ఈ-తెలుగు : Online Telugu forum comes of age

HYDERABAD: None would have imagined that an insignificant Google group created by a software engineer could position the Italian of the East as the second most used language on the cyber world.

www.etelugu.org, an association of the linguistic compatriots on the virtual world, boasts of over 80,000 pages created for Telugu Wikipedia, the modified storehouse of information.

“From the stage of merely translating the existing text, we have matured into creating our own content. Our Wikipedia has basic information about almost every place in Andhra Pradesh, contributed by people hailing from the respective locations,” says Thummala Sirish Kumar, one among the founder-members.

Over 3000 members are now working gratis to create and translate content for it. Publishing and selling the information is also free of cost, albeit after due credit.

The initial Google group of 70 members was the brainchild of Chava Kiran Kumar, a software engineer working with Microsoft.

With augmented membership, it was transformed into an online association that brought together all the individual blogs in Telugu.

“Telugu blogs have increased from 100 to 1500 after etelugu came. Even now, very few know that languages other than English could be enabled on computer.

One does not need technical expertise to do this,” says Mr.Thummala.

Chat room

A simple change in the system’s configuration is all one has to do , he says and adds that it will greatly benefit elders wishing to chat with children abroad. Whoever has a doubt can access the site’s help centre or the chat-room of www.computerera.co.in, a webzine actively generating content.

“To help the not-so-tech-savvy, we have the know-how to remotely access the system and change the configuration,” explains Nallamothu Sridhar, the man behind the webzine. The association also proposes to offer free technical help for those who want their websites in Telugu.

Many of the etelugu members worked to create the Telugu versions of Google, Yahoo and Mozilla Firefox.

They are also eager to change the State government websites to Telugu.

“Online local dailies offer no provision of feedback in Telugu, because most of them use customised fonts. We are trying to persuade them to use Unicode, a common font,” says Mr. Sridhar.

The association will give a presentation about using Telugu on internet on Saturday at the ongoing Hyderabad Book Fair on Necklace Road from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Courtesy: The Hindu