On 12 May 1999, S Jayakumar, then Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs, announced the formation of the Tamil Language Movement. He also appointed Member of Parliament S Iswaran as its advisor. The Tamil Language Council (TLC) was subsequently established on 24 April 2000. The TLC’s aim is to promote awareness and greater use of the Tamil language within the Tamil-speaking community in Singapore, especially young Tamil Singaporeans. To that end, it works closely with other Indian organisations, schools and community partners. In 2007, the TLC introduced the Tamil Language Festival, which has since become a signature event for the community. Supporting the tagline “Love Tamil, Speak Tamil”, the festival programmes are presented by partners, featuring literary, oratorical and cultural events that will encourage the community to embrace Tamil. In 2017, TLC introduced a capacity-building programme aimed at enabling organisations to focus more on the sustainable aspects of language growth and development, particularly among children and youth.
In 2018, the Tamil Resource Panel of the National Translation Committee and TLC jointly launched a comprehensive compilation of Tamil terms standardised for effective communication in Singapore. These terms are also published as a book titled Glossary of English to Tamil Terms. The achievements of the TLC over its first 20 years were documented in the publication Our Journey (2000-2020): Love Tamil, Speak Tamil in 2021. In the same year, the TLC also inaugurated the Tamil Youth Festival, a platform for youths to present Tamil language programmes for their peers. The TLC continues to seek more organisations to partner and support its efforts to offer more interesting, innovative and relevant programmes.
For more information
“Love Tamil, Speak Tamil.” Tamil Language Council. Accessed 1 August 2025. https://www.languagecouncils.sg/tamil/en.
“Glossary of English to Tamil Terms.” National Translation Committee. Accessed 1 August 2025. https://www.languagecouncils.sg/tamil/en/-/media/tlc/files/english-to-tamil-glossary-book.pdf.
Tamil Language Council. Our Journey (2000-2020): Love Tamil, Speak Tamil. Edited by Prasanna Nair, Prakas Nair, and Divya Radhakrishnan. Singapore: Tamil Language Council, 2021.
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The information in this article is valid as of August 2025 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. If you have any feedback on this article, please submit here.
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