Topic suggested by balaji on Fri Oct 2 08:56:15 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

A lot of people say that the only way to prevent tamil from death is to incorporate science in it. i have seen efforts to give tamil names to scientific terminology. there are also serious efforts to have higher technical education in tamil. my question is this: should tamil take this route(the task being herculean). will tamilians be alienated by learning science in tamil? or should we leave science to the realm of english and be perfectly happy with it?? this is not just a question of a paradigm, but a question of practicality and justifiability.

Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: akil (@ aca3b073.ipt.aol.com) on: Fri Feb 14 17:23:32
  
  i quite agree with spaceman. its often very difficult to draw this line, though - between what to translate and what not to.
  i'm a typical 2003 youngster who uses 25% of english words on an average, even while speaking in tamil. its not just because i dont know the tamil equivalents. its just that i dont care to converse in as much tamil as possible. also, if we start using the near extinct words from spoken language like perundhu and visiri, i might end up being bullied. but i know - its not the right attitude.
  we have the sheer responsibility of passing on this ancient language with so much of history and literary resources to our subsequent generations. afterall tamil has lived atleast 2000 years after finding its first grammer book, leave alone the history before that which can't be dated back... while most of the languages with similar history are almost non-existent but for the literatures.
  it doesn't mean, we isolate ourselves from the rest of the world by restricting our horizon. also, unlike japan or korea, we have more need to know english for our resources and oppurtunities. b'cos we know english, we get everything hot and don't have to wait for them to be translated through our own media & press.
  as the thread master(?like webmaster) suggests, we have to accept that science and technology are better left to English and we learn straight from there. the efforts and sources spent in translating the materials available in english can be better spent for something else, as suggested already in this thread.
  also, the situation should improve with future generations as more and more tamils start using english frequently. i meant the situation of claiming false prestige by showing off one's flair of english language.
  mr. rajesh's points are very valid. i dont want to repeat them. if we think, everything is unnecessary and get satisfied with day to day use of english words in signboards etc., there is definitely a risk of losing the core language. we are still able to understand atlest half of the language written in thirukkural and puranaanuru. but it will not be the case in 3000 AD, though the changes that we appreciate during our lifetime will be very less.
  also, we don't have to be very rigid in transferring each and every word. they need to be translated only if they can't be written in our language, which is often the case (b'cos our language has different letter for every sound against the european languages which have quite different basis). say.. we dont have to translate 'cycle' (it can be easily written in tamil.. let it be one of those 1000 iduguri per.. proper nouns without reason... and not a kaarana per). tamil scholars should think seriously about including sa and ja officially in tamil. though we use some letters for these sounds, they are not officially tamil letters. by making our language flexible, we only make it live only more and more years. there are few more strict rules that can be relaxed like we can't have words starting with ra, la etc. in tamil, though we have already acquired quite a lot of words like lanjam (bribe).
  about nris and tamils settled in other parts of countries, there is an increased recognition among them that they should teach their children our language. often we identify our identity and culture only with language and thr' sources available in our own language.
  among nris, i've noticed that the north indians - gujaratis, punjabies etc. speak their own language/hindi than south indians (including a hyderabadi i know)/ srilankan tamils.
  i know a couple of professionals who repented for not having learnt tamil, being tamils. that they are not able to relate to their own group in a cultural get together and not having difficulty with their identity.
  adippadai mozhi gnaanam ella thamizharkum avasiyam. they all should learn tamil atleast as a language. our media - tv, cinema and magazines have a great responsibility of giving quality tamil without 'padaadoba aangilam'. with increasing number of tamils living outside tamil speaking regions, these media are the ones which form the rich sources of tamil for future generations.
  apart from these, i dont have much comments on accepting hindi as third language, as i don't see any point in it other than being identified as of single nation. but it should be left to the individual. personally, though i studied hindi, i think.. if u say to someone, only if u learn hindi or any other language, then only u r indian, then he will feel secondary in his own country. whats the big difference.. in saying 'maa thuje salaam' and 'thaay mannae vanakkam', as long as one likes to say this. especially i will mean it, when i say it in my own language.
  nandri. vanakkam.
  
  
• From: RAJESH ANNAPOORANI (@ acc924b8.ipt.aol.com) on: Wed Mar 17 11:50:06
  
  FIRST TAMIL SCIENCE & TECHNNOLOGY INFOBASE
  http://www.thozhilnutpam.com
  TAMIL TECHNICAL ARTICLES IN ELECTRONICS, COMPUTERS, ENGINEERING, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY.
  INCLUDES A TECHNICAL ENGLISH-TAMIL DICTIONARY.
  ARTICLES & CONTRIBUTION ARE WELCOME
  
  
• From: tamizhan (@ aca59ef9.ipt.aol.com) on: Wed Mar 17 12:49:05 EST 2004
  
  Yes I think it is good idea to Tamil technical terms with English in bracket. One reason is Tamil is not a phonetic language like Telugu, Hindi and the rest of India languages. It has only 25 consonants. Transliterating an English word make it more difficult to read than creating and using the Tamil equivalent with English in bracket.
  One simple eg. English word: Van;
  Tranliterated word: Vaan (means sky); Vane tough when read the paragraph quicky.
  Traslated word: kUdunthu
  Bus: Traslatesd word: pErunthu
  Transliterated word: pas, sometimes pasu->(cow!)
  Beach->tranlated word: kadaRkarai; transliterated word: pIch, sometimes (pIchchu->throw/jet fluid,water etc!)
  
  
  
• From: chandrasekaran subramaniam (@ dialpool-210-214-228-169.maa.sify.net) on: Fri May 21 13:32:07
  
  Thirukkural "Porutpal" is the base for software development and testing. I have presented two papers on "Porul Charndha Pakkupaoivum Vadivamaippum" and "Menporul (Software) Sothanyl(testing) Porutpal" on 14.1.2004 in the International Thirukkural Conference at Anna University.
  May you post my views?
  
  
• From: (@ ) on: Sun Aug 22 21:46:20
  
  First Tamil Electronics Reference
  http://www.geocities.com/minnanuviyal
  மின்னணுவியல் மேற்கோள்
  
  

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