Get the word right with Madura
A look into the creative process of Madura Kulatunga, creator of the Madura online English-Sinhala dictionary
While surfing the Net, you come across an unfamiliar English word. You want to know what it means in Sinhala. You probably know your English-Sinhala dictionary is somewhere in a forgotten bookcase, but you are too lazy or too busy to get it. You ask someone else, but even they are clueless. Do not worry, help is at hand. All you have to do is click your mouse.
THIS IS A TRULY SRI LANKAN PRODUCT THAT WE CAN ALL BE PROUD OF.
You look up the Madura online dictionary for the correct meaning and it does not cost a cent. (A printed dictionary, on the other hand, is a costly affair). You take your hat off to the guy who did it, whoever it is and move on. But if you pause for a minute, you will realise how daunting this task is. Compiling a dictionary is no ordinary task - and giving it all away for free is extraordinary. Today, even the traditional printed dictionaries offer you a DVD which can be installed on a computer. But you can do so with only one computer. However, Madura's dictionary is accessible as long as you have an Internet connection, anywhere in the world. The very name Madura says it all - Madura Kulatunga is the brains behind the Madura online dictionary. One might think that Madura has been a computer whiz kid from his very young days and that he had an impeccable command of the English language. This was simply not the case. In his early days, he was not computer savvy at all and his knowledge of English left a lot to be desired. However, his deficiencies in both these departments propelled him to overcome all obstacles. His line of thinking was "what if I build a dictionary to help others like me who have difficulty in understanding certain English words ?". And he did it. It is now used by millions of Sri Lankans living here and abroad.
An old boy of Royal College, Madura actually did commerce for his A/Ls which he sat in 1999. His interest in computers was kindled during a Diploma in Comput-ing course at the National Youth Centre in Maharagama. "Back then I didn't know how to ',operate a computer, next to nothing about hardware, and absolutely nothing about software. It was a big deal just to know how to power one up," he recalls. He got his own desktop computer only in 2001 - a then state-of-the-art Pentium III 733 Mhz. (It sounds so basic now, though).
Before that, he used to visit a few cyber-cafés (which have now virtually disappeared because almost everyone has an Internet-enabled smartphone) to browse the Net and learn more about computing itself. He pursued a career in that filed later on and became a Microsoft certified engineer having successfully completed a Master of Science in Information Technology degree at Sikkim Manipal University.
Madura hit upon the idea of developing an online English-Sinhala dictionary while reading English books on computer science that he purchased from time to time to enhance his knowledge. He experienced difficulty in understanding many words and had to refer to the Malalasekara printed dictionary to look up words. At the turn of the millennium, when dial-up Internet was big here in Sri Lanka, Madura realised that the Internet would be everywhere on every device before long. He wanted to create an online language resource for people who would be learning new things using the Internet.
After teaching himself the finer points of programmes such as Visual Basic, Madura decided to apply what he had learnt. He made a program which turned out to be an English-Sinhala dictionary. He used exist-ing dictionaries o transcribe many words, but the idea of an online dictionary was exclusively his. The other point in his favour was the fact that not many Sri Lankans were designing such applications back then.
Madura then fine tuned the Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary and it was tested on his friends' computers prior to general release. In fact, the first user of the dictionary was his best friend from Royal College, who Madura describes as an inspiration for his life. "He and other friends encouraged me a lot and I was determined to go ahead."
"I GET A LOT OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM USERS AND IF THERE ARE COMPLAINTS, I TAKE THEM VERY SERIOUSLY AND TRY TO CORRECT ANY FLAWS OR MISTAKES. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE PERFECTION. MY USER BASE IS A GREAT ASSET. I GET A LOT OF SATISFACTION OUT OF MAKING THEIR LIVES AND WORK EASIER. THIS IS A GREAT FIELD TO WORK IN"
After testing and gaining positive reviews from all those who used it, it became freely available to all Internet users from November 23, 2002. Thus Madura became the developer of the first online English-Sinhala dictionary in the world. The Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary has gained popularity as an indispensable tool for students and professionals in their academic and day to day work. The solution which Madura sought for his difficulties with the English language has now become a useful solution for millions of Sri Lankan people who have the same difficulty. The Madura dictionary software version was completely updated in 2004 and 2006 with new words, new definitions and new con-textual uses. Search and match speeds have also increased over the years. The online version is continuously updated.
Many companies aware of the marketing value of the Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary offered high prices to buy the ownership of the entire product. Madura rejected those offers while retaining the ownership with him and providing the services free of charge continuously. Many have admired Madura's generosity at a time when money comes before everything else. He launched his product on the web in 2008 and he was recognised by the University of Moratuwa when he was invited to address a symposium on Localised Systems and Applications. Due to the lack of internet usage in Sri Lanka the Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary was distributed in CD form initially. (This can still be done if you are old-fashioned!). As soon as Sri Lanka was equipped with broadband internet facilities millions of people downloaded the dictionary. The software can be downloaded from suduputha.com and download.com, now part of CNET. The software was so popular initially that the Suduputha website almost crashed. Even without downloading, over 50,000 users access "Madura Online" dictionary via the internet daily. The "Madura Online" android application developed for mobile phones is also very popular by now, with nearly 100,000 downloads. It was released last year (no bugs have been reported yet) and Madura is contemplating releasing iOS and Windows versions as well. The ultimate goal is to make Madura accessible to all, regardless of platform.
The Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary contains over 230,000 definitions and glossaries of technical terms covering various disciplines including medicine, science, law, engineering, accounts, arts etc. This can also be used as a thesaurus. One can translate from English to Sinhala and vice versa and also use wildcards to increase the flexibility of search. These services are available free of charge on www.maduraonline.com, which is now among the 50,000 most popular websites in the world according to Alexa rankings.
Locally, it is among the 50 most visited websites. The downloadable version has been downloaded to more than 900,000 PCs and Macs around the world. Following his lead, even the Internet search giants have enabled English to Sinhala real time translations as Sinhala is now recognized as a major world language with nearly 20 million active speakers.
Madura is open to new ideas and gets regular feedback from his users. He incorporates new words as and when they enter general usage. He is always up to date on the latest trends in computing as well. Many professional and business users benefit from his dictionary service, but Madura has not yet given a thought to levying a user fee. "I want people to learn by using this, to enhance their knowledge about the world. That is my only satisfaction."
Madura is proud of his creation and does not intend to part with it, no matter how much he is offered. And despite receiving many lucrative job and migration offers in Western countries, Madura says he will always serve his Motherland doing useful projects that benefit all Sri Lankans. "I am thankful to all those who helped me in creating it and I am justifiably proud of my achievement as a young software developer. It has been a great journey so far and I will continue to improve it."
IF YOU WANT TO FIND THE MATCHING SINHALA WORD, JUST CLICK YOUR MOUSE.
Madura did not find success overnight. There were many frustrating moments when he almost gave up, but he persisted in going ahead with it. He faced many techni-cal barriers, but he successfully overcame all those to deliver on his promise to create an English-Sinhala online translation tool.
One newspaper feature on Madura even referred to him as Sri Lanka's own Mark Zuckerberg. Even though Madura is no billionaire like Zuckerberg, Madura's entrepreneurial spirit and innovative streak are more or less the same. It is a rare combination. What would Madura have done if he did not become a well-known software engineer and developer ? "My childhood dream was to become a pilot. It is a dream I still have - to fly a passenger airliner and make a perfect landing". For now, he has made a perfect landing with the Madura online dictionary and is poised to fly even higher in the software world.
THIS IS A TRULY SRI LANKAN PRODUCT THAT WE CAN ALL BE PROUD OF.
You look up the Madura online dictionary for the correct meaning and it does not cost a cent. (A printed dictionary, on the other hand, is a costly affair). You take your hat off to the guy who did it, whoever it is and move on. But if you pause for a minute, you will realise how daunting this task is. Compiling a dictionary is no ordinary task - and giving it all away for free is extraordinary. Today, even the traditional printed dictionaries offer you a DVD which can be installed on a computer. But you can do so with only one computer. However, Madura's dictionary is accessible as long as you have an Internet connection, anywhere in the world. The very name Madura says it all - Madura Kulatunga is the brains behind the Madura online dictionary. One might think that Madura has been a computer whiz kid from his very young days and that he had an impeccable command of the English language. This was simply not the case. In his early days, he was not computer savvy at all and his knowledge of English left a lot to be desired. However, his deficiencies in both these departments propelled him to overcome all obstacles. His line of thinking was "what if I build a dictionary to help others like me who have difficulty in understanding certain English words ?". And he did it. It is now used by millions of Sri Lankans living here and abroad.
An old boy of Royal College, Madura actually did commerce for his A/Ls which he sat in 1999. His interest in computers was kindled during a Diploma in Comput-ing course at the National Youth Centre in Maharagama. "Back then I didn't know how to ',operate a computer, next to nothing about hardware, and absolutely nothing about software. It was a big deal just to know how to power one up," he recalls. He got his own desktop computer only in 2001 - a then state-of-the-art Pentium III 733 Mhz. (It sounds so basic now, though).
Before that, he used to visit a few cyber-cafés (which have now virtually disappeared because almost everyone has an Internet-enabled smartphone) to browse the Net and learn more about computing itself. He pursued a career in that filed later on and became a Microsoft certified engineer having successfully completed a Master of Science in Information Technology degree at Sikkim Manipal University.
Madura hit upon the idea of developing an online English-Sinhala dictionary while reading English books on computer science that he purchased from time to time to enhance his knowledge. He experienced difficulty in understanding many words and had to refer to the Malalasekara printed dictionary to look up words. At the turn of the millennium, when dial-up Internet was big here in Sri Lanka, Madura realised that the Internet would be everywhere on every device before long. He wanted to create an online language resource for people who would be learning new things using the Internet.
