Konkani goes global on Wiki Published: Friday, Jul 8, 2011, 8:00 IST By *M Raghuram* | Place: Mangalore | Agency: DNA
For the first time, the world will hear Konkani, the language spoken by people in the coastal states of Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. And it will be heard at ‘Wikimania’ — world conference on language interface and web media organised by the Wikipedia group at Haifa in Israel starting on August 2. Thanks to the research done on ‘inter-script transliteration programme’ by the Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation at the World Konkani Centre, experts around the world can now have a glimpse of the rich literature, traditions, music, theatre and culture of Konkani people. “For the first time Konkani will break away from the barriers of scripts, which will give it a universal acceptance,” said Vaman Shenoy, director, Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation Basti. The two Konkani scholars, Gurudutt Buntwalkar and Hariprasad Nadig, conceptualised this new ‘Inter-script Transliteration Programme’ in the ‘plug in’ version. In an exclusive preview to *DNA *Gurudutt said “Usage of multiple scripts in Konkani language has hindered sharing of knowledge between the communities. With the advent of Internet, technology has enabled an accessible knowledge sharing platform for Indian languages through Unicode.” Like any language Konkani also had its share of conflicts over the script. “This new research initiative will end all that confusions,” said Gurudutt. * * * ADDING SOME DETAILS--FN Guru Baliga [email protected] mentioned that they are organising a Workshop on 18th July 2011, at World Konkani Centre, Mangalore. Baliga wrote to me saying, "We are also involving some techies from Infosys this time." Besides, he along with H.P. Nadig of the Kannada Wikipedia had submitted a paper for Wikimania 2011 and it got accepted for the presentation at Wikimania, Haifa, Israel. More information on this http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/Interscript_Transliteration_A_Case_for_Konkani_Language or http://bit.ly/jczTRl They plan to conduct a series of Wiki Academies in colleges for the promotion of Konkani Wikipedia this year. "We will plan for this aspect also on the sidelines of a Technical Session at the workshop," he said. FN +91-832-2409490 or +91-9822122436 (after 2pm) #784 Nr Lourdes Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India http://fn.goa-india.org http://goa1556.goa-india.org On 9 July 2011 10:52, Marshall Mendonza <[email protected]> wrote: > For the first time, the world will hear Konkani, the language spoken by > people in the coastal states of Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra and > Gujarat. And it will be heard at ‘Wikimania’ — world conference on language > interface and web media organised by the Wikipedia group at Haifa in Israel > starting on August 2. > > Thanks to the research done on ‘inter-script transliteration programme’ by > the Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation at the World Konkani Centre, > experts around the world can now have a glimpse of the rich literature, > traditions, music, theatre and culture of Konkani people. “For the first > time Konkani will break away from the barriers of scripts, which will give > it a universal acceptance,” said Vaman Shenoy, director, Konkani Language > and Cultural Foundation Basti. > > The two Konkani scholars, Gurudutt Buntwalkar and Hariprasad Nadig, > conceptualised this new ‘Inter-script Transliteration Programme’ in the > ‘plug in’ version. In an exclusive preview to *DNA *Gurudutt said “Usage of > multiple scripts in Konkani language has hindered sharing of knowledge > between the communities. With the advent of Internet, technology has > enabled > an accessible knowledge sharing platform for Indian languages through > Unicode.” > > Like any language Konkani also had its share of conflicts over the script. > “This new research initiative will end all that confusions,” said Gurudutt. > > http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_konkani-goes-global-on-wiki_1563471 >
