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Give people what they want !!!

New changes to the English to Konkani translate page.

The English to Konkani translation feature on the site, still maintains its pole position as the favourite feature on the page. (Even though the editors and contributors of the project, would rather have the 'Contribute a Konkani word' feature to be the most used one. Without word contributions there would be no data to translate you see)

A new algorithm has been implemented that tracks the actual searches being done on the site by end users. Before today, no tracking of search terms was being done and rather relied on the backend database to find the right terms. If there was no corresponding word in the dictionary, then nothing was returned to the user and no further action was taken to address these searched words.

The new tracker will help track user inputs (in English) and mark search queries that do not show any matches (in Konkani). These search queries can then be tracked and added to the Konkani Dictionary database.

This should enhance the user experience by ensuring that the most searched words are included in the database, on a relatively higher priority basis and hence find matches when searched for. Words that are searched more often, and that dont find any matches, are assigned higher 'Add to Dictionary' ranking.

Moral of the story:

"The more people search for specific English words, the more likely that the corresponding Konkani word would be included in the database"

or to put in a different way

"Give people what they want !!!"

GSB Konkani Dictionary - Website Maintenance & Changes

The following changes were done to the website yesterday:

I. The initial landing page of the site has been changed, it is now the same as the previous home page. This will help take users to the home page straight away, instead of having to click on a link.

II. Some spam data has been removed from the database. These were put in by some rogue bots.

III. The guest log can now take more lengthy comments. This has been done, as recently people have been posting longer comments in the guest logs and the site would not accomodate them.

Online GSB Konkani Dictionary - Update (4000 plus words)

Dear amchigele baa.ndhavaas,

Thanks to community members, a lot of progress has been made by the community project since the last update. (courtesy mostly of members and moderators of our beloved amchigeleuae group)

In a nut shell the major updates are as follows:

1. The project now has an astounding 4000 plus words in the dictionary and more words are being added on a regular basis.
http://www.savemylanguage.org/app/wordindexITRANS.php

2. A new 'Kannada' script for Amchigele konkani page has been added
http://www.savemylanguage.org/app/wordindexITRANS_KannadaScript.php
(However this page is still in 'BETA' and needs more work on it. Veena Shanbhogue has been reviewing these pages in great detail and forwarding the corrections)

(Do note that Kannada Script for Konkani is being provided for reference purposes only. The main script for Konkani will remain devanaagri)

3. A new 'AMCHIGELE KONKANI: PROVERBS, METAPHORS, IDIOMS & EUPHEMISMS' section has been compiled, from the 'Proverbs & Sayings' contributions made in the group.
This page now has over 350 entries. Contributions are from Veena Shanbhogue, Udyavara Suresh Kamath, Sabitha Shenoy, Archana Mallya ,Sheshagiri Shenoy & Srikanth Mallya.
http://www.savemylanguage.org/literature/konkani_ProverbsAndOthers.php

Ofcourse you can go to each of the above pages by navigating from the main page i.e www.savemylanguage.org

Note: (Fonts for Kannada & Devanaagri) If you can't view the Kannada or Devanaagri fonts you need to do the following
1. Devanaagri: These fonts can be downloaded from the BBC Hindi website at http://www.bbchindi.com . Click on the 'Hindi Font Download' link on this page and follow the steps to install devanaagri fonts.
2. Kannada: These fonts can be downloaded from http://www.baraha.com/baraha.htm link. Click on the image and install the software.
Both the websites bbc and baraha are well known and reliable sites.
Please try the above two methods till Udyavara Suresh Kamath and I can come up with a concrete solution for the fonts issue. Windows Vista operating system thankfully installs 'Indic' fonts by default.

Please pass on your comments / suggestions on the project. And ofcourse do keep your word contributions going !!!

jai ko.nkaNi !!! jai samaaja !!!

devu bare koro !!!

Regards,
Roshan Pai
Editor: www.savemylanguage.org

"Amchigele Konkani - Some day our language will get the respect it truly deserves."

