Chennai Languages

Chennai Languages
Chennai is one of the fourth metropolitan cities of India and is also the capital of Tamil Nadu. This has brought many people to the city, from the all the corners of the nation. This influx can be attributed to the cosmopolitan character of the city which has given rise to a number of different languages being spoken. However, English is most widely spoken and is also preferred as the official language in Chennai. But, the major as well as the primary language of Chennai is Tamil.

Tamil is also the mother tongue of the region and is majorly spoken by the native people. Tamil language is an amalgamation of Tamil and English and also contains some words from Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi-Urdu. The people of Chennai are greatly in love with their mother tongue and prefer speaking the same. Tamil has accommodated words, grammar and suffixes from varied languages to invent new words.

However, the most profound influence seems to be that of English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Telugu, Urdu, and Kannada. Besides, there is a notable Telugu-speaking minority in Chennai. Other languages spoken in the city are Malayalam, and Urdu. Chennai also houses a significant number of Marwari traders, Anglo Indian, Bengali, Punjabi and people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who speak the respective languages of their regions.