As a part of the observance of ‘Work Book Day 2022’, the Sahitya Thoupang Lup (STL) released a romanised three-in-one beginners dictionary ‘English-Japanese-Manipuri’ compiled by Ph Nandakumar Sharma at a function held at DIPR Auditorium in Imphal West on Saturday.
The Heisnam Basantakumar Award of the STL was also conferred to writer Naoroibam Indramani during the observance. The main objective of the observance is to promote the habit of reading among the youths and general public.
The number of persons requesting for a romanised edition of the dictionary for Manipuri language has been increasing among the Manipuri non-native speakers, Manipuri diasporas and the other nationalities who are interested in learning the Manipuri language, said Nandakumar while delivering his speech.
He pointed out that the interest among the foreigners and tourists who visited Manipur and their demand for a Manipuri pocket dictionary written in English alphabets have also been tremendously increased.
“I started compiling the dictionary during the hard times of the Covid epidemic with the intention of helping foreigners who married locals and those who are interested to learn Manipuri language,” said Nandakumar.
Moreover, it is hoped that such a dictionary will be helpful in bridging the gap between the younger generation (who are familiar with Meitei-Mayek) and older generation (who are familiar with Bengali script), among the different tribes living in the state, he added.
One of the most unfortunate things among the educated youths of the present day is that they forgot most of the appropriate usage of the words in Manipuri, thereby unable to express in beautiful language used by the people for generations, he said. His objective of compiling the dictionary is to reproduce those forgotten words for the benefit of the new generation, he added.
The writer stressed that the present generation have been using many loan words instead of the original Manipuri words because most do not frequently use them and have been keeping out of memories.
“Here in this dictionary loan words are asterisk marked and I tried my best to use the original words in Manipuri which may help our younger generations to remember and use the appropriate words instead of using English or loan words,” he added.
Moreover, the dictionary is compiled to help the students who wish to study Japanese as a foreign language, he said. “I hope this dictionary will help the students at their beginning stage. My cherished desire will be fulfilled if this dictionary could serve its purpose,” he added.
The function was attended by president of Manipur Cultural Council Kangjam Radhakumar as chief guest and president of Leikol Ksh Subadani presided over the function.