SaveMyLanguage - GSB Konkani Dictionary (Amchigele) - Update (24th Jan 2007)

Dear amchigele baan.dhavaano,

Lot of developments have occurred in the project, over the last one week.

Hundreds of new word contributions have been added to the main dictionary.

Details can be found at: http://www.savemylanguage.org/app/home.php

The dictionary has been growing very fast over the last few weeks and now has around 1650 words in the main database.

Other updates include:

I. Based on the suggestion by the community, esp by Shri Udyavara Suresh Kamath, work has begun on the Konkani in Kannada script version of the Konkani - English Dictionary. Shri K Ramesh Pai is presently validating the corresponding Kannada words (for existing entries). This page should be up and running soon. This is being done, as a sizeable majority of the community is still not comfortable with the devanagri script. However it is important to note that this is for reference purposes only. Devanagri will remain the main script throughout the project.

II. (*New) Word lists in english are ready for volunteers to take up and translate to konkani. More details on the home page. Do feel free to volunteer for the lists.

Thanks again for being part of the project. Do keep your contributions and suggestions coming.

jai ko.nkaNi !!! jai samaaja !!!

devu bare.n koro !!!

Regards,

Roshan Pai
Editor: www.savemylanguage.org

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS AS OF 24th Jan 2007:

GRAND TOTAL - 1650 word(s)Udyavara Suresh Kamath - 466 word(s)Nithyanand Rao - 340 word(s)K Ramesh Pai - 167 word(s)Roshan Pai - 114 word(s)Satyanath Bhat - 79 word(s)Prashanth G Kamath - 63 word(s) Rashmi G Bhat - 60 word(s)Vishwanath Kini - 51 word(s)Sumanth Kamath - 46 word(s)Ratna Bai - 44 word(s)Santosh Kamath - 43 word(s)Manu Pai - 41 word(s)Shyamala Pai - 31 word(s)Krishna Rao - 19 word(s)Sihi Kamath - 12 word(s)Gopinath Bhat - 12 word(s)Ramanath Pai - 10 word(s)Divya Ajit Pai - 6 word(s)TJ - 6 word(s)Namita Das - 5 word(s)Ganesh Shenoy - 4 word(s) Madhu Pai - 4 word(s)Shobha Shenoy - 3 word(s)Sudhir Kodkani - 3 word(s)Rahul Gelani - 3 word(s)Yugal Kumar - 3 word(s)B Sandeep Pai - 3 word(s)Arvind Hebbar - 3 word(s)Rohit Kumta - 2 word(s) Daya Shreehari - 2 word(s)Viral Prabhu - 1 word(s)Manoj Kini - 1 word(s)Umesh Pai - 1 word(s)Subhas Bhat - 1 word(s)Deepa Iyer - 1 word(s)

SAVE MY LANGUAGE - GSB Konkani (Amchigele) Dictionary Project - Details

Dear amchigele baa.ndhavaano,

As requested by the moderator of this group, here are a few details on the project:

"Save My Language" is a project that is documenting the GSB Konkani (amchigele) language, as spoken in the 21st century, by the amchigele community in and around Mangalore/Udipi Karnataka. The amchigele language has been changing and adapting over the years. Strong influences from Kannada/Marathi are definitely something that we have to acknowledge. (No the project does not intend to debate whether Marathi is the parent language or Konkani is. This is at best left to historians. Its aim is purely to document the amchigele language as it is today, and document it in devanagri). Every passing generation loses amchigele words, replacing them with corresponding equivalents derived from other languages/surroundings. The present generation tends to use the English language, and the cycle of losing words begins all over again.

The aim is to document the whole language, scientifically and semantically.

To start off, an online Konkani Dictionary has been started, that will be a database of all the amchigele words spoken by the community. This Word List is built up by contributors, who are normal community members (like you and me). Once the words are entered, they are then judiciously validated, ITRANS validated, semantically placed and then added to the main dictionary. The word list is growing rapidly and now has over 1500 amchigele words (and growing). Contributions can be made via the web site.

