WEB BASED TAMIL LANGUAGE LEARNING
Contents
1. Tamil English Priority Ro gg chcha 3 12 8 chchaa 3 11 6 chchi 3 10 chchee 3 9 Gor chchu 3 8 chchoo 3 7 08 chche 3 6 amp GCE chchae 3 5 FOF chchai 3 4 Qan chcho 3 3 Gan chchoe 3 2 Qam chchou 3 1 6 chch 3 13 3 3 3 Sample Code The code for reverse transliteration is given below NOA This function reverse transliterates a Tamil text to its English ny phonetic equivalent E sese sk sk ok ok ok ok ok o o k 3e o k k k k k k k kk kk kk k k k k k k k kkk k kk k k 2 2 k K K K function translate text tamil_db learntamil tamil_user learntamil tamil_password Tamil123 con mysql_connect learntamil db 5023439 hostedresource com learntamil Tamil 123 if I con die Could not connect mysql_error mysql select db learntamil mysql query SET character set client utf8 con 13 mysql query SET character set connection utf8 con mysql query SET character set resultscutf8 con Create Tamil letter priority array letters array i 0 for priority 0 priority lt 20 priority sql select from phonetics where priority priority order by subpriority result mysql_query sql con for j 0 j lt mysql_num_rows result j tamil letters mysql result Sresult j tamil tamil explode S tamil letters for k 0 k lt count tamil k letters i tamil k i Create key val2. lt lessonid gt Approving words directly in the db set published 1 to approve them without going through the application Location of the uploaded audio and video files tamil uploads
3. 3 2 Priority and Sub Priority The English phonetic equivalent of Tamil vowels and consonants are given in the Tables 3 1 and 3 2 Each consonant combines with each of the vowels to form a different letter These letters are called uyirmer letters From the tables it can be observed that some consonants are associated with more than one English letter This is because in Tamil based on the placement of a letter within a word the pronunciation varies Similarly certain combinations of letters are pronounced in a different way than the individual letters translated separately Table 3 1 Vowels Pronunciation Table English Vowel Mapping Pronunciation 3l a sounds like the a in animal 3b aa sounds like the a in all Q 1 sounds like the 1 in image FT ee sounds like the e in easy 2 u sounds like the ou in could Sen 00 sounds like the oo in zoo 6T e sounds like the e in edit 6J ae sounds like the a in ate 2 ai sounds like the i in idea 69 o sounds like the o in only 69 oe sounds like the o in ocean 69er ou sounds like the ou in out Tamil letters are unique in a way that a letter can form another letter by adding a suffix or prefix or both to it For e g amp forms amp IT by adding a suffix 6 amp by adding a 10 Table 3 2 English Tamil Mapping Tamil English Consonant Mapping amp k g c Ihi ng s ch Gb gn L t d 6001 n nd th dh b n nh ndh LI p b LO m WwW y I r 60 l ei v i en
4. l D r tr dr 601 n nh prefix and Q amp T by adding both a prefix and a suffix Since the algorithm follows letter replacement logic letters should be replaced in a certain order to avoid partial translation If amp is given higher priority than I then partial replacement takes place due to the suffix in IT To avoid this partial replacement amp IT is given a higher priority Within the same consonant group the following is the order of priorities assigned to avoid partial replacement 11 Similarly when certain combination of letters needs to be translated first instead of individual letter translation a priority and a sub priority is assigned to that combination Combination letters are assigned the highest priority priority 2 3 when compared to individual letters given in the Table 3 3 The combination letters are assigned a sub priority equivalent to the above table For example when the letter amp or any amp derived letter appears in combination with amp it is pronounced as ch instead of s as given in the Table 3 4 There are numerous such combinations of letters that are pronounced differently in different combinations Table 3 3 Priority Table Tamil English Priority amp Ka 16 IT Kaa 10 l Ki 15 5 Kee 14 Ku 13 go Koo 12 Q6 Ke 9 Ga Kae 8 60 Kai 11 Qa Ko 7 Can Koe 6 Cla en Kou 5 amp K 4 12 Table 3 4 Sub Priority Table
5. Twitter by clicking the Sign in with Twitter button in the right panel 3 You will be taken to the Twitter site where you will have to use your Twitter username and password to sign in If you don t have a Twitter account create one and go to step 2 Creating a group for networking 1 2 3 Login with your username and password Go to Community by clicking the Community tab In order to create a group you should first be connected with Twitter See instructions for Connecting with Twitter The main page lists all the registered users of the site 5 Enter the name you want for your group in the first text box and click the Create button Add members to you group by selecting the appropriate icon from the list Similarly members can be removed from the group Viewing messages from your group 1 2 Add a member to your group by selecting the add icon corresponding to the member Go to Home in the right panel to view messages from the member Viewing messages of a specific user 1 2 Select the bird icon to view messages from the user on the right panel Sending messages 1 Login with your username and password 2 Goto Community by clicking the Community tab 3 Type your message in the text box and submit 20 Viewing your messages 1 In the right panel select Tweets to view your messages Mention a user in your message 1 Click on the E icon corr
