German institute in Colombo displays its ‘Tamil’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2015, 20:12 GMT]
For a long time it was the Sinhala State in the island that was known for murdering Tamil language as a part of the protracted genocide. But it seems that the task is now taken over by some Western institutions too that are based in Colombo and are operating in Jaffna, commented a Tamil academic in Jaffna, citing an invitation in ‘Tamil’ to an art programme convened at the Jaffna University on Wednesday by a German institute, Goethe Institut. The Fine Arts Department of the university, co-sponsoring the programme, should also share the responsibility for the ‘Tamil’ in the invitation, the academic said.

The sentences, missing structure, usage and connectivity, look as a pathetic translation of concepts not naturalised in Tamil.

Ironically the Goethe Institut is engaged in teaching German in the island.

Nowadays on matters of South Asia, the Western universities and institutions consciously follow a policy of avoiding native speakers or locally educated academics, but prefer their own products or trained elephants.

By doing agency work, whatever high ‘intellectualism’ in aesthetics is aimed by the Fine Arts Department of the Jaffna University, that shouldn't be at the cost of Tamil language, for it will set a bad precedence to students on the usage and style of language, the academic in Jaffna further commented.