The project is based on sound linguistics principles. The script used is Devanagari. ITRANS which is an excellent Devanagari tranliteration format is used.

Additional projects running:Due to suggestions from the community (especially from Udyavar Suresh Kamath, a key community contributor) a Kannada script word list is also being created. (Considering that a vast majority are still not very comfortable with Devanagri script). However this is purely for reference only. Devanagri will stay as the main script, throughout the project.

Once the word list is huge enough (circa 10,000), the next step would be to move into semantics and grammar. This would then finally pave the way for organised/standardised amchigele literature.

Ofcourse it is a community project and depends totally on the community word contributions.

Comments/Suggestions are always welcome.

Do feel free to contact us if you need more details or want to contribute to the project. Especially so if your amchigele is above average !!!

URL: www.savemylanguage.org

jai ko.nkaNi !!! jai samaaja !!!

Regards,
Roshan PaiEditor: www.savemylanguage.org

Email: savemylanguage@googlemail.com

PS: It is rather unfortunate that the message in this email could not be conveyed in pure amchigele, and we had to rely on a foreign language. Hence the title 'Save My Language'. !!!

Get GSB Konkani WORD OF THE DAY (On your Google Home Page)

Go on and get it. Its a bit of fun !!!

Get a new word every day (from a steadily growing database of over 1200 Amchigele Konkani words) on your google home page. Just click the google button above.

Join the GSB Konkani Dictionary Project

	Subscribe to GSB Konkani Dictionary - Project
	Email:
	Browse Archives at groups.google.com

http://groups.google.com/group/savemylanguage

Join the group to get upto date information on the GSB Konkani Dictionary. Makes its easy to contribute too. Remember our strength resides in the GSB Community !!!

GSB Konkani Dictionary - Crosses 1000 words milestone

Dear amchigele ba.ndhavaas,

The online GSB Konkani dictionary now has over 1000 words due to the blessings of the community. This significant milestone was achieved today.

More details (including the words) can be found at:http://www.savemylanguage.org/app/home.php

Do continue contributing.

jai ko.nkaNi, jai samaja

devu bare koro

Regards,
Roshan Pai Ramesh
Editor: www.savemylanguage.org
Orkut Community: Amchigele - Language Research

The contributors list as of today is as follows:
GRAND TOTAL 1011 word(s)
Nithyanand Rao 340 word(s)
Roshan Pai 114 word(s)
K Ramesh Pai 98 word(s)
Satyanath Bhat 83 word(s)
Prashanth G Kamath 63 word(s)
Rashmi G Bhat 60 word(s)
Sumanth Kamath 46 word(s)
Ratna Bai 44 word(s)
Manu Pai 41 word(s)
Shyamala Pai 31 word(s)
Krishna Rao 19 word(s)
Vishwanath Kini 13 word(s)
Sihi Kamath 12 word(s)
Gopinath Bhat 12 word(s)
Namita Das 5 word(s)
Madhu Pai 4 word(s)
Ramanath Pai 4 word(s)
Sudhir Kodkani 3 word(s)
Rahul Gelani 3 word(s)
Yugal Kumar 3 word(s)
Arvind Hebbar 3 word(s)
Rohit Kumta 2 word(s)
Daya Shreehari 2 word(s)
Sandeep Pai 2 word(s)
Viral Prabhu 1 word(s)
Manoj Kini 1 word(s)
Subhas Bhat 1 word(s)
Deepa Iyer 1 word(s)

GSB Konkani Dictionary

Amchigele language documentation and research group.

This group is aimed at people interested in furthering the cause of the 'GSB Amchigele Konkani' language. The group mainly aims to get together the Amchigele community interested in documenting the Konkani language, as spoken by the Amchiegle.

Project currently running and included in the group:

GSB Amchigele Dictionary Project:
www.savemylanguage.org
[Aims to document the language spoken by the Amchigele GSB Community]

Other projects will be added to the group if they serve similar purposes.