பொதுவாக நான் தமிழ் வகுப்பில் படித்தப்போது எமது வாத்தியார் (பேராசிரியர் கௌசல்யா ஹார்ட்) சோதனைக்காக எங்களிடம் இப்படி சிறிய கேள்விகளை எழுதி கேட்பார்:
நான் கஷ்டப்பட்டு படித்த தமிழை மறக்கக்கூடாது என்று நினைத்து இந்த கேல்விகளுக்கு தமிழில் விடை எழுத முயற்சி செய்வேன்.
In the above, loosly translated, I have set out to answer, in the spirit of Kausalya Auntie's Tamil Class assignments, the following questions:
For the sake of practicing my Tamil, and so that I don't forget -- I am going to try to write as much as I can on this topic in Tamil and then translate what I have written... As an exercise in bilingualism I suppose.
I would like to make two points that I cannot make in Tamil: (1) I picked rather a complicated topic to start with -- the word ūr is extremely difficult to translate into English (as you might be able to tell from above), while capturing the same connotation and shades of meaning. The word ūr -- which literally means "city" or "town" -- is pregnant with many additional meanings in Tamil culture which I shall try to elaborate in English below (after what I'm afraid will be a rather rusty attempt at communicating some rather complex feelings in Tamil). And (2) I would like to apologize for the fractured structure of this bilingual post -- only insofar as it might be difficult to read. However, I feel that such a format is both productive for me -- in that it will encourage me to think bilingually and potentially push my expressive capabilities in both languages -- and instructive for the reader -- in that it will give the reader a taste of some of my difficulty and frustration with trying to be as comfortable and expressive in my native tongue as I can somewhat manage in English.
Let us begin this bilingual experiment:
* * *
ஊர்...
(with help from Appa)
ஒரு செடி வளர மண் வேண்டும்; அதே போல ஒரு மனித வளர்ச்சிக்கு ஊர் தேவை! பழைய காலத்தில் மனிதர் வாழ்வதற்கு நிலம் முக்கியமானதாக இருந்திருக்கும். அந்த நிலையில் சமூகம் வளர்ந்திருக்கும்! அந்த நிலத்தில் அந்த சமூகம் ஒரு ஊரை கட்டி எழுப்பியிருப்பார்கள்! அந்த ஊருடைய பெயருக்கு அர்த்தம் அந்த நிலம், அல்லது அந்த கிராமத்தில் வசிக்கும் மனிதர்கள், அல்லது ஊரில் இருக்க கூடிய கட்டடங்கள் அல்லது அரசியல் அல்லது அந்த ஊருக்கு பெயர் கொடுத்த கோவில் கூட -- எல்லாவற்றையும் மீண்டும் -- அந்த ஊருடைய பெயருக்கு அர்த்தமாக அமைந்திருக்கலாம் ஒரு மக்கள், ஒரு குணம், ஒரு பண்பாடு!
நான் பிறந்த ஊர் எனக்கு சொந்த ஊர் இல்லை. எனக்கே ஒரு சொந்த ஊர் இல்லை. இலங்கையின் போரினால் தமிழ் மக்களுடைய பிள்ளைகளுக்கு ஊருடைய அர்த்தம் புரியாது. எங்கள் பிறந்த நாட்டுக்கு, வளர்ந்த நாட்டுக்கு -- மீண்டும், அந்த நாட்டின் மொழியும் -- எங்களுக்கு சொந்தம் என்று கூறமுடியாது! அடிக்கடி எங்களுடைய நிறத்தையும், நாங்கள் பேசுகிற விதத்தையும் பொறுத்து அந்த வெளிநாட்டின் சமூகம் எங்களை பிரித்துவைக்கும்!
அதனால் நான் ஊர் உணர்ச்சியை தொலைத்தவன் என்று கவலைப்பட்டேன். ஆனால் இந்த ஜூன் மதத்தில் நான் கனடாவுக்கு போனபொது எனக்கு அந்த ஊர் உணர்வு உண்டாகியது...
* * *
The above essay was accomplished with much effort and many corrections from my father. Still, I think it manages to convey some of what I feel when I think of that elusive sentiment that is described by the word ūr in Tamil.
To give you a sense of the simplicity of the thoughts I am able to express and the difficulty I have articulating complex ideas in Tamil I have included, below, a translation (or re-translation) of what I have written in Tamil above.
* * *
Ūr...
