Sunday, August 02, 2009

News

Well. Not really. No news. Just an observation, in fact.

I was watching the 8 o’ clock Tamil news yesterday. The lady happily chattering away in chaste Tamil. Or should I say, thooya tamizh? Anyway, I couldn’t get most of what she was saying - which made me wonder at least half the population, if not more would be people who do not fully/ easily understand the language in its purest form. At least not as easily as the spoken form. And, it is a fair assumption, I think that TV news should be more tuned to listeners who do not have access to other media like internet (due to cost), newspapers (due to illiteracy). In which case, speaking in thooya tamizh is just about the last thing to do. I mean, I am all for saving the language and all that - but seriously, not at the cost of it beating the very purpose of the medium used.

[Obviously, a similar argument should be read for Hindi/ Bangla/ and other languages too. Just a disclaimer, just to emphasize that it is the habit - of using language in such a way - rather than the people or the language itself which is under scrutiny]

This has occured to me earlier too - as in much earlier, when I was much younger and much sharper. At a time when I thought I would probably realise when I grow up and gather worldly wisdom, unlike the rolling stone. And yet I do not understand it today. Which obviously implies that I have grown up much like the rolling stone. Or have I?

8 comments:

K said...

whats thooya tamizh ? - official tamil version ?
@news - they sometimes try to regionalise every word to make the matters worse ...

Mrithyunjay said...

Interesting post ...

I do agree that the whole purpose is lost if people do not understand ... and languages do evolve over time ... so I do agree with you ...

Having said that, this is pretty much what most of the channels [news or otherwise] do right??? So maybe, the program that u tuned in to might have been dedicated for the thooya tamizh loving individuals ... I know for a fact that there are many who love the old tamizh ... I do too ... u should have heard me & Deepti talk [trying to] in thooya tamizh during our MBA :P

Abinav Kumar said...

@kau - thooya tamizh is like shuddha hindi..!! ramayan wala.. :P

@MJ - I was watching the news. News is supposed to be for the common man.. and no - chitthi, arasi, kolangal, or whatever crap they show is in spoken tamil only, right? why just news in that tamil.? or do people indeed understand that better ..??

Mrithyunjay said...

Well ... therez no such thing as "supposed to be" right? It might have been a thooya tamizh nerum or thooya seidhigal or something like that ... Come on ... the thooya tamizh loving junta may wanna c news in their fav lang too right?

Or reading news in that tamil might evoke seriousness [could be a wrong perception too!] ...

Well I dunno ... All am saying is ... there wud have been some rationale ... :-)

Abinav Kumar said...

I can think of one rationale. Saving the language. Somehow, language is related to the culture. So, you know, it becomes this big thing. There is this thing about saving Marathi in Maharashtra as people are increasingly taking to Hindi, which seems to suit life in Bombay better.

Anyway. It was the normal 8 o' clk Sun Seidhigal - I think. No special thooya tamizh neram or anything...!

Interesting concept, this language.

workhard said...

Hi.. this is a good post..

I totally believe if a channel has to cater to masses.. then they should use the language which the masses are comfortable with...

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Unknown said...

Hmm.. quite an interesting post..

It doesn't really make much sense to deliver it in senthamizh, considering that chucking the newspapers & internet apart, the local junta really has this medium alone left to them... For one, I myself don't tune into Sun seidhigal as it doesn't serve my purpose : News. Saving the language is one thing, but that can well be incorporated into the tele-soaps if so desired.

Thought provoking, thanks!

Abinav Kumar said...

Thanks workhard..! And lovely artwork you got at your site!!

B! - tele-soaps TRP would go down, no? That's a lot more important than saving the language. it's not news or sumthin' ...