After teaching himself the finer points of programmes such as Visual Basic, Madura decided to apply what he had learnt. He made a program which turned out to be an English-Sinhala dictionary. He used exist-ing dictionaries o transcribe many words, but the idea of an online dictionary was exclusively his. The other point in his favour was the fact that not many Sri Lankans were designing such applications back then.
Madura then fine tuned the Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary and it was tested on his friends' computers prior to general release. In fact, the first user of the dictionary was his best friend from Royal College, who Madura describes as an inspiration for his life. "He and other friends encouraged me a lot and I was determined to go ahead."
"I GET A LOT OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM USERS AND IF THERE ARE COMPLAINTS, I TAKE THEM VERY SERIOUSLY AND TRY TO CORRECT ANY FLAWS OR MISTAKES. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE PERFECTION. MY USER BASE IS A GREAT ASSET. I GET A LOT OF SATISFACTION OUT OF MAKING THEIR LIVES AND WORK EASIER. THIS IS A GREAT FIELD TO WORK IN"
After testing and gaining positive reviews from all those who used it, it became freely available to all Internet users from November 23, 2002. Thus Madura became the developer of the first online English-Sinhala dictionary in the world. The Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary has gained popularity as an indispensable tool for students and professionals in their academic and day to day work. The solution which Madura sought for his difficulties with the English language has now become a useful solution for millions of Sri Lankan people who have the same difficulty. The Madura dictionary software version was completely updated in 2004 and 2006 with new words, new definitions and new con-textual uses. Search and match speeds have also increased over the years. The online version is continuously updated.
Many companies aware of the marketing value of the Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary offered high prices to buy the ownership of the entire product. Madura rejected those offers while retaining the ownership with him and providing the services free of charge continuously. Many have admired Madura's generosity at a time when money comes before everything else. He launched his product on the web in 2008 and he was recognised by the University of Moratuwa when he was invited to address a symposium on Localised Systems and Applications. Due to the lack of internet usage in Sri Lanka the Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary was distributed in CD form initially. (This can still be done if you are old-fashioned!). As soon as Sri Lanka was equipped with broadband internet facilities millions of people downloaded the dictionary. The software can be downloaded from suduputha.com and download.com, now part of CNET. The software was so popular initially that the Suduputha website almost crashed. Even without downloading, over 50,000 users access "Madura Online" dictionary via the internet daily. The "Madura Online" android application developed for mobile phones is also very popular by now, with nearly 100,000 downloads. It was released last year (no bugs have been reported yet) and Madura is contemplating releasing iOS and Windows versions as well. The ultimate goal is to make Madura accessible to all, regardless of platform.
The Madura English-Sinhala Dictionary contains over 230,000 definitions and glossaries of technical terms covering various disciplines including medicine, science, law, engineering, accounts, arts etc. This can also be used as a thesaurus. One can translate from English to Sinhala and vice versa and also use wildcards to increase the flexibility of search. These services are available free of charge on www.maduraonline.com, which is now among the 50,000 most popular websites in the world according to Alexa rankings.
Locally, it is among the 50 most visited websites. The downloadable version has been downloaded to more than 900,000 PCs and Macs around the world. Following his lead, even the Internet search giants have enabled English to Sinhala real time translations as Sinhala is now recognized as a major world language with nearly 20 million active speakers.
Madura is open to new ideas and gets regular feedback from his users. He incorporates new words as and when they enter general usage. He is always up to date on the latest trends in computing as well. Many professional and business users benefit from his dictionary service, but Madura has not yet given a thought to levying a user fee. "I want people to learn by using this, to enhance their knowledge about the world. That is my only satisfaction."
Madura is proud of his creation and does not intend to part with it, no matter how much he is offered. And despite receiving many lucrative job and migration offers in Western countries, Madura says he will always serve his Motherland doing useful projects that benefit all Sri Lankans. "I am thankful to all those who helped me in creating it and I am justifiably proud of my achievement as a young software developer. It has been a great journey so far and I will continue to improve it."
IF YOU WANT TO FIND THE MATCHING SINHALA WORD, JUST CLICK YOUR MOUSE.
Madura did not find success overnight. There were many frustrating moments when he almost gave up, but he persisted in going ahead with it. He faced many techni-cal barriers, but he successfully overcame all those to deliver on his promise to create an English-Sinhala online translation tool.
One newspaper feature on Madura even referred to him as Sri Lanka's own Mark Zuckerberg. Even though Madura is no billionaire like Zuckerberg, Madura's entrepreneurial spirit and innovative streak are more or less the same. It is a rare combination. What would Madura have done if he did not become a well-known software engineer and developer ? "My childhood dream was to become a pilot. It is a dream I still have - to fly a passenger airliner and make a perfect landing". For now, he has made a perfect landing with the Madura online dictionary and is poised to fly even higher in the software world.
