Fast way to learn Tamil alphabet

I have wanted to learn Tamil for a long time, but lack of motivation hindered my progress. I struggled to decide whether to learn the alphabet first or go straight to the conversation using romanization. I felt demotivated whenever I looked at the alphabet chart. The Tamil alphabet has 13 vowels and 18 consonants, and many combinations of these vowels and consonants. I thought to myself how am I going to remember all of this?

Then, I skipped the alphabet and went on to learn the conversation using romanization. It was fine until the day I felt something was missing. I didn't have anyone to practice with. I learned mostly by reading conversation phrases using the romanization. I couldn't practice reading Tamil texts because I didn't know the alphabet!

Interesting discovery

One day I encountered a unique pattern of writing system derived from the Brahmi writing system, which includes Tamil. Almost every one of them has the same vowel positioning. The following list contains some writing systems that originated from the Brahmi. They are Balinese, Burmese, Javanese, Khmer, Sundanese, Tamil, Thai, Tibetan, and Sanskrit. The consonant is underlined red, and the vowel is colored yellow. We can see that the vowel E is written on the left side of the consonant, the vowel I is on the top, the vowel O is on the right, and the vowel U is on the bottom.

This finding doesn't make learning easy but at least, it sheds some light on the pattern of the Tamil alphabet. Then, I searched for the Tamil alphabet chart again to find other patterns. This investigation was becoming enjoyable! The chart below shows only Tamil vowels. My learning techniques are as follows:

1. Every vowel has short and long forms. I learn them in groups, such as short and long A in one group, short and long I in one group, and so on.
2. I am familiar with the AEIOU sequence, so I set my brain to learn in that sequence, making AIU in the odd number position, and EO in the even number position. It is easier for me to remember that the vowel E and the long vowel A combined to make up the vowel O.
3. The vowel AM is easy. It's just a small circle above the consonant.
4. The vowels AI and AU are two extra vowels that are easy to remember.
5. Vowels are important to learn because they are not as many as consonants so they have a higher chance of being repeatedly used in the text. Learning the consonants is the next thing to do after vowels. It can be done by reading any Tamil text. I always look for the vowels first before reading the consonants. I repeat it this way until I remember all of the consonants. 

 

The Backstory

I have asked for tips about how to learn the Tamil alphabet in forums and language groups, and everyone gave me unsatisfying answers. They advise me to practice it often, write it repeatedly, or learn it by reading. These are all general tips, they don't help at all costs! They didn't know how to give useful learning tips and it took me a long time to figure out the patterns. And here I am teaching it so you don't need to experience what I have experienced.  

Tamil people migrated a long time ago from Southern India to the Malaya Peninsula, which covers my hometown Medan city in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and to the neighboring country of Myanmar. Their descendants still live nowadays practicing Tamil culture and speaking the Tamil language. Knowing the Tamil language is useful for me. I can enjoy Tamil resources not just from India but also from Southeast Asian countries.