Translate your church service into Tamil

The Tamil-speaking diaspora

The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in the UK is concentrated in Wembley, Harrow, Tooting, and East Ham in London, as well as in Leicester and Manchester. Sri Lankan Tamils came to the UK in waves from the 1970s through the 2000s, many as refugees from the civil conflict. Tamil Christians include Catholics, CSI members, evangelical Protestants, and Pentecostals. Many first-generation Tamil speakers in these communities attend English-language churches (especially for their children's sake) but struggle to follow the sermon. Tamil is also spoken by significant Indian Tamil communities across the UK, US, Canada, and Singapore.

Bible availability in Tamil

Tamil has one of the oldest Bible translation histories in Asia — Robert De Nobili's 17th-century work preceded later complete translations. Today, the Tamil Bible (Tamil Aagamam) is published by Bible Society of India in multiple versions including the Indian Revised Version and the Contemporary Tamil Version. Tamil Christians are generally familiar with multiple Bible translations.

Script and display notes

Tamil uses its own distinct script (Tamil script / Tamil lipi), unrelated to other South Asian scripts. It is a fully supported Unicode script and displays correctly on all modern smartphones.

Using Voco for Tamil church translation

Tamil churches in the UK range from large independent Tamil congregations to Tamil-speaking members spread across mainstream English-language churches. Many UK churches in Wembley, Harrow, and East London have significant Tamil-speaking membership. For Tamil-speaking members in English-language churches — particularly first-generation immigrants — sermon translation makes the difference between spectating and participating.

Helpful guides