A small plant requires soil to grow; in that same manner for a person's growth ūr is necessary. In ancient times land was important for people to live [a person's life was tied to the land]. In those places societies would have grown. On that ground that society will have built up a town (ūr)! The name of that town would signify the land, or the people living in the village, or the buildings of the town, or the government, or the temple from which the town took its name -- more than all of these -- equivalent with the town's name would be a people, a way of life, a culture!
The town in which I was born is not my town. I do not have a town to call my own. Due to the war in Sri Lanka, the children of Tamil people [who grew up abroad] do not understand the meaning of ūr. The countries in which we were born or raised -- moreover, the language of that country -- is not something we can claim as our own! Often our color or the way we speak might set us apart from society in these countries!
This is why I feel I am one who has lost his sense of home (ūr). However, when I visited Canada in June I got a sense of this feeling...
* * *
I had originally intended to continue the essay to describe my first experience visiting family by myself in Toronto, where a good number of my relatives live. However, the difficulty of communicating these simple ideas, and the errors which I made and then had to correct with the help of my father made me give up the exercise. At least having gotten this far felt like a personal triumph. I think that the sense of loss which I feel in relation to ūr is akin to the sense of loss I feel at finding it so difficult to express myself in my own language.
It's a bit of an uphill battle, but I persist when I can find the time. I try to read the news (BBC World Service in Tamil), poetry, stories, essays, or even personal blogs -- and more often than not I get through only a few sentences, looking up words as I go. I've developed a bit of a system for looking up words. My main resources are J. P. Fabricius's Tamil Dictionary (published in 1972 and hosted by the University of Chicago as one of their Digital Dictionaries of South Asia) which is good for literary forms of words but not so good for neologisms or some of the terminology found in the news. If I can't find the term there I look for the word on the Tamil Wikipedia using various permutations of the root (since Tamil is an agglutinative language) to try and tease out the meaning. It's tediously slow going and I don't retain all of the vocabulary, but I feel like it's worthwhile.
Anyway, thus ends my bilingual experiment. Hopefully the practice has done me some good...
~DC
ஊர்...
ஊர் என்றால் என்ன? --யாதும் ஊரே யாவரும் கேளிர்-- என்று ஒரு சிறந்த பழகவிஞர் கூறினார். உங்கள் எண்ணத்தில் இந்த பழமொழிக்கு என்ன அர்த்தம்? தமிழ் நாட்டில் தெருவில் அல்லது பஸில் அல்லது ரையிலில் போகிறபோது பல ஜனங்கள் --நான் ஊருக்கு போகிறேன்-- என்று சொல்வதை நீங்கள் கேட்டுக்கொள்ளலாம். ஒருவருடைய சொந்த ஊர் என்றால் என்ன? உங்கள் சொந்த ஊரை பற்றி கொஞ்சம் எழுதுங்கள்.
நான் கஷ்டப்பட்டு படித்த தமிழை மறக்கக்கூடாது என்று நினைத்து இந்த கேல்விகளுக்கு தமிழில் விடை எழுத முயற்சி செய்வேன்.
In the above, loosly translated, I have set out to answer, in the spirit of Kausalya Auntie's Tamil Class assignments, the following questions:
Ūr...
What does ūr mean (to you)? A famous old poet once said "Whatever the ūr [place, town], all are my kindred". What are your thoughts on the meaning of this proverb? In Tamil Nadu one might hear someone say, "I'm going to my town" on the street, in a bus, or on a train. What does it mean to have a "hometown" (sontha ūr)? Write a little bit about your "hometown".
For the sake of practicing my Tamil, and so that I don't forget -- I am going to try to write as much as I can on this topic in Tamil and then translate what I have written... As an exercise in bilingualism I suppose.
I would like to make two points that I cannot make in Tamil: (1) I picked rather a complicated topic to start with -- the word ūr is extremely difficult to translate into English (as you might be able to tell from above), while capturing the same connotation and shades of meaning. The word ūr -- which literally means "city" or "town" -- is pregnant with many additional meanings in Tamil culture which I shall try to elaborate in English below (after what I'm afraid will be a rather rusty attempt at communicating some rather complex feelings in Tamil). And (2) I would like to apologize for the fractured structure of this bilingual post -- only insofar as it might be difficult to read. However, I feel that such a format is both productive for me -- in that it will encourage me to think bilingually and potentially push my expressive capabilities in both languages -- and instructive for the reader -- in that it will give the reader a taste of some of my difficulty and frustration with trying to be as comfortable and expressive in my native tongue as I can somewhat manage in English.
Let us begin this bilingual experiment:
* * *
ஊர்...
