l |
| வ | v |
| ழ | zh |
| ள | L |
| ற | R |
| ஷ | sh |
| ஸ | S |
| ஹ | h |
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