Academy in talks with Microsoft for Tamil option in software

The Tamil Virtual Academy has held talks with Microsoft language engineers and has requested for Tamil to be provided as a language option in its Operating Systems and software packages, an official of the academy said. The Tamil Virtual Academy (TVA) is in the process of creating one of the largest language encyclopaedias. “We have asked Microsoft to provide a spell checker too. The input tool we have requested is Tamil99 in the OS and software,” Mr. Thamizhpparithi Maari, State Coordinator of Kani Tamizh Peravai (Forum for Tamil Computing), TVA, told The Hindu.

A large team of volunteers, professors and language experts are currently creating an online database of various topics, and multimedia articles in Tamil. They plan to create nearly 3 crore articles in Tamil that will be shared on wiki forums and on the portal, www.tamilkalanjiyam.in, which is an open-source platform that works like Wikipedia.

“We have a team of senior professors with expertise in various topics who keep a tab on the content to verify its accuracy,” he said.

“If you want details from as far back as the 2{+n}{+d}Century, you will be able to find it over the course of the next few months. We have a large database — temple inscriptions, palm leaves, seals, museum exhibits, books, manuscripts, temple architecture, rock paintings of Tamil Nadu, murals, agriculture, science related topics, you name it, it will be online in Tamil,” Mr. Thamizhpparithi said.

Cultural atlas

The TVA also aims to put out a cultural atlas of Tamil Nadu online in about six to seven months. Mr. Thamizhpparithi said they are working with 85 colleges in the State and have 8,500 volunteers, two co-ordinators in each college. Over 10,000 teachers and students have been sensitised about creating a source for Tamil computing, he added.

The team is also in the process of localising content of Khan Academy, an online classroom for students. “We have dubbed 300 videos in Tamil already. In the next three months, all 8,000 videos will be dubbed in Tamil,” he said.

A team is currently creating an online database of articles in Tamil on

various topics