Why learn Tamil?

We have Google script – Apps – movie subtitles – Internet translations, etc. etc. THEN WHY LEARN TAMIL?
Btw, Thamizh is the correct way of saying it. ‘Tamil’ is colloquial.

• First language of the world. Even before the First Century BC, yes the oldest of ALL languages. Perhaps after Babel times.
• Largest spoken Indian language. Official language of Singapore, Sri Lanka and minority language in South Africa, Malaysia and Mauritius.
• Classic language declared by UNESCO in 2004. Dr. Abdul Kalam took extra efforts to gain the recognition of the Indian government. Sanskrit was in 2005, Kannada and Telugu in 2008, Malayalam in 2013 and Odia in 2014.
• Earliest books on medicine is in Tamil. Siddha and Ayurvedic. And the world is now turning to these directions…!
• The Epitome of literary beauty is Thirukkural, 1330 couplets penned by Thiruvalluvar (300 BCE to 5th century.)
• A language patterned after ‘romance’ languages that emerged from Sanskrit; Tamil is the closest.
• Most challenging and yet fun to follow phonetics.

Well said, but how does that benefit/affect me?

• Helps you understand the unique Tamil culture
• Connects you to your family and community
• Broadens your horizons. American professors teach Tamil in Ivy League Harvard, UPenn, Yale. Berkeley etc. OurTamil children were embarrassed that they had to sit and learn their mother tongue with other Americans and blamedtheir parents for not enforcing it.
• If you are a dancer then Tamil knowledge is a must.
• Most number of Tamil words of Indian origin is now in Oxford Dictionary. Recently added ‘Aiyoh’.