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Tamil Typing - A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering the Keyboard PART 1: Understanding the Tamil Script and Keyboard Layouts

Overview of the Tamil Script

Tamil consists of 12 vowels (Uyir Ezhuthukkal - உயிரெழுத்துகள்), 18 consonants (Mei Ezhuthukkal - மெய்யெழுத்துகள்), and compound characters formed by combining them.

  1. Vowels (உயிரெழுத்துகள்) [12]:

    • அ, ஆ, இ, ஈ, உ, ஊ, எ, ஏ, ஐ, ஒ, ஓ, ஔ

  2. Consonants (மெய்யெழுத்துகள்) [18]:

    • க, ங, ச, ஞ, ட, ண, த, ந, ப, ம, ய, ர, ல, வ, ழ, ள, ற, ன

  3. Grantha Letters (Additional Characters):

    • ஜ, ஷ, ஸ, ஹ, க்ஷ

Tamil Keyboard Layouts

There are several ways to type Tamil depending on the keyboard you use:

  1. Tamil99 Keyboard – The standard keyboard layout for Tamil typing.
  2. Inscript Keyboard – A phonetic-based Tamil keyboard following the Indian standard.
  3. Phonetic Typing – Type in English (ex: "vanakkam") and it converts to Tamil (வணக்கம்).
  4. Google Input Tools – An easy online method to type Tamil without a Tamil keyboard.

 

Understanding these layouts will help you choose the best one for your needs.