6. WEB BASED TAMIL LANGUAGE LEARNING A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of San Diego State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Computer Science by Vasumathi Senthil Spring 2011 SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY The Undersigned Faculty Committee Approves the Thesis of Vasumathi Senthil Web Based Tamil Language Learning Carl Eckberg Chair Department of Computer Science WOE William Root Department of Computer Science Approval Date Copyright O 2011 by Vasumathi Senthil All Rights Reserved 111 DEDICATION To Tarun Tara Senthil Mom and Dad ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Web Based Tamil Language Learning by Vasumathi Senthil Master of Science in Computer Science San Diego State University 2011 The main objective of this thesis is to create a web based learning tool that enables Tamil Language learning without learning the Tamil script The goal is accomplished by using English script for teaching Tamil A web interface is provided for teachers to upload and maintain lessons that could contain text audio or video There is a reverse transliterator which converts any Tamil text to its English phonetic equivalent enabling users to read any Tamil content An English to Tamil translation dictionary provides a huge database of translated words in the English phonetic form along with an option for the users to add and approve words Add
7. by one person usually needs approval by somebody before it goes into the system 3 2 2 Lessons The lessons module lets Tamil teachers or contributors to teach Tamil by posting articles videos audio etc There is also an interface for users to maintain the lessons they added Through that interface they can make changes to a lesson or even delete it Lessons can also be searched based on the title description or author 3 2 3 Social Networking Twitter API has been used to create a subset of Twitter just for the Tamil learning community Every user of the site can create their own group by adding or removing members of the site This feature offers the benefit of eliminating the process of searching for Tamil learners and teachers to form an exclusive Tamil learning community Users can set up their group to receive updates from the members of their group This feature can be used in both a classroom setting where a student can form a group with his teacher and classmates and communicate with them Outside the classroom individuals can randomly connect with other users of the site to enhance their Tamil skills 3 2 4 Reverse Transliteration Reverse transliteration is the process of converting Tamil text to an equivalent English phonetic text It is accomplished by using a conversion algorithm in conjunction with a rules database The conversion tool takes a Tamil text in Unicode format and converts it into a readable form This tool is usef
8. ck Modify in the main page 3 Make changes and submit LESSONS Browsing and Searching Lessons 1 Goto Lessons by clicking the Lessons tab 2 Click the Browse tab in the main page to browse lessons 3 Alist of lessons with title and description is displayed below 4 The content images on the right indicate what type of content the lesson has 5 Lessons can be searched by typing the search text in the search box By default the search is by title but search by author or description can be done as well by selecting the appropriate option from the drop down list Adding a lesson 1 Login with your username and password Go to Lessons by clicking the Lessons tab Click the Add a Lesson tab in the main page Fill in Title and Description To upload audio or video use the appropriate upload buttons to upload the files Add text in the text editor TUI Uo odes tos qe It is not mandatory for a lesson to have all three types of content Modifying or Deleting a lesson 1 Login with your username and password 2 Goto Lessons by clicking the Lessons tab 3 Click the My Lessons tab in the main page 19 4 For deleting a lesson click on the Delete link corresponding to it 5 For making changes to a lesson click on the corresponding Edit link 6 Make necessary changes and submit COMMUNITY Connecting with Twitter 1 Login with your username and password 2 Connect with
9. esponding to the user and type your message in the text box and submit Sending direct messages 1 A mail icon will be visible for users who are following you A direct message can be sent by clicking on the mail icon 2 Atext box will appear on the right panel where the message can be typed and send ENGLISH TAMIL DICTIONARY Browsing and Searching Words 1 Click on the English Tamil Dictionary link in the top panel 2 Click the Search link to view words available in the dictionary Clicking on the a to z hyperlinks lists words starting with the corresponding letters 3 In order to search for words type the desired word in the text box and submit A list of words both related and unrelated are displayed Adding a word 1 Login with your username and password 2 Click on the English Tamil Dictionary link in the top panel 3 Click the Add a Word or Sentence link 4 Type the English word in the textbox and submit 5 If the word already exists an option is given to still add the word with an alternate meaning 6 Fill all the required fields in the form and submit Approving words added by others 1 Login with your username and password 2 Click on the English Tamil Dictionary link in the top panel 3 Click the Approve Words link 21 4 A list of words waiting for approval is listed 5 Words can be approved or disapproved individually by selecting the appropriate icons o
