"Modern Tamil" is actually classical Tamil. The written language is basically fixed in form to the language of the first millenium CE (the Thirukural, a collec

"Modern Tamil" is actually classical Tamil. The written language is basically fixed in form to the language of the first millenium CE (the Thirukural, a collection of aphorisms by a Jain monk from the 3-4th century is relatively understandable to modern readers of Tamil). The spoken language continued to develop and depending on your dialect is completely different! It's the equivalent if english speakers spoke modern english, and wrote like Beowulf. It is possible and common to be a native speaker of Tamil and not be literate. The situation is similiar in many other languages like Arabic. In general Malayalam speakers are not literate in Tamil, because classical Malayalam, though very similiar to classical Tamil gramatically, has a heavily Sanskritic vocabulary, while classical Tamil tends to not use sanskrit words. Incidentally, the earliest Tamil, the Cankam literature, is completely different, and was already incomprehensible by the end of the first millenium when commentaries were written to effectively translate it.