From: sp2@cec1.wustl.edu (Sundara Pandian)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil
Subject: Fourth Tamil articles in ACT - M.P.Premkumar and SSP
Date: 27 Jan 1993 17:06:32 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

Newsgroups: alt.culture.tamil
From: prem@cs.montana.edu (M.P.Premkumar)
Subject: Re: Naangam Tamil

Vanakkam,

I have been following the discussion on the topic of Naangam Tamil or scientific
Tamil in ACT. The various ideas put forward are good. I thought I will also give
some input into this. 

I have always wondered right from my childhood why our subjects were taught in 
English rather than in Tamil. All I could gather was it was better to learn in 
English so that it will be helpful in the future. Well that's what my parents
and teachers told me. I didn't realise the importance of English medium instruct
-ion in my school days till I joined college.

When I joined college,I saw how Tamil medium trained students struggled to study
the engineering courses which were in English. I had many friends who studied in
Tamil medium schools and they expressed their frustration and hardship in trying
to learn the subject matter in English. They also told me how they have to think
first in Tamil and then in English(or vice versa) to understand the concepts. 
Since everything was in English there had to be a translation process(which can
sometimes be very difficult) only then they could understand what's going on.

Well I think the students who are trained in English medium also do the same 
thing but they are sort of trained to do that only faster. I don't know if I am
right but that's what I believe. I think that we need to have our own language	
technical terms and literature in order to help people think in their mother 
tongue.I have always thought like,"Japanese think in Japanese, the Germans think
in German, Chinese in Chinese and so on but only we Indians don't think in our
mother tongue". As Mr. Sankarapandi pointed out in his article the thought 
process depends on the language to some extent. The more we feel at home in 
expressing our thoughts the better we comprehend and understand what is going 
on, be it education, music or whatever. Here is where the importance of one's
mother tongue comes into picture. It is always easy to express what one thinks 
in his/her own mother tongue. As many of the nettors pointed out I also think we
will benefit more if the medium of instruction is Tamil in technical/profesional
institutions.

BUT

I think it is a himalayan task to develop technical/scientific terms/expressions
etc. Not only we have to coin words for nouns such as switch,lathe,modem etc. 
but also for verbs such as swivel, bombard etc. and for chemicals,processes etc.
Also for variables like I - current, F - force and so on. And the equations will
look something like kai = ko + de/su + chi. So it is not easy to coin/create
technical/scientific terms in our language. And not only that once these are
created then we need teachers to teach them, which in my opinion is the most
difficult part. And if this is the case with Tamil then imagine the effort
required to do the same in all Indian languages.

And let us suppose all Indian languages are capable of handling science and tech
-nology on their own and scientists/doctors/engineers are all educated in their
mother tongue. Then what happens? All these people could relate to their subject
matter only in their mother tongue[like how we do now in English]. 

If that is the case ie. if people think, read, write and speak about their field
only in their mother tongue, then 

Will it not affect interaction between fellow  Indian  scientists/doctors/engine
-ers ? 

How will our research and development go given these conditions ? 

Will there be a congenial, interactive, error-free communication between them ?

How will the companies, government agencies, universities recruit ? 

How will they assess the qualification of the candidates ? 

Will there be any flow of talent between the states[like how we have now] ? 

Will there be unity and amity among the scientists/doctors/engineers ? 

[Even if one argues that some people will be educated in English then again
that will also add up as one other language but not the status as a unifying
language which it enjoys right now]

These are some of the questions that came to my mind. I am sure there will be
many many more problems if technical education is taught in mother tongues.
And I think these problems cannot be overcome[this is my opinion].

I would like to know how these problems can be solved, if at all they can
be solved. Nettors please put forth your ideas. Because before we go and search
for equivalent Tamil words for existing English ones we need to be clear whether
this effort is needed and whether it is feasible.


Sincerely yours,
M.P.Premkumar


Newsgroups: alt.culture.tamil,soc.culture.indian
From: ssankara@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Sornam Sankara)
Subject: Naangaam Tamil
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1992 00:56:35 GMT



    There were many relevent questions raised by Mr. Prem Kumar.  Since it is
definitely a tough problem to handle, these questions were considered my many
who have been already working in this area.  There are also people who gave up
on this because of the non-cooperation of various sectors.  I will write about
these problems one by one and how similar problems have been approached in
other countries etc.  I will also write about the various efforts taken by
linguists, scientists, language experts, popular writers, magazines,
individuals and lastly, governments (because governments, which are supposed to
do this task primarily with the help of the all the above said categories of
people, have failed to do it).

     First of all, there should be no second thought
whether this is useful or not. This should be considered as an essential task,
though very very difficult one.  Next, mutual trust and understanding among the
above categories of people.  Once the process is started on a large scale,
the language pandits or zealots have to forget their stubborness in maintaining
the purity of the language and they should help the scientists and linguists to
solve the problems.  Lastly, popularisation is very essential.  Here comes the
magazines, journalists and writers.  Here I would like to appreciate writers
like Sujatha and magazines like Kalaikkadir and Thinamani newspaper.

I would approach these aspects one by one and write more about the experienced
people's views than my own.


Here, I continue the thread on mother tongue education,

Thank you,

S. Sankarapandi
ssankara@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu

++++++++++++++

>From Dr. D. P. Pattanayak, well known linguistics researcher

====================================================================
Those who advance arguments against mother tomgue education by saying that
scarce resources should not be spent on inessential applications are pracising
bad economics.  The mother tongue is an essential sector because:

(i) it offers equal opportunity to large majority of people to participate in
national reconstruction;

(ii) it gives greater access to education and personal development to a greater
number of people;

(iii) it frees knowledge from the preserves of limited elites and by enabling
greater number of people to interact with science lays the foundation of
appropriate technology;

(iv) it demands decentralization of information and ensures free as opposed to
controlled media;

(v) it provides greater opportunity for the political involvement of greater
number of groups and thus is a greater defence of democracy.

If the aim of economics is not mere growth to be measured in terms of GNP but
achieving all round social well being, then the educational use of mother
tongue is more likely to contribute.  More economic assets are wasted because
of neglect of mother tongue in educaation as evident from drop out, wastage,
stagnation, educated unemployment, and people opting out from their own milieu
and own country.

Illiteracy and Unemployment

The Physical Index of Quality of Life (PIQL) developed by UNESCO uses
illiteracy as one of its three criterion measures.  The third world countries
house most of the illiterate population of the world. Growing poverty and
growing illiteracy in the world and the lingering poverty and literacy among
immigrants in the developed countries appear to be connected.  A higher
education system that is impervious to the educational use of mother tongue not
only bypasses the majority and creates widespread deprivation, but resulting as
it does in saturation of a few, it also creates a larger body of educated
unemployed and a socially discontented population.

=============================

Next about UNESCO's recommendations...