some resources + hello and welcome

to the spoken tamil struggle blog. i am currently in a super rural village Thenkasi where no one speaks much english so i must learn tamil to stop feeling like a dumb alien.

unfortunately there are very few resources to learn spoken tamil. unlike with spanish, google translate will not help you at all. no one speaks like that. for example, they translate "have you eaten?", which is probably the question i've heard the most, to "Nīṅkaḷ cāppiṭṭīrkaḷā" which i have never heard anyone say.

most people say: "niinga sapdiingaalaa?"

i've found three books that i reference. all of them give slightly different translations, so i think the only way to really learn is to go to the place you want to speak in, keep track of how people are talking, decipher the meanings, and then parrot their mannerisms / dialect without thinking too much about grammar. 

here they are:

1. colloquial tamil by asher

2. SPOKEN TAMIL FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS by Sanjay D (the title is actually in all caps) 

3. this random pdf from a christian college by t.v. adikesavalu

the last one is the one i wish i started with. colloquial tamil is more academic and the pronunciations they give you, though probably 'correct', don't sound like how people actually talk, or even how the people in their own audio recordings talk. SPOKEN TAMIL FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS requires you to learn tamil script in order to learn verb conjugations, which i haven't done yet (baby steps), so i can't comment. 

if you have found this blog and are on a similar quest please tell me how you learned. if you want to learn i figured the way i explain things, from the perspective of an absolute beginner that's just trying to connect with people, may help you as a good starting point. like the kid next to you in math class explaining helping you instead of your professor, who is too removed from the struggles of the 5th grade mind to help.