Korean is the national language of South Korea and North Korea. The language falls under the Koreanic family of languages, boasting over 80 million native speakers. Over the past few years, there has been a rapidly growing interest in the Korean language, largely due to the global boom in K-pop and Korean entertainment. On the other hand, Tamil is not only the native language of people from Tamilnadu, a southern state in India,  but it is also an official language in countries like Sri Lanka and Singapore, with over 85 million native speakers. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages, and it is widely regarded as one of the oldest living languages in the world. Although it may not seem like it, there is a whopping 5700 kilometers between Tamilnadu and the Korean Peninsula. So, how exactly are the two languages interconnected?

While most attribute this link between the two languages to ancient trade, there is a fascinating folklore that may provide further explanation. This folklore dates all the way back to the 13th century, and follows an Indian princess hailing from the Ayuta Kingdom (a kingdom in ancient Tamilnadu), named Sembavalam (Korean name: Heo Hwang-Ok), who was crowned the very first queen of Geumgwan Gaya in Korea after marrying the Korean king, Kim Suro. Many believe that she may be the reason for the influence of the Tamil language and culture on Korea. 

As a native Tamil speaker and an ardent Korean language student, I can certainly vouch for the ease with which Tamil-speakers can pick up the Korean language. It may be daunting to take up a new language, especially when it has its own script, but from personal experience, I found that learning came quite easily to me. The more I heard the Korean language, the more it started sounding just like Tamil in my brain! Already being fluent in a language that is linguistically similar to Korean, I found that certain words and grammatical rules were nearly the same! 

Research has found that the two languages may have over 500 words in common! For example, the words for ‘mother’ and ‘father’ carry the same pronunciations in both languages: அம்மா, அப்பா (pronounced ‘amma’ and ‘appa’ respectively in Tamil) and 엄마, 아빠 (pronounced ‘eomma’ and ‘appa’ respectively in Korean). The word ‘I’ is நான் (pronounced ‘naan’) in Tamil and 나는 (pronounced ‘naaneun’) in Korean. The word ‘tooth’ is பல் (pronounced  ‘pal’) in Tamil and 이빨 (pronounced ‘ippal’) in Korean. Additionally, words for ‘you’, ‘day’, ’grass’, and ‘climb’, also sound similar in the two languages! Unlike English, both Tamil and Korean follow the Subject-Object-Verb sentence structure. 

But it doesn’t end there! The Korean Peninsula also shares socio-cultural similarities with Tamilnadu. Both cultures emphasize the importance of family, literature, art, and more. Many games and traditional practices in Korea have Tamil counterparts that are equally as important in Tamilnadu.

If you are a native Tamil speaker, I hope that this encourages you to learn Korean, and if you are a native Korean speaker, I hope that this encourages you to learn Tamil. Learning languages can be an incredibly enriching experience, as it not only enables you to interact with people across the world but it also opens the door to captivating historical heritage. 

Did you already know the similarities between Korean and Tamil? Let me know!