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| Sunday, 28 July 2002 |
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ISO accepts Sinhala-Tamil software: Trilingual net surfing option by Don Asoka Wijewardena Sri Lanka is a multiracial society comprising 74 per cent Sinhala speaking population and 18 per cent Tamil-speaking population. Sinhala, Tamil and English are all official languages and are widely spoken throughout the country with a 19 million population. In July 1996, Sri Lanka launched its National Web Site (http:/www.lk), initially consisting of information entirely in the English language.
Most people who have access to the Internet are computer-literate and proficient in English. However, because of the country's population profile, it is absolutely essential that Internet data be made in Sinhala and Tamil as well in order that the Internet reaches the masses.Currently most contents on the Web are in Roman characters. Hence, the need for development of trilingual (Sinhala, Tamil and English) Internet applications has arisen to allow Web display, e-mail interchange and other essential functions in all three languages. Key-board input technology is being developed to allow users to download, search and create new data and build their own content in each language.
As demand increases this will encourage information providers to design technology to put quality information in all three languages so that Internet technology can take root in Sri Lanka. S.T. Nandasara, Lecturer at the Institute of Computer Technology and Co-ordinating Manager of Centre for Advanced Media Technology Project, University of Colombo in an interview with the Sunday Observer spoke on the successful production of the Sinhala-Tamil software system for the first time in Sri Lanka. Excerpts of the interview: Q. I understand that you are the pioneer of software in the Sinhala- Tamil languages for the first time in Sri Lanka. Could you describe how you were involved in that important task? A. Historical computer technology was entirely based on the English language. In 1983 the University of Colombo received IBM personal computers. Prof N.K. Samaranayaka (Director ICT), Dr. Kevin Seniveratne (former Head of the department of Computer Science, University of Colombo) and myself had several discussions, with exchange of ideas to produce software in Sinhala. I remember that it was in 1987 that a Chinese lady visited the University and demonstrated Sinhala software produced by her. It had many mistakes and I was able to correct them. I designed the Sinhala characters to be displayed on the computer monitor without damaging the shape of the size and character. Actually it was the turning point in producing Sinhala software. My next task was the incorporation of Sinhala characters set into the operating system, the major software components to handle the input and output of the computer called Basic Input Output System (BIOS). In standard personal computer BIOS is handled only in English. Computer engineers never thought of producing software in multi-languages.
Q. Did you get any foreign expertise or assistance in developing the Sinhala-Tamil system? A. In 1989 I visited University of Thamasat, Thailand because at that time the University was involved in producing software in Thai. It was a golden opportunity for me to work with a Thai Prof. Thawisak and carry out research and experiments. The Thai professor's attempt and successful production of software in the Thai language was a source of inspiration to me. Q. When were you able to produce the Sinhala-Tamil software system? A. As I had determined to produce Sinhala-Tamil software at the end of 1989 I developed a complete software in Sinhala-Tamil. But before that Tamil Nadu had produced software in Tamil. The special feature in the system is that it can been handled in Sinhala and English and Sinhala and Tamil simultaneously. Word processing, database system and the spread sheet were developed. I developed a complete Word Processing system in Sinhala and it was called "Wadantharuwa". I must say that specifying the current alphabet and the alphabetical order was considered priority. Q. Are there other institutes that gave a helping hand to make your task a complete success? A. Yes. A committee was formed established by the Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority of Sri Lanka (NARESA) to form the Committee on Adaptation of National Languages in Information Technology (CANLIT), which agreed on the Sinhala alphabet and its alphabetical order. Therefore work progressed on the Standard Code, and the Keyboard Layout, other problems such as character addition, the essential features and shape of each character. Q. Has the software in Sinhala-Tamil been approved by the International Standard Organisation in the USA? A. In 1989 the ICT received an official letter from the ISO mentioning that the ISO had recognised the Sinhala language for standardisation. It had also recognised Sinhala-Tamil as an international character coding system and it published "The Universal Coding System (Unicode Version 1) to Sri Lanka. We found that the submitted version by an Irish national Michael Verson and a Britisher May Gregorose was not in correct alphabetical order and some important characters were missing. We informed the ISO that we would provide the correct versions through the Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI). Then the Centre for Information Technology Council formed a group committee to prepare the Sinhala standard Prof. J.B. Dissanayaka was of immense help in preparing the Sinhala standard, with some scholars and people from the computer institutes. Q. Why did foreigners develop Sinhala software and did the ISO accept it? A. What happened was the ISO tried its best to accept the foreigners' version but we pointed out the mistakes it contained, and a sub Committee was formed to investigate the matter. At that same time our team's main task was to identify the Sinhala-Tamil characters set in their correct alphabetical order. I became the technical co-ordinator of the group. We also informed the ISO that the final decision for the standardisation of the languages should not be taken without consulting the local bodies. On the invitation of the ISO Prof. J.B. Dissanayaka I visited Greece and attended a conference on the subject of Standardisation. Countries like Japan and Canada were in agreement with us and we were able to convince the ISO that a final decision should be taken giving priority to Sri Lanka. Then the ISO accepted the Sinhala-Tamil preliminary version prepared by us. As the Tamil software was developed by South India before ours was recognised by the Microsoft Corporation and other international systems developers the Microsoft showed deep reluctance to produce and develop Sinhala. Microsoft and other International Developers have already started formulationg regional languages such as Tamil, Thai, Japanese, Urdu, and Hindi. |
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