Testimonials

The Khan Academy Tamil Translation Program helps kids in India learn math skills in Tamil. We translate English questions from Khan Academy to Tamil. This helps kids with limited exposure to English language progress in Math easier. We meet for an hour every week to translate Math questions/problems from English to Tamil. During the meeting, we have support from other student volunteers and adults to clarify word choices/translations. After translating all the questions, we start entering them on the Khan Academy website matching all the special tags/widgets, etc. In the future, I plan to continue volunteering for the Vetrivel Foundation even after I graduate from Los Angeles Tamil School, where I learn Tamil Language. I like knowing that I am helping kids. Not only are we helping kids in India, but we are also getting extra practice with our Tamil skills. It’s a win-win for me and the kids half-way across the world!

Pooja Harikrishnan, Age 13, Los Angeles Tamil School

This program has provided me with opportunities to do what I love - helping other people. From creating tutorial videos to being a student leader, I find myself not only improving my Tamil writing/translating skills, but actively spending 2 hours per week working to help students across the world achieve their goals and desires. The translation community has grown to be a driven and compassionate group; ranging from dedicated adult volunteers to motivated student volunteers. This program would not be here without the help and support we have today, and I'm excited for the years to come.

Shruthi Leon, Age 16, Los Angeles Tamil School

When I first joined the Translation program, I really didn’t know what to expect, and I just joined to gain volunteer experience. However, as the weeks progressed and optimizations were made to the process of translating, it became clear just how big of a contribution I was making to the cause. Being able to help translate worksheets has been a truly eye-opening experience and showed me that no problem is ever too big to solve. I received the satisfaction of knowing that I am helping children in India learn topics they otherwise would not have access to, and am able to keep my Tamil skills fresh in the process.

Pranav Hari, Age 17, Los Angeles Tamil School

The Vetrivel foundation has a program that translates English Khan Academy content to Tamil for a better understanding for the kids who learn in a full Tamil medium. We started this program about a year ago, and I love the feeling of being able to help kids on the other side of the world. We are divided into small groups of about five people and meet once a week. You can pick a time that has already been allotted to your convenience. Each term (about 12 weeks) we are given a few chapters to translate and code into the Khan Academy website. Each group has two adult leaders who are there to assist and revise after the meeting. This experience for me has been rewarding in two ways as I get to help kids get ahead in their education, and learn new Tamil skills which help me stay in touch with my own culture.

Nithila Bala, Age 15, Los Angeles Tamil School

The Khan Academy Tamil Translation Program provides many Tamil-speaking individuals with the opportunity to help out prospective learners in India. The members of the program take time to translate content on the official Khan Academy website from English to Tamil, some of this including articles and exercises. The Vetrivel Foundation provides a stellar opportunity for both the students helping to translate the website and the prospective learners in the South Asian region. Not only do the students here help out the Tamil-speaking individuals across the world, but they also help themselves as the program enriches their knowledge of Tamil by allowing them to put it to use. I look forward to continuing this project alongside Vetrivel Foundation’s Khan Academy Tamil Translation Program and to continue providing Tamil-speakers with the opportunity to learn at their ease.

Prerna Bharath, Age 14, Los Angeles Tamil School