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.