Standard curriculum for Tamil as foreign language mooted

Ulrike Niklas

COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu government should extend help in developing a new language teaching model to those who want to study Tamil as a foreign language, according to Ulrike Niklas, Tamil Professor at the University of Cologne, Germany.

Expressing her desire to associate herself with such a project, Prof. Niklas told The Hindu here on Thursday that those teaching Tamil to foreign students should undergo training. A specific course was needed for this. Such courses should be introduced in colleges in the State first. The government should also help with financial support in this effort and an international group could be formed to frame the curriculum.

Referring to the growing foreign investment in Tamil Nadu, she said the demand for people who know Tamil language and culture was also likely to go up.

Ms. Niklas, who is here to participate in the World Classical Tamil Conference, said that as Tamil Nadu grew economically, there would be a demand internationally for practical knowledge of Tamil language, society and cultural aspects of the State. Germany and other countries in the European Union were offering practical knowledge to students in their college studies and “we need to create a new curriculum for Tamil language learning in these countries.” A model curriculum could be created for Tamil that could be used for those in the European countries studying other foreign languages too. The learning would be at six levels covering the basic language, speaking in basic situations, reading complex texts and mastering the reading level. “I want to develop a new language teaching model for Tamil.”

Events such as the conference instilled a sense of pride in the people on their language. Under the impact of the new economic system and growing middle class, efforts should be taken so that the use of Tamil was naturalised and there should be no domain where it could not be used. It should be a status symbol to speak Tamil. Children would be able to learn other languages if they had good knowledge of their mother tongue.

Ms. Niklas said the Institute of Indology and Tamil Studies was started at the University in 1963. The professor who started it had special interest in south India and he introduced Tamil studies.