Learning Tamil
I have starting studying my Tamil language books again. I've 4 such "Learn
Tamil" books & about 3 English-Tamil dictionaries. The books aren't very
good. They leave out many key items needed to learn the subject. The
dictionaries by contrast, go back to the 19th century!
It would be easier if I could find a good teacher. Unfortunately, I don't
know anyone who teaches the subject. I do occassionally ask my Tamil
speaking friends for help. However, most speak a bazaar variety of Tamil
and cannot really understand the high-flown Tamil spoken on the TV news!
I actually wonder how Malaysian Indians study Tamil. The books are below
par, out of date and hard to find! I found my books in some obscure
hole-in-the-wall bookstores in Indian dominated parts of town.
Anyway, I supplement my studies with what I can find on the net.
The best website covering the subject is by an American professor, Harold F.
Schiffman of the University of Pennsylvania
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/. He has also produced a book
called;
A Reference Grammar of Spoken Tamil
Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 0521640741
I had a quick look at the write up on this book at amazon.com. It looks
far more thorough than anything that I have seen so far. I want to buy it,
but I am hesitating. It's expensive by Malaysian standards at US$60. Given
this, I has asked my cousin in India to look out for an Indian edition of
this book. Books printed in India tend to be very cheap.
Anyway, I think that Dr. Schiffman has done more to advance the study of the
subject than anyone else. He has spread Tamil to the English speaking
world. He has put a lot of Indian professors to shame in the process.
The second best site I have seen is http://www.tamilclass.com/ . This seems
to be produced by an Indian residing in the US.
Then there are other websites;
http://www.kalvi.com/ - This one sells a CD-ROM version of Tamil.
http://www.tamil.net/learn-tamil/ . I was quite amused by this site. They
actually had the Tamil word for "shit" listed on it. The funny thing is
that it sounds like "pee"! Click on the tamil word for "shit" in the
attached pdf file. You will see what I mean!
There is supposed to be an online university called the Tamil Virtual
University http://www.tamilvu.org/. I haven't registered to look in and see
how good this is.
Anyway, that's all for now.
See Ya!,
Chris
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