(with help from Appa)
ஒரு செடி வளர மண் வேண்டும்; அதே போல ஒரு மனித வளர்ச்சிக்கு ஊர் தேவை! பழைய காலத்தில் மனிதர் வாழ்வதற்கு நிலம் முக்கியமானதாக இருந்திருக்கும். அந்த நிலையில் சமூகம் வளர்ந்திருக்கும்! அந்த நிலத்தில் அந்த சமூகம் ஒரு ஊரை கட்டி எழுப்பியிருப்பார்கள்! அந்த ஊருடைய பெயருக்கு அர்த்தம் அந்த நிலம், அல்லது அந்த கிராமத்தில் வசிக்கும் மனிதர்கள், அல்லது ஊரில் இருக்க கூடிய கட்டடங்கள் அல்லது அரசியல் அல்லது அந்த ஊருக்கு பெயர் கொடுத்த கோவில் கூட -- எல்லாவற்றையும் மீண்டும் -- அந்த ஊருடைய பெயருக்கு அர்த்தமாக அமைந்திருக்கலாம் ஒரு மக்கள், ஒரு குணம், ஒரு பண்பாடு!
நான் பிறந்த ஊர் எனக்கு சொந்த ஊர் இல்லை. எனக்கே ஒரு சொந்த ஊர் இல்லை. இலங்கையின் போரினால் தமிழ் மக்களுடைய பிள்ளைகளுக்கு ஊருடைய அர்த்தம் புரியாது. எங்கள் பிறந்த நாட்டுக்கு, வளர்ந்த நாட்டுக்கு -- மீண்டும், அந்த நாட்டின் மொழியும் -- எங்களுக்கு சொந்தம் என்று கூறமுடியாது! அடிக்கடி எங்களுடைய நிறத்தையும், நாங்கள் பேசுகிற விதத்தையும் பொறுத்து அந்த வெளிநாட்டின் சமூகம் எங்களை பிரித்துவைக்கும்!
அதனால் நான் ஊர் உணர்ச்சியை தொலைத்தவன் என்று கவலைப்பட்டேன். ஆனால் இந்த ஜூன் மதத்தில் நான் கனடாவுக்கு போனபொது எனக்கு அந்த ஊர் உணர்வு உண்டாகியது...
* * *
The above essay was accomplished with much effort and many corrections from my father. Still, I think it manages to convey some of what I feel when I think of that elusive sentiment that is described by the word ūr in Tamil.
To give you a sense of the simplicity of the thoughts I am able to express and the difficulty I have articulating complex ideas in Tamil I have included, below, a translation (or re-translation) of what I have written in Tamil above.
* * *
Ūr...
A small plant requires soil to grow; in that same manner for a person's growth ūr is necessary. In ancient times land was important for people to live [a person's life was tied to the land]. In those places societies would have grown. On that ground that society will have built up a town (ūr)! The name of that town would signify the land, or the people living in the village, or the buildings of the town, or the government, or the temple from which the town took its name -- more than all of these -- equivalent with the town's name would be a people, a way of life, a culture!
The town in which I was born is not my town. I do not have a town to call my own. Due to the war in Sri Lanka, the children of Tamil people [who grew up abroad] do not understand the meaning of ūr. The countries in which we were born or raised -- moreover, the language of that country -- is not something we can claim as our own! Often our color or the way we speak might set us apart from society in these countries!
This is why I feel I am one who has lost his sense of home (ūr). However, when I visited Canada in June I got a sense of this feeling...
* * *
I had originally intended to continue the essay to describe my first experience visiting family by myself in Toronto, where a good number of my relatives live. However, the difficulty of communicating these simple ideas, and the errors which I made and then had to correct with the help of my father made me give up the exercise. At least having gotten this far felt like a personal triumph. I think that the sense of loss which I feel in relation to ūr is akin to the sense of loss I feel at finding it so difficult to express myself in my own language.
It's a bit of an uphill battle, but I persist when I can find the time. I try to read the news (BBC World Service in Tamil), poetry, stories, essays, or even personal blogs -- and more often than not I get through only a few sentences, looking up words as I go. I've developed a bit of a system for looking up words. My main resources are J. P. Fabricius's Tamil Dictionary (published in 1972 and hosted by the University of Chicago as one of their Digital Dictionaries of South Asia) which is good for literary forms of words but not so good for neologisms or some of the terminology found in the news. If I can't find the term there I look for the word on the Tamil Wikipedia using various permutations of the root (since Tamil is an agglutinative language) to try and tease out the meaning. It's tediously slow going and I don't retain all of the vocabulary, but I feel like it's worthwhile.
Anyway, thus ends my bilingual experiment. Hopefully the practice has done me some good...
~DC
