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Tamil vs Chinese


Chinese vs Tamil


Countries

Countries
Malaysia, Mauritius, Puducherry, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu  
China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan  

Total No. Of Countries
6  
9
5  
10

National Language
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu  
China, Taiwan  

Second Language
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, kerala, Puducherry  
Republic of Brazil  

Speaking Continents
Asia  
Asia  

Minority Language
Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles  
Indonesia, Malaysia  

Regulated By
Official language Commission of Government of Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur Tamil University  
Chinese Language Standardization Council, National Commission on Language and Script Work, Promote Mandarin Council  

Interesting Facts
  • Tamil is the oldest language in the world. Tamil was spoken in South India more than 5000 years ago.
  • The first legally recognized Classical Language of India is Tamil.
    •   
  • Chinese language is tonal, since meaning of a word changes according to its tone.
  • In Chinese language, there is no grammatical distinction between singular or plural, no declination of verbs according to tense, mood and aspect.
  

Similar To
Malayalam  
Not Available  

Derived From
Not Available  
Not Available  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Tamil-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Chinese.jpg#200  

Alphabets
247  
99+
26  
8

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
12  
9
24  
19

How Many Consonants
18  
8
23  
13

Scripts
Tamil  
Chinese Characters and derivatives  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal, Top-To-Bottom  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
6  
5

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
11
88 weeks  
13

Greetings

Hello
வணக்கம் (Vanakkam)  
您好 (Nín hǎo)  

Thank You
நன்றி (Naṉṟi)  
谢谢 (Xièxiè)  

How Are You?
நீங்கள் எப்படி இருக்கிறீர்கள்? (Nīṅkaḷ eppaṭi irukkiṟīrkaḷ?)  
你好吗? (Nǐ hǎo ma?)  

Good Night
நல்ல இரவு (Good night) / irravu vanakkam (Good night)  
晚安 (Wǎn'ān)  

Good Evening
நல்ல மாலை (Nalla mālai)/ மாலை (irravu vanakkam)  
晚上好 (Wǎnshàng hǎo)  

Good Afternoon
பிற்பகல் வணக்கம் (perpagal vanakkam)  
下午好 (Xiàwǔ hǎo)  

Good Morning
காலை வணக்கம் (Kaalai Vanakkam)  
早安 (Zǎo ān)  

Please
தயவு (Tayavu)  
请 (Qǐng)  

Sorry
மன்னிக்கவும் (Maṉṉikkavum)  
遗憾 (Yíhàn)  

Bye
சென்று வருகிறேன் (Sendru Varukiren)  
再见 (Zàijiàn)  

I Love You
நான் உன்னை காதலிக்கிறேன் (Naan Unnai Kadalikiren)  
我爱你 (Wǒ ài nǐ)  

Excuse Me
என்னை மன்னியுங்கள் (Eṉṉai maṉṉiyuṅkaḷ)  
劳驾 (Láojià)  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kongu  
Mandarin  

Where They Speak
Kongu  
China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
960,000,000.00  
1

Dialect 2
Madurai Tamil  
Wu  

Where They Speak
Madurai, South Tamil Nadu  
China, United States of America  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
80,000,000.00  
1

Dialect 3
Tirunelveli Tamil  
Yue  

Where They Speak
South Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli  
China, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam  

How Many People Speak
Not Available  
60,000,000.00  
2

Total No. Of Dialects
10  
10
10  
10

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
78.00 million  
21
1,051.00 million  
2

Speaking Population
1.06 %  
19
16.00 %  
2

Native Speakers
70.00 million  
15
873.00 million  
1

Second Language Speakers
8.00 million  
24
178.00 million  
3

Native Name
தமிழ்  
中文 (zhōngwén)  

Alternative Names
Damulian, Tamal, Tamalsan, Tambul, Tamili  
Not Available  

French Name
tamoul  
chinois  

German Name
Tamil  
Chinesisch  

Pronunciation
[t̪ɐmɨɻ]  
Not Available  

Ethnicity
Tamil people or Tamilans  
Han  

History

Origin
300 BC  
1250 BC  

Language Family
Dravidian Family  
Sino-Tibetan Family  

Subgroup
Not Available  
Not Available  

Branch
Not Available  
Not Available  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Old Tamil and Middle Tamil  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Modern Tamil  
Standard Chinese  

Language Position
18  
16
1  
1

Signed Forms
Signed Tamil  
Wenfa Shouyu 文法手語 ("Grammatical Sign Language", Signed Mandarin (Taiwan))  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
ta  
zh  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
tam  
zho  

ISO 639 2/B
tam  
chi  

ISO 639 3
tam  
zho  

ISO 639 6
tam  
Not Available  

Glottocode
tami1289, oldt1248  
sini1245  

Linguasphere
tami1289  
79-AAA  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb  
Subject-Verb-Object  

Language Morphological Typology
Not Available  
Analytic, Isolating  

Countries >>
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Tamil and Chinese Language History

Comparison of Tamil vs Chinese language history gives us differences between origin of Tamil and Chinese language. History of Tamil language states that this language originated in 300 BC whereas history of Chinese language states that this language originated in 1250 BC. Family of the language also forms a part of history of that language. More on language families of these languages can be found out on Tamil and Chinese Language History.

Compare Most Spoken Languages

Tamil and Chinese Greetings

People around the world use different languages to interact with each other. Even if we cannot communicate fluently in any language, it will always be beneficial to know about some of the common greetings or phrases from that language. This is where Tamil and Chinese greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Tamil and Chinese language. Tamil word for "Hello" is வணக்கம் (Vanakkam) or Chinese word for "Thank You" is 谢谢 (Xièxiè). Find more of such common Tamil Greetings and Chinese Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Tamil vs Chinese Difficulty

The Tamil vs Chinese difficulty level basically depends on the number of Tamil Alphabets and Chinese Alphabets. Also the number of vowels and consonants in the language plays an important role in deciding the difficulty level of that language. The important points to be considered when we compare Tamil and Chinese are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Tamil and Chinese, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Tamil is 44 weeks while to learn Chinese time required is 88 weeks.

Most Spoken Languages

Most Spoken Languages

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