Summary

This free 12-unit course is ideal for complete beginners, but it also has material suitable for intermediate learners. In fact, it’s designed to provide two years of study – although some of the later units are works in progress. Throughout the course, it will teach you listening, reading, writing, grammar, Tamil culture, and more. Each unit contains several lessons, exercises, and readings. Each lesson is further broken down into a Tamil-language video conversation, the script and its English translation, a  grammar guide, exercises, and cultural explanations. The website also contains a Tamil keyboard, guide to the Tamil vowels, and other supplementary resources. The site uses Flash, but as far as we can tell, it’s not necessary for any of the lessons. It’s not an HTTPS secure site, either – in fact, we would guess that this course pre-dates HTTPS by several years. But with many free online Tamil courses focusing mainly on English-language grammar-based explanations, Tamil Language In Context stands out for its emphasis on output and listening. Despite its dated appearance, it seems to be one of the best free beginner-level Tamil language courses online.