10. ial interaction takes place between the native and nonnative speakers in the community The site aims to overcome this barrier and enable nonnative students to learn about the culture of Tamil speakers by providing a gateway to all the Tamil literature available on the World Wide Web The Tamil Reverse Transliterator converts any Tamil text to its English phonetic form The Reverse Transliterator uses a complex set of rules to decode Tamil text to its English phonetic equivalent By getting access to all available Tamil literature in easy readable format students can practice and strengthen Tamil language skills in addition to learning about Tamilian culture The site also has an English Tamil dictionary which helps strengthen vocabulary This Tamil learning site is targeted at the following audience e Self learning learners where individuals have access to lessons and network with native and nonnative speakers e Learners following a comprehensive learning approach by providing them with tools that makes Tamil literature from the web readable CHAPTER 2 EXISTING TAMIL RESOURCES Web Assisted Learning and Teaching of Tamil developed by the Penn Language Center follows the natural approach to teach Tamil The site provides beginner intermediate and advanced level Tamil lessons Padanool is another web based teaching resource offered by University of North Carolina It takes a natural approach to teaching by offering structured lessons star
11. itionally the dictionary search function searches and displays words from the web The online networking feature provided by the tool enables users to network with other native or non native users vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT c ctos NM SM RA dp diua pM Ec MER Uil ner imd Me ute v LIST OB TABLES crate ai viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION z SUR RE to Qe A ed aseo MU SU EP et er 1 2 EXISTING TAMIL RESOURCES 000 Aa 4 3 WEB BASED TAMIL LANGUAGE LEARNING 5 3 1 Tamil Landa iii 5 3 LL Tamil Letters eo p tee orit e aee cs 5 TE 5 3 2 Features of the Merindad 6 3 2 1 English Tamil Dictionary sise estet te eerie tI rene tae trate to rio 7 3 2 2 LESSONS iinne a a a a a aa res 7 3 2 3 Social Networking da 7 3 24 Reverse Transliteration snn ds 8 3 3 Technical D s essence stale pen nte pa Pera as stone S 8 3 3 1 Algorithm for Reverse Transliteration eee 8 3 3 2 Priority and Sub Priority e 9 3 3 3 Sample Code 12 4 OBSERVATIONS AND ENHANCEMENTS rene 14 4 1 Observations and Suggestions iii onere t pee bett Io der t Pec apes 14 2 2 Enhancements on etate tdt 14 WORKS CONSULTED sia 16 APPENDIX An USERS MANUAL no agb de cete uncles aha ee idee aden abd oa dd 17 B ADMINISTRATOR S MANUAL eerta tenent eeu to so tinca addict 22 viii LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 3 1 Vowels Pronunciation Table cen atri t te teer UNT ee Een dtu net nent 9 Table 3 2 English Tamil Mapping os
12. o qe naine 10 Table 5 5 Pribriby Fables A mec axo iuo eet de 11 Table 5 4 Sub PEIOETY elo e E E EE E E E E 12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The main objective of this thesis is to enable Tamil language learning without learning the Tamil script It is based on the situational language learning concept that when a language is presented orally first then in the written form language skills can be learned more effectively It also follows a communicative language learning approach by enabling communication between native and nonnative speakers in a social setting In order to follow all the above teaching methodologies the following issues have to be addressed e Find a medium for teaching and learning that does not involve the Tamil language script e Provide a setting where native and nonnative speakers can network and communicate e Provide a means for teachers to post lessons e Provide a means to read all available Tamil literature via the selected medium to strengthen language skills and learn more about Tamil and Tamilian culture e Provide a knowledge base for self directed learning Since all existing teaching sources teach Tamil using the Tamil script this project takes a different approach and follows the methodology that teaches oral Tamil The site targets learners who follow an analytical approach towards language acquisition where reading and analyzing texts builds language knowledge The basic idea is to make the lea
