Hitherto those wanting to learn Thamizh language had to study the alphabets and learn written Thamizh. There is a world of difference between the written form and the spoken form with the result that the student could hardly understand what others are talking. To get over this difficulty, for the first time, a CD is available for learning spoken Thamizh. There are no Thamizh letters in this CD and everything is written in Roman letters (English letters) based on phonetics.

         It is an interactive CD. The student can click on blue letters and "hear" what is written. In addition, a recording facility has been provided in every page. The student can record his voice, compare with the original and correct  his pronunciation. This will be a boon to the learners. Along with the CD, a Hand Book is supplied so that the student can read at leisure, after switching off his computer.

There are several interesting features in this CD.

  i) The student can learn 800 Thamizh words and sentences

ii) There are examples of idioms, proverbs, a short story and a sweet song.

iii) There is a Thamizh-English dictionary of words learnt in this CD arranged alphabetically plus a groupwise classification e.g., months, weekdays, fruits, vegetables, birds and animals etc.,

            iv) To get over the boredom of learning a language, they have inserted two minutes bits of melodious instrumental music in the background -  of course with an option to switch off whenever you want ! 

The following groups will find this CD immensely useful –

              i) those whose mother tongue is not Thamizh

            ii) those who migrated to other countries a generation ago, and are keen that their family members should learn spoken Thamizh quickly.

             iii) those who can understand Thamizh, but cannot reply

    This CD is a product of Tamil Book House on Internet (TAMBHI) 

What the experts say about this CD -

 One of the beautiful contributions done both for Thamizh and for the people who want to learn Thamizh

                     Dr.M.ANANDAKRISHNAN (Former Vice chancellor of Anna University)
 

Thamizh interactive CD by Tamil Book House on Internet (TAMBHI)

is a novel attempt. It is found to be user friendly, innovative, and interesting.

                Dr.Pon.KOTHANDARAMAN(PORKO) (Former Vice chancellor of Madras University)
 

An outstanding contribution for the Thamzih language. An excellent tool for learning the language whose mother tongue is not Thamizh.

              Dr.K.M.MARIMUTHU (Former Vice chancellor of Bharathiyar University)
 

THE HINDU - 18^th April 2003 

A CD to learn Tamil using only Roman script and not a single Tamil alphabet must be encouraging for everyone who wants to acquire a working knowledge of the language. The Spoken Tamizh Interactive CD does not target the average child learner, but adults including tourists, business traveller, conference delegates and diplomatscomingto Tamil Nadu.

"The reason why we chose to start with the spoken form issimple. If you look around, one hears spoken Tamil only- in the street, in an offce, in the market, on TV and in popular magazines, Even teachers in schools rely on spoken Tamil rather than the written form. Thus, to understand Tamil here, one should learn to speak" says the CD's author, A. Rajmohan of Tamil Book Houseon Internet (TAMBHI).

He argues that even after learning the entire Tamil alphabets one will be unable to pronounce some words and letters, unique to Tamil language. Once "we choose to ignore the complications in regional dialect or in the written form, I feel 75 per cent of Tamil can be learnt by hearing/speaking the language, as a child does. Of course, this is not to decry the efforts at learning written Tamil at all." 

The CD uses Roman letters and the phonetic approach to teach the words, phrases and sentences. It has adopted interactive methods. 

In any particular section (that comes up on the computer screen) one can click on "blue" letters to listen to the way aword ispronounced, use the ' record ' and 'playback'features to record the particular word in one'sown voice and play it backto hear and make corrections, if needed. Along with the CD, a handbook is supplied to supplement the learning experience. 

Mr. Rajmohan says, the CD helps the student to learn 800 words andsentences,including examples of Tamil idioms, proverbs, a short story and a song.It also has a Tamil English dictionary of words arranged in alphabetical form, plus group wise classification such as Tamil names of months, days, fruits and vegetables, 

Mr. A. Rajmohanproposes to use the proceeds from the sale of the CDs to improve a small school he runs in Kelambakkam for poor children. Dr.M.Anandakrishnan, educationist says the work is unique in targeting the adult learner, using interactive means. 

There is also pleasing background score (which can be disabled). For details: tambhi@vsnl.com and Phone 24471749

By K.Ramachandran.