Yougenthrie Naidoo and Nyanasagri Govender
TO ENCOURAGE the younger generation to embrace their heritage and learn Tamil, Yougenthrie Naidoo and Nyanasagri Govender are using the power of social media.
Their joint TikTok account, TamilEditionPonnu, showcases their everyday conversations in Tamil.
They said from the positive feedback, it was evident that some social media users still appreciated the language.
Naidoo and Govender have been friends since they were teenagers.
Naidoo, 34, a teacher from Gillitts, said her late grandmother, Thanakoti Reddy and dad, Arumugam Reddy, used to speak to her in Tamil when she was younger.
She said the Tamil movies helped with her vocabulary and that she was now fluent in the language.
“Tamil was taught in our family from one generation to the next. While growing up, we heard people speak the language all the time, but not so much these days.
“When we started the TikTok videos last year, we started out by singing and talking to each other in Tamil. We posted a video and the feedback was good, but people could not understand us. We then added subtitles to the videos and it was perfect. It captured the essence of what we were trying to do and people were eager to learn Tamil through our videos,” she said.
She said the conversational tone of the videos and repeating words, simple phrases and greetings meant they were able to engage with social media users.
“We ensure that we use everyday words, numbers, animals, etc. We also use words in a dialogue for people to learn. We didn't have a plan on how we would go about piquing people’s interest. But the fact that our platform is growing is great as that means people are learning. Children are inspired too. They try to make the same videos and say the same things we say, and they send us their videos."
Govender, 38, a medical representative from Sherwood, said she learnt Tamil from her late grandmother, Sarojini Govender, who raised her while her mom worked.
“My grandmother was blind. To ensure we learnt Tamil, she sat with a stick and asked us to fetch items for her in Tamil. If we returned with the wrong things, we would catch a hiding. When you grow up listening to the language everyday, you learn automatically."
She said she also learnt Tamil in primary school but it was removed from the syllabus when she entered high school.
“Growing up in an orthodox Tamil home was enriching for my culture. I had a culture shock when I was sent to a Catholic school."
Govender said when she realised how "watered down" the Tamil culture and language had become, and was "dead or dying", they decided to use social media to inspire people.
“Young people don't know anything about Tamil. Tamil is not an old people language. It's a mother tongue. We want to debunk that myth. We are young, independent career women but we can still speak Tamil. We want to revive Tamil, which is a beautiful language."
But not all the feedback, she said, was positive.
“I was asked, how could I speak Tamil if I was a Christian. People do not understand that Tamil is a language and culture, not a religion. We lose sight of where we come from. The older you get, the more you want to hold on to your heritage and your roots.
“In our country, Tamil seems like a dying language even though we have the largest population of Indians outside of India. We are passionate about changing that. Even if one person goes out to learn more, it's a success for us."
The duo recently performed a skit at the Sari Stroll in Durban and scooped first place at a Tamil Eisteddfod in July.
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