October 6, 2026 · THIS IS TAMIL
Tamil – the oldest living language in the world
Tamil (தமிழ்) is considered the oldest living language in the world. More than 120 million people speak it today – in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in India, in the north and east of Sri Lanka, in Singapore and Malaysia, and in a diaspora that reaches from Toronto, London and Paris to Zurich.
More than 2,000 years of writing
The oldest Tamil inscriptions are written in Tamil-Brahmi and date back to the last centuries before the Common Era. Finds from Keeladi even point to earlier written evidence. The oldest surviving grammar, the Tolkappiyam, already describes sounds, words and poetics in a remarkably mature form.
A classical language that never fell silent
Many ancient languages such as Latin or Sanskrit live on mainly in books. Tamil never became a language for scholars only: children still learn it as their mother tongue, newspapers are printed in Tamil, and films, music and rap are made in Tamil. In 2004 Tamil became the first language officially recognised as a classical language by the Government of India.
The sound ழ (zha)
One letter matters a lot to many Tamils: ழ, pronounced “zha”. The sound sits somewhere between r, l and the “s” in “pleasure” – and hardly exists in any other language. It is part of the word தமிழ் (Tamizh) itself. That is why we wear it on our caps and in our Language & Script designs.
Why it matters to us
For many young Tamils in Europe, Tamil is the language of their parents and grandparents – and sometimes one they rediscover. Every THIS IS TAMIL piece carries தமிழ் in its logo. A small reminder: this language is more than 2,000 years old, and it lives on – with us.