Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Manifesto NUSTLS Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Manif | Page 34

Issue 5: Increasing the Usage of Tamil by Students Outside Classroom
Pre-Panel Discussion
1. What are the reasons for Tamil usage amongst Singaporeans to drop?
• Many view the western culture and way of life as superior. While one may miss speaking
in Tamil, students are happy with not learning it for A-levels.
• When you don’t speak Tamil well among your friends they may laugh and put you down
which is discouraging and does not make one feel like speaking more. They should instead
encourage so that the friend will not feel shy to speak.
• There is a lot of focus on pronunciation so elders tend to knit pick a lot. Such attitude
creates reluctance among youths to speak in Tamil.
• Youths do not converse casually in Tamil to avoid awkward situations as well. It is a sub-
conscious process. For example, one is confused when to use ‘Nee’ or ‘Neenga’ when
talking to a person. So they go ahead with English ‘You’ which is more neutral.
2. Will Tamil be sustainable in the future?
• It appears to be deteriorating and would most probably not be a sustainable working
language in Singapore. Conversational Tamil will still exist though.
• Mixed marriages result in confused identities. Individual culture as a whole is losing
importance in Singapore as people are occupied with other pursuits. Tamil might be
offered as a third language in Secondary schools along with Malay and Chinese.
• We will not allow Tamil to go extinct or get replaced by another language. There will be a
loss of identity and regret.
• If another non-Tamil language is more prevalently spoken, it might have to be accepted as
the majority speaking population and accorded the right of having it as the national
language. But it might not replace Tamil but instead be kept as another national language
aside from Tamil.
• Elite status accorded to mastering the English Language forces one to focus less on Tamil.
But now government representatives are trying to bring Tamil back into the circle, e.g. MP
Vikram Nair is successful in re-leaning how to converse well in Tamil.
Issue 5: Increasing the Usage of Tamil by Students Outside Classroom
PAGE 34