13. r cha in Tamil Likewise the letter h is also absent in Tamil But a corresponding letter q known as ayutam is used to soften the surds in Tamil There are no distinct letters for surds and sonants in Tamil The vowel consonants are pronounced like surds and sonants depending on their placement within a word ka sa ta tha and pa are pronounced as gha cha da dha and bha according to their place in the word 3 1 2 Morphology There are three common types of words namely e Verbs which is classified into finite and infinite verbs Finite verbs are formed with suffixes which indicate its gender or animate and inanimate qualities The gender is not distinguished both in abstract nouns and in relative participles e Nouns which indicate animate and inanimate objects gender numbers and person Uyarthinai and Akrinai are the two classifications of nouns Humans gods and demons belong to Uyarthinai whereas everything else that is animate and inanimate belongs to Akrinai There are three genders in Uyarthinai masculine feminine and neuter Palar paal or neuter plural gender indicates many in number Masculine and feminine genders in Tamil indicate only singular number Akrinai is classified into ondran paal singular of the impersonal class and palavin pal plural of the impersonal class There is three persons in Tamil namely first person second person and third person Case inflexions are many in Tamil and their indicators form as s
14. r in bulk by selecting the checkboxes and selecting the Approve or Delete button UIZ 1 Select an answer and submit 2 Click more link in the Take a Quiz panel for more questions INSTANT MESSENGER Initiating a chat session 1 Click the Online link to see a list of online users 2 Click on the user you want to chat with and invite them for chat REVERSE TRANSLITERATION Reverse Transliterating text 1 Cut and paste any Unicode Tamil text in the text area and submit 2 The reverse transliterated text appears below 3 For help with pronunciation click on the Need help with pronunciation link APPENDIX B ADMINISTRATOR S MANUAL 22 29 TWITTER APPLICATION FOR COMMUNITY Application name Learn Tamil Twitter username larctamil Twitter password wordpass123 Twitter callback url can be set in any one of the following ways 1 Can be set at the Twitter Application page 2 config php overrides the url set in the Application page INSTANT MESSENGER Login link tamil blabim admin php ACP Key 1gnu8pt7 Once logged in there are detailed instructions for maintaining the chat application OTHERS Database login details Username learntamil password Tamil123 By logging into the database the following tasks can be performed by executing the corresponding queries Deleting Users delete from user where username username Deleting Lessons delete from lessons where id
15. rning curve of Tamil short by bypassing learning the scripts For someone who is only interested in speaking Tamil this site is of immense value because Tamil script is not a requirement Situational language learning is enabled by teaching the language in the English phonetic form In a setting where face to face communication is not possible when someone wants to learn to speak a language without learning the language script there has to be a way in this case an already known script to learn the language The website uses English as a medium to teach Tamil Communicative language learning is made possible through social networking with other native and nonnative users of the site via Twitter and instant messenger The site uses Twitter API to emulate a subset of Tamil based Twitter community which makes all the users of the site visible as a community The site eliminates the need for users to search for people who might be interested in Tamil to form a community The main barrier when learning a language in a multilingual community is native and non native speakers of the language think and communicate in a different way based on their cultural norms This is due to the difference in culture ideologies and logic developed while growing up in their respective cultural environment Research shows that in a multicultural setting students communicate less with other students who don t know about their culture Consequentially a low level of soc
16. rther enhancements like the following e The whole application can be extended to support languages other than Tamil The whole application is usable in that aspect with the exception of the reverse Transliterator Since the reverse transliterator follows an algorithm based on the nature of the Tamil language it might be unable to use the reverse transliterator for other languages But different reverse transliterators could be developed and used with this application e Another possibility is to extend this application to learn Tamil or any other language using one s native language as the medium instead of English This might require the developer to know the linguistics of both the languages involved 15 e Voice support can be added as a feature This feature enables the non native language learner to learn the exact pronunciation of words 16 WORKS CONSULTED GitHub Inc Abraham twitteroauth 2010 http github com abraham Twitteroauth accessed Sep 2010 TamilCube com Homepage 2010 http www tamilcube com accessed Sep 2010 Twitter Twitter API Wiki 2010 http apiwiki Twitter com accessed Sep 2010 APPENDIX A USER S MANUAL 17 18 USER ACCOUNT Creating a new user 1 Click on the Register link on the top right hand corner of the page 2 Fill out all fields in the main page and submit Making changes to user account 1 Click on the My Account link on the top right hand corner of the page 2 Cli
