Today in Hindustan Times Mint business paper there was an article on recently concluded Tamil Internet Conference 2010 and it included a quote and information from me. The article titled “Mixing Tamil and tech to book computing” was done by Ms Niranjana Ramesh, who interviewed me some time back and we had a good discussion stretching for few hours. You can see more of the past press coverage of TI2010 in my earlier post here.

In TN, mixing Tamil and tech to boost computing by Niranjana Ramesh, Mint Newspaper, 15 Jul 2010

In TN, mixing Tamil and tech to boost computing by Niranjana Ramesh, Mint Newspaper, 15 Jul 2010

A case in point is the word computer. For some time now, it’s been called kanipori in Tamil. “But somewhere along the way, we Net enthusiasts felt it didn’t quite capture the essence of an efficient, thinking, versatile machine, and so started calling it kanini,” says T.N.C. Venkata Rangan, a founding member of the International Forum for Information Technology in Tamil (INFITT).

The dictionaries were originally associated with a lobby that called for making Tamil the medium of instruction in all engineering colleges in the state. The Net enthusiasts now see a larger calling for these word guides.

Rangan says there’s a potential user base of 60 million people—the population of Tamil Nadu. Besides, Tamil’s an official language in Malaysia and Singapore, the countries having a sizeable population of immigrants from the south Indian state.

The article can be found as a PDF copy here and online in LiveMint.com (Title: In-TN-mixing-Tamil-and-tech-to-boost-computing, Date: 15 Jul 2010, 12:42 AM IST).

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