SHAMEEL JASVIR
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
MY WORLD OF PUNJABI MEDIA, LITERATURE AND THOUGHT
Useful Links
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Punjabi is the 9th most-spoken language in India, 3rd most-spoken language in Canada, 4th most-spoken language in England and the most-spoken language in Pakistan ( and ironically, has no official status).
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Punjabi speaking population in India is only 2 percent in the country, but most of the academic, research, publication and institutional work on Punjabi is happening in India. Number of Punjabi publications in Pakistan is the lowest in the world.
Online Encyclopedia of Punjabi language and Culture
The most comprehensive Punjabi font-converter by Punjabi University Patiala
http://gurmukhifontconverter.com/
Sangam: Gurumukh-Shamukhi transliteration by Punjabi University Patiala
http://g2s.learnpunjabi.org/default.aspx
Punjabi OCR
http://www.tdil-dc.in/index.php?option=com_download&task=showresourceDetails&toolid=1825&lang=en
Punjabi designer fonts:
about me
Twenty years ago, when I was beginning my career in journalism, it was a different era. We would design newspaper pages with the old paste-up technique. Fast forward twenty years later, I recently learned languages of the internet—HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
My career has been a witness to the merging of an old era into a new one, that too only in the period of last one decade.
What an experience it has been! I had opportunities to experience and perform almost every role in my profession-- reporter, sub-editor, news editor, television reporter, television anchor, producer, news-coordinator, digital and social media coordinator, media entrepreneur and editor of a daily newspaper. To someone who seeks out challenges, this was the best that life could have offered
Special Groups
eSabha is a platform to share digital tools and resources among Punjabi users.
Digital and online sphere is still a challenge for Punjabi users, especially media professionals. Owing to next to nothing institutional support and efforts, digitalization of Punjabi was facilitated by individual efforts and contributions. As expected, it lacks coordination and uniformity. The Advanced Center for Technical Development of Punjabi Language at the Punjabi University, Patiala, has done a remarkable job in recent years. Unfortunately, these tools and resources are still not being widely used and utilized, even by the Punjabi media establishments. Perhaps due to the lack of awareness. eSabha is a platform to share all available resources, and to share questions and concerns. Anybody can share new tools, and platforms on our Facebook page. Users can also post questions related to language and the script and anybody could post answers
Translation from other languages, especially English, is an integral part of Punjabi media profession. However, professional translation training is not part of any media course in any university in Punjab. Developing guidelines, training material and culture of translation in Punjabi is a huge challenge. In today’s multi-cultural global society, translation is increasingly becoming an important part of government and corporate communication plans. In the absence of any guidelines, platforms to discuss issues of translation and any Punjabi specific training programs, the Punjabi translators/media professionals are doing what they can at individual level. EssComm is a social media platform to bring together Punjabi translators to discuss issues of translation and to help develop guidelines for new translators.