Languages in Madurai City

Tamil is spoken, predominantly, in and around Madurai. The slang of "Madurai Tamil" differs from others such as "Kongu Tamil", "Nellai Tamil", "Ramnad Tamil" and "Chennai Tamil". Along with Tamil, other languages spoken are Telugu, Kannada and Sourashtra. However the words of these languages have Tamil words mixed in with them. Nowadays Hindi, Gujarati, and Marathi also are heard in Madurai.

Most of the Silk merchants and shopkeepers are capable of speaking English and other foreign languages comfortably.