+1 with Ravi
*For example, a year back a wrong proposal was sent to Unicode consortium
that wanted Grantha script being encoded in Unicode but at the expense of
damaging Tamil language in long term.
*The incident Ravi mentions came about because of a similar situation -
faulty understanding by external organisations that failed to consult with
native language communities. Led to months long discussions, wasting
everyone's time - just because the unicode consortium didnt pause to check
with the stakeholder community.
*Language in India and a citizen's involvement with his language is
complex, diverse and many times unusual or interesting.*
+1 to this too. In India where various hues of linguistic nationalism are
dominant (especially in the south for languages like Tamil) and language
heritage is long and linguistic pride is fierce, a WMF blogpost with such
words and one that suggests at changing how language should be used has the
potential to turn into a long drawn out and ugly dramafest. when i said
"burnt in effigy" in the earlier mail, i meant it literally - the passion
that language generates in this part of the world is such.
On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 8:35 PM, Ravishankar <ravidreams(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Ashwin,
On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 8:08 PM, Ashwin Baindur <ashwin.baindur(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
The aggressive/offended tone in a couple of posts
on this thread
distresses me. I humbly request that all respondents may please tone down
any agression you may feel. Gerard is trying to understand Indian culture
in good faith. He has made some assumptions that he is keen to explore. May
I request that we please discuss maturely without getting offended? We need
to not only AGF but be CIVIL also. The same points can also be made
politely.
Every time there is a difference of opinion, some one starts this be CIVIL
message. I don't feel anything un-CIVIL in anyone's message. So, please
don't distract the TOPIC.
Srikanth,
//You need to work with someone who knows the language to the purest of
its form, knows it in and out, and also knows technology. I doubt you'd've
come across MANY of those at either WCI or the Hackathon.//
While I agree with your view that even people not well versed in one
language can donate their technical skills, it is important that the
project as a whole takes in to account the views of people who know the
language well.
For example, a year back a wrong proposal was sent to Unicode consortium
that wanted Grantha script being encoded in Unicode but at the expense of
damaging Tamil language in long term. The Central Government passed it to
Unicode consortium and it was about to approve it. Only at the last moment
could we intervene and after months of discussion and wasting precious
hours by both Sanskrit scholars and Tamil scholars + Technocrats, the
proposal was held. If only Unicode consortium or Central Government had
asked for the opinion of learned scholars of language, this situation could
have been avoided. So, while lack of proficiency in a language need not be
an impediment for technical contribution, we should not assume that it is
enough for projects of varying nature.
Ravi
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