Issue 6 : Sustainability of Tamil
Issue 6 : Sustainability of Tamil
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Pre-Panel Discussion
1 . Why are youths not speaking Tamil anymore ?
• Many Singaporean Tamils have not been to India and there is a cultural gap between the Indian Tamils and Singaporean Tamils . Reducing this cultural gap between these two groups of Tamils is key to the Sustainability of Tamil in Singapore . Students may hesitate to speak Tamil because they want to identify themselves as local Indians and differentiate or dissociate themselves from migrant workers and foreign Indians . This mind-set is a result of them looking down on migrant workers or foreign Indians as someone they do not want to associate themselves with .
• English sounds more elite and it is easier to explain technical details in English . They are able to express themselves better in English . They find it easier to communicate in English as they may have difficulty in understanding Tamil vocabulary .
• We usually speak Tamil as a direct translation of English rather than a language in which we have a direct thinking ability in .
• Not much opportunity to pursue our mother tongue studies in polytechnics and private university . At the least , there is ICS in some polytechnics but it is very difficult to reach out to the ITE students .
• With China becoming an economic power in the world , parents and even students themselves find it more useful to learn Chinese as a second language , rather than Tamil . Hence , students all the more lack an opportunity to speak Tamil even in schools .
2 . Is the current education system doing enough to encourage usage of Tamil outside classrooms ?
• Because students are not able to understand Tamil well , some teachers even resort to using English to help their students understand things like meaning of Thirukkural , etc . as their ultimate aim is to make their students ace their exams .
• Primary level : Students have a lot of interest at a young age . Some need Tamil tuition even at a very young age now . Some kids grow up in a kindergarten environment where they study Chinese instead of Tamil . They should be brought up with the idea of speaking Tamil at home from young . Usually those who are from India are expected to have fluency in Tamil . However , nowadays it does not seem to be the case as the children from Indian Tamil parents lack exposure in Tamil as well .
• Secondary Level : Grade focused and there is emphasis on formal Tamil . Thus , some students can score well in written Tamil but fail to do well in oral . There is heavy burden due to other subjects . Most of them just follow teacher ’ s instructions and do their best to do well in that subject . However , they don ’ t see it as a language and do not have much passion for it . Many take higher Tamil for the sake of the bonus two points but they don ’ t learn it with passion . They also take higher Tamil to help them reduce a mother tongue subject in Junior College .
• Polytechnic and Junior College Level : There is a chance to learn Tamil due to Indian student societies . But the number of friends who could converse in Tamil have decreased . Some Junior Colleges do provide competition opportunities which can help to develop their passion for the language .