Friday, April 07, 2006

Tamil has a word for Blogs - வலைப் பதிவு

The word 'blog' has yet to be translated into any Indian language, says this article in dailyindia.com.

Well, for your information Tamil Blogosphere is a teeming one, with atleast three aggregators and over 500 blogs. Tamil has words for Blogs (வலைப் பதிவு), Bloggers (வலைப் பதிவர்கள்), comments (பின்னூட்டம்), comment moderation (மட்டுறுத்தல்) and many more.

The article does mention about Indibloggies 2006 and the other language winners. But Neha, recent aggregators and sites like DesiPundit helping Indian blogosphere 'shape an identity for itself'., tell me you were joking. Shape an Identity?

19 comments:

Premalatha said...

Bloggers (வலைப் பதிவர்கள்),

வலைஞர்கள் according to சிலர்.

Chenthil said...

That is even better, so we have two words now :-)

Premalatha said...

feminism - பெண்ணியம்
laptop - மடிக்கணினி

so many. I feel like I should redo my Tamil lessons when I go there. :)

neha vish said...

Personal opinion. I think the notion of an Indian blogosphere - however narrow - however tunnel visioned - has formed.

An identity isn't always a positive thing. I am not judging what has happened - but to a certain extent - a self referencing system has formed.

Premalatha said...

I am sure languages like Telugu, Maratti have their own words as well. I don't think everyone likes/uses ப்ளாக் kind of tranlation/transliterian(?) anymore. one needs to find out.

Anand said...

Hey what's Tamil for spam? கண்ணனி?

Chenthil said...

Anand :-).

Jayaprakash Sampath said...

Chenthil, there are over 900 blogs in tamil, of which, thamizmanam aggregates 716 blogs as on date. ( thenkoodu aggregates 955)

spam = எரிதம் ( எரிச்சலூட்டும் கடிதம்). a widely used and accepted phrase in tamil blogosphere

Anonymous said...

Desipundit -> Naatu vaithiyar..err.. Naatu pandidhar

Premalatha said...

I just failed:(.

Forgive me or ignore me or whatever about my "ex-DP" tag...

(oh, s***, I forgot, it may even be twisted to formulate that I am "trying to get back" theory),

whatever, I have failed, ... didn't I say?..


Here is the actual comment:

Wasn't DP theorised around the idea of encashing the fast growing Indian blogosphere (வலைப்பதிவரங்கம்) rather than DP helping to "shape" it? This is a true ஜல்லி. (thanks gilli for that word).

neha vish said...

Premalatha: I wasn't pointing towards DP's intention. That is irrelevant. DP may be a homework assignment/ an exercise in egoistic linking/ a forum to point to some Indiacentric blogs/ a pukefest (Nudging Nilu!) / or a Martian conspiracy.

I was talking of an impact that I perceived. It has nothing to do with motives.

Anonymous said...

this seems to be a serious discussion..

but then, is any one really worried of translations..

who careas.?

Chenthil said...

Prakash, thanks for the updates. I personally prefer Thenkoodu to Tamizhmanam.

Ferrari, getting ready for the next fight?

Premalatha - that's exactly what I thought. DP was more of a human aggregator than shaping an identity.

Neha - to each his own opinion.

Anon- I do care about translations and Tamil.

Unknown said...

HaHa just read the article, the word blog is yet to be translated into any Indian language? Are these guys joking. Wonder if they did any research at all. The word வலைப்பதிவு has been used by the Tamil bloggers for years now.

Tamizhmanam has made a greater impact on me than DP has or ever will.

Once again this is just a personal opinion,as Chenthil says each to his own. DP to me is similar to Kaps' linkin Park and God forbid Nilu's pukefest posts. These posts provide me with links of interesting posts which I would miss if not. I am thankful for these links, but that doesn't mean that any of these blogs have helped Indian blogosphere to shape an identity for itself. Come on lets be realistic.

And anon, there are a lot of us who do care about using proper words where possible. So translation does matter.

Sheks said...

tasmac kannan post hilarious.watch out!evanaavathu aandha kannan-nu paer vechukittu spam panna poraan.

Premalatha said...

DP is popular. yes. (atleast that is what I think).
People like to be linked at DP, or people feel happy when they are linked at DP - yes. it gets them more hits and addional readership. (again, I was happy whenever I was linked there).

Shaping identity? and this statement is irrelevant to the fact that DP is theorised around the fact that Indian blogosphere is fast growing?

(my last comment. this I am telling to myself).

debashish said...

Goo to know that you guys have a term for Blog in Tamil. In Hindi blogdom we call it "Chittha", a term coined by Alok Kumar the first Hindi blogger. We indic bloggers need to talk about it more so that people get to know more about it. Right now MSM only focusses on English blogs.

Chenthil said...

True Debasish. Indic blogs are not highlighted in MSM, though Tamil Magazines and Newspapers have started noticing Tamil Blogs. The Tamil word for blog literally means "Internet Poster".

Nilu said...

Oh, I can now claim to "shape" the desi blogosphere? I always knew I was something...thanks for articulating.