Who transcribes Tamil content?
Tamil transcription is used by film and television production teams in Chennai's Kollywood industry, broadcasters and subtitlers, and courts and government services in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, and Singapore, where Tamil is an official language. Researchers, podcasters, and diaspora media outlets in Malaysia, Canada, and the UK also transcribe Tamil interviews and programs.
Tamil dialects and accents
Tamil shows strong diglossia: formal written Tamil differs markedly from the colloquial Tamil heard in everyday conversation and media. Regional variants — Tamil Nadu dialects in India, Sri Lankan Tamil (including the conservative Jaffna dialect), and Malaysian/Singaporean Tamil — differ in pronunciation and vocabulary, which is worth knowing before transcribing spoken audio.
Where Tamil is spoken
Tamil is spoken in India, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.