A mission i am forced to take up! | My language mission and my log | Forum

Hello!

I am from India and am a native speaker of Tamil. And i am a little ashamed to say that i can't quite read and write Tamil very well !! Of course i do have my excuses – i never really learned Tamil at school, didn't really need to learn the script, etc. But, well, i just ran out of excuses!!!

You see, i have this exam coming up in July 2012 that i want to do well in, and one of the papers in this exam is Tamil.. And not just communicative Tamil – it's got poetry and grammar and things like that! 

I hadn't been able to motivate myself to get started – when i came upon Benny's suggestion in his latest post – to take up a language challenge. Well, just reading the post got me excited and more interested in learning my Tamil than i have ever been !

So here's my mission:

• Learn to read Tamil fluently
• Complete the Tamil syllabus for my exam
• Work 3 hours each day on this mission
• Deadline: July 12, 2012

Still sounds a pretty ambitious target to me, but maybe i'll at least be able to read well in Tamil by the end of it? Wish me good luck! 

Hi Ed! 

Wonderful to hear from another Tamil-learner! One of the first things i did when i registered into this forum was to search for posts related to Tamil – and there were just 2 of those, related to resources for learning Tamil.

So, tell me, are you learning Tamil out of your own interest – or is it something you're doing as part of your studies? Just curious ! 

This is great! So we could compare notes on how our Tamil is progressing? What do you think?? 

And BTW, are you learning to speak Tamil or also to read/write?

Best of luck in your efforts 

Edmundyong said

I'm very excited when saw your post. I thought there aren't anyone learning Tamil here except me. 

okay, a little intro,

I'm Ed ,a Chinese, from Malaysia. I'm learning Tamil with help from my Tamil friend and I learn it for my Indian friends. (There're a lot of Tamil speakers in Malaysia)

 

I'm so lucky to sit in front of a Tamil speaker in class. I'm not making good progress but I'll try harder.

Don't feel ashamed! There lots of Indian here who can only speaks Tamil but cannot write (except their names).

 

Good luck 

Hey there 

It's great to hear that you're fascinated by Indian culture !

Yes, I'm sure Tamil sounds very different from Malay and Cantonese… I think that even the Tamil spoken in Malaysia must be quite different from what is spoken in Tamil Nadu.. 

Yep, since i've spoken Tamil all my life, it should be a lot easier for me to learn the written language – but i don't know any grammar either… so, we're on the same boat there !!!

But, even if you're starting from zero, it's not too difficult.. I know of some Europeans who have picked up Tamil in a few months – they even speak slang better than i do !!!

OK, so, what's your vocabulary list like, right now? 

Hey Ed 

Seems a good technique – to learn your new words live in class! So can you speak any sentences??

Yes, it's time i report about my progress, isn't it? Ok, so i've not got down to 3 hours of work/day, as yet… but have been averaging a little more than an hour's work each day. My reading is improving, but the traditional (book) Tamil is rather difficult to understand.. sigh !! 

Have also been playing this game word game that i found courtesy of sipes23 - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/apnaoakfcmckpfggdnpbegnghfmaiolf … It's quite funny – i find i'm regularly failing at even the easiest level in this game – apparently how i pronounce words and how they're spelt are actually quite different ! Well, i keep learning how much i don't know!!

Anyway, will try to make it to 3 hrs of study today..

Ed, never thought of Tamil as having a difficult "r" – is it different in Chinese? But i must tell you there are so many dialects in Tamil – that the way you pronounce words should be correct in some dialect !!

Yes, i've heard classical Chinese is really tough – do you write in it??

Report on my progress: Well, got up to 2 hours studying yesterday – so maybe today is when i'll actually make it to 3?!! Read some Tirukkural – the Tamil used there is so ancient and so different from what's used today.. Kinda fun but tiring. And why shouldn't Tamil be written the way it's spoken??? I don't get it !

 Ed, write about Chinese all you want – i find it interesting!! But yes, a little scary too – i suspect i won't take up Chinese in the near future And yes, the Tamil script is more or less phonetic – so it's kinda easy to read.

(except rumours and gossip about we're dating spread in the class.)

Well, i guess all of us language-learners will have to brave mocking of all sorts! Can't say for sure, but your classmates are likely to tease you less when you just aren't bothered by them.. But can be pretty annoying, right?! Good luck there!!

Ok, so let's see whether you can respond to what i've written below:-

வணக்கம் எட்மண்ட்! நீங்கள் எப்படி இருக்கிறீர்கள்?

Report on my progress: I made some remarkable progress yesterday ! My reading rate picked up suddenly, and i was just breezing through pages and pages of Tamil!! Modern day written Tamil is a whole lot easier to read than the ancient version… and i could mostly understand what i was reading. Also, i was using this interesting website to type out words in the Tamil script and to look up their meaning.. I highly recommend this site - http://www.dictionary.tamilcube.com/

So, i've finally worked up to 3 hours of studying per day !!!

Vanakkam! Eppadi irukkeenga?? 

Sad, isn't it, that people often consider others' cultures inferior?! 

We (Malaysian Chinese) are too arrogant and think that Tamil is an useless language.

Tell me more about this – are there very few Malaysian Tamilians? And are they discriminated against, i wonder?? Of course, some Tamils too can be pretty arrogant – there's enough discrimination i see here in Tamil Nadu against peoples of other cultures.. But things are improving, i think. 

Ok, so you're only on your second week of Tamil? 10 words a day is not bad at all, when you're not immersed in the language! Yes, do let me know whether you've succeeded with your solution! 

Report on my progress: Forging on with my Tamil reading – managed some 3 hours yesterday too. Read a piece of poetry from the famous Mahakavi Bharatiyar – i actually quite enjoyed the poem, although some words were difficult to understand. This is a class 6 textbook that i'm reading – and it's at the perfect level for me!! Wonder whether the class 7 textbook will be much more difficult..

Travelling for a couple of days so taking a break from my Tamil studies !

It's been some steady work over the past two days 

Report on my progress: Put in some 4 hours of study both yesterday and today. And i am getting better at reading the language and guessing the meanings of the more ancient words. Am learning quite a bit of simple grammar – and it's actually quite different from what i am familiar with in English – the logic of this language seems a bit different. So, that's it, working slowly bur fairly steadily too.