17. ting from Tamil basics to complete sentence formation National Translation Mission which is an initiative taken by the government of India to offer language translation in all Indian languages for dictionary words and phrases Tamil is one of the languages for which translation has been completed There are a few Facebook groups and blogs intended for teaching Tamil The owners of the groups and blogs are usually Tamil speakers who are interested in promoting the Tamil language The way these groups and blogs teach is teach one Tamil sentence at a time This could be useful for someone who follows the learning method of memorizing words and phrases to learn a language There are a few tuition based teaching centers that teach Tamil English to Tamil and Tamil to English dictionaries translated phrases for a limited set of Tamil sentences are examples of resources offered by a few other websites CHAPTER 3 WEB BASED TAMIL LANGUAGE LEARNING 3 1 TAMIL LANGUAGE Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the people in the state of Tamil Nadu The following sections explain the basics of the language 3 1 1 Tamil Letters Tamil language consists of five short vowels a i u e o five long vowels aa ee 00 ae oe and two diphthongs ai ou There are 18 consonants consisting of which six surds k s t th p r six sonants ny ng n n m n and six medials y r l v z 1 There are no aspirated consonants like gha o
18. ue array with Tamil letter keys and English values sql select from phonetics result mysql query sql con trans array for i 0 i mysql_num_rows result i tamil letters mysql result result i tamil Senglish mysql_result result i english tamil explode S tamil letters for k 0 k lt count tamil k trans tamil k english Translate text for i 0 i lt count letters i text str_replace letters i Strans Sletters 1 text 14 CHAPTER 4 OBSERVATIONS AND ENHANCEMENTS 4 1 OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS The tool has been tested extensively with native speakers and a few non native speakers The reverse transliteration tool is 85 successful in reverse transliterating the Tamil text The application could be fine tuned to get a better result by adding more rules to the rules database This would however require the guidance of an expert in Tamil linguistics The following suggestions came up during testing and demonstration and have been incorporated in the application e An option to add audio while adding new words to the dictionary e Including a column which displays the word in Tamil script in the dictionary This feature helps learners to associate how the word sounds to how the word looks 4 2 ENHANCEMENTS This web based application provides a lot of tools for Tamil language learning However there is scope for fu
19. uffixes in words The meaning of words makes the distinction between animate and inanimate things and masculine and feminine genders e Particles which have no meaning of their own but acquire meaning when added to other words and help to differentiate their meanings too Tamil is an agglutinative language where case time or gender indicators are suffixed to root words The suffixes are either derivational which changes the part of the speech or inflectional which marks the gender number tense etc Since there is no limit to the agglutination more than one suffix can be attached to a root to denote more than one marker Tamil is a head final language where verb comes at the end of a class typically It is also a null subject language where sentences can be formed without a subject or an object or a verb 3 2 FEATURES OF THE SITE The four main components of the site are e English Tamil Dictionary e Lessons e Social Networking e Reverse Transliteration Appendix A provides instructions for using the site and Appendix B provides instructions for maintaining the site 3 2 1 English Tamil Dictionary The English to Tamil Dictionary provides a huge database of English words translated to Tamil and its English phonetic form Words can be browsed alphabetically or can be searched using the Search facility Additionally there is a provision for native Tamil speakers to contribute words to the database The site is peer moderated so words added
20. ul in cases where a student wants to read already available Tamil content without having to learn the script In addition to the above modules there is also an instant messenger that shows all the users browsing the site A chat conversation could be initiated with anyone online which further enhances communication possibilities within the community A random quiz generator tests vocabulary by offering multiple choice vocabulary questions 3 3 TECHNICAL DETAILS Reverse transliteration is accomplished by using a combination of database rules and a conversion algorithm The following subsections discuss each of them in detail 3 3 1 Algorithm for Reverse Transliteration The stepwise algorithm for reverse transliteration is as follows 1 All the reverse transliteration rules are in the form of database entries 2 Every entry in the database is given a priority 1 to 20 and a sub priority 1 to 20 3 A Tamil letter array is formed first with high priority letters priority 20 at the top of the array and low priority letters priority 1 at the bottom of the array For letters with the same priority but different sub priorities the high sub priority takes an upper position than the low sub priority 4 Using the Tamil letter array a key value array is formed with the Tamil letter as the subscript and its English phonetic equivalent as the value 5 Letter replacement is done in a loop for every entry in the Tamil letter array 3
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