Letter to the Queensland Tamil Community...

I learnt Tamil as my second language in Singapore for 12 years and I am really glad that I grew up in a country that facilitated the teaching of a second language during curriculum time. I am truly grateful for having gotten that opportunity because I believe it has helped me to maintain my cultural ties in South India. My family has been in Singapore for over four generations and we have virtually no known relatives or friends in India. We are very much Singaporean in the way we speak, think and behave and while I am very proud of my multicultural Singaporean background, I still feel the need to hold on to some of the ways of my ancestors. Learning the Tamil language has helped me to maintain this connection…it has allowed me to become more perceptive to the finer nuances of my Indian culture and heritage. It might sound strange, but learning and mastering Tamil has enabled me to think like an Indian and see through Indian lenses. Knowing one's native language or mother-tongue plays an integral part in helping one keep in touch with his/her roots. This is especially so for people who are part of migrant or diasporic communities. Learning Tamil for me was not just about speaking or writing the language…it goes a lot deeper than that. It was about earning a passport into experiencing the history, culture, spirituality, psyche and soul of the Tamil people.

Growing up in a country with a Chinese majority, my Tamil class also acted as a meeting point for me to bond with other students from a similar background and that was really important to me as child – to grow up being affirmed that it was ok to be different and that there were other dark-skinned people and children like me who came from a similar cultural background.

I have been living in Australia (Brisbane and now the Gold Coast) for the last four years and during my stay here, I have gotten to know quite a lot of Indian and Sri Lankan families with young children – many who have been born and brought up in Queensland. I have noticed that a large portion of them are unable to converse in Tamil and even those who supposedly can are embarrassed and ashamed to do so and insist that they can only speak in English…Australian English – this is despite the fact that they come from families where Tamil is the main spoken language. I find this really saddening. While I am a firm believer of assimilation and I think it is great that these children are embracing their new Australian nationality and identity with much pride and enthusiasm, I feel that they should not shun learning about their inherited culture. I believe that being bilingual or multilingual for that matter can only enrich the lives of these children and they should make an effort to embrace both their Australian and Tamil identities with equal pride.So what is causing this trend? I believe that a lack in a proper infrastructure for students to learn Tamil may be a responsible factor. While parents can make much effort to teach their children the language at home, their ability to effectively do so is limited by constraints such as resources and time.

I feel that a system has to come into place where students get the opportunity to learn Tamil in a more stimulating and conducive environment. They should also have a motivation to learn the language – be it for the love of the language or an opportunity to meet other children from a similar cultural background. I wonder if the Tamil community can do something about this? Would it be possible to introduce the teaching of the Tamil language into the LOTE (Language Other Than English) system so that parents have the option of enrolling their students in selected schools where they can learn Tamil in an environment that facilitates the teaching of the language? While the Brisbane Tamil School has done a great job in ensuring the continued survival of the language amongst the Tamil community here, I feel that a lot more can still be done. The students in the Brisbane Tamil School attend Tamil classes once a week during weekends and for many of them it is really a hassle to sacrifice a weekend day to attend classes. Furthermore, without a firm structure or curriculum, many of the children do not seem to take the learning of the language seriously.

My question is, what can be done to make Tamil a LOTE language? I am now doing my Masters in Education and and I have come across a few schools which have implemented the LOTE system for languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Italian in their schools and the results have been fantastic! Children who have opted for these languages (many of them are from white-Australian backgrounds) speak, read and write the language fluently and at a very high standard. Many of these students have also performed so well in their LOTE subject that it has improved their OP scores (a grading system for year 12 students) when gaining admission to universities. It would indeed be my dream to see the same being done with Tamil...I know we are a small community but I leave you with a quote by Maha Sinnathamby (a Tamilian who is among the top ten richest men in Queensland) "Can I say, this is a country with unlimited opportunities. I mean unlimitted opportunities. There are so many opportunities in Australia with such as fair government that we ought to make the best out of it whilst we call this "Our Home"."I too believe the possibilities are endless and I hope there are other people who share my vision. Would really want to get feedback from you guys...

cheers,

Kartik Menon