Narayanan S/O Velayutham (MPA 2018) is Assistant Director at Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), where he oversees the government’s Tamil language communications across different channels, from print and broadcast to social media.
Narayanan S/O Velayutham
MPA 2018
Assistant Director
Government Administration
Having come from the social service sector, my intention was to continue on that path after my MPA. I thought that with the added knowledge and skills, I could contribute even more to vulnerable communities.
But reality can turn out differently, and I turned to the gig economy for a year, broadening my experience through research, teaching, journalism, and translation. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time when I joined the MCI’s public communications team in 2019.
At the MCI, my work involves explaining complex policies in simple terms to our Tamil-speaking communities. With Covid-19, my team has been on high alert from Day 1, and we’ve had to translate a high volume of healthcare materials, particularly for migrant workers and senior citizens. Although none of us are medically trained, we need to deliver factual information that is easily understood by our target audiences. We work closely with the information owners to ensure accuracy, while enlisting help from our social circles to read our materials and provide informal feedback.
Translation work can be exciting, because context is crucial. Whether we’re crafting a message from the perspective of a politician, doctor, or police officer, we need to carry out background research and imagine ourselves living through that character, in order to understand how such a person might speak. Moreover, some references can’t be directly translated into another language, so one has to be creative to convey the meaning of the original text in the translated work.
With vernacular proficiency on the decline, we also need to create a resource and talent framework for the industry, so that we can continue to deliver information to our vulnerable audiences. We’re developing our machine translation capabilities, but it takes time to amass good data for machine learning. We’re also working with schools and community partners to run activities such as translation workshops, exhibitions, and competitions. Beyond that, we want to collaborate with universities, so that they can offer courses in translation, and we hope to provide options for mid-careerists, such as study grants for short courses.
Nara with his family
If I had returned to the social service sector as planned, I would have been enabling people to lead better lives. But I could say the same of my current work—for instance, we’ve had grassroots organisations asking us to provide simplified translations for seniors, and they’ve told us that our translations were very helpful. Knowing this gives me the same satisfaction that my work is benefiting others.
If I had returned to the social service sector as planned, I would have been enabling people to lead better lives. But I could say the same of my current work—for instance, we’ve had grassroots organisations asking us to provide simplified translations for seniors, and they’ve told us that our translations were very helpful. Knowing this gives me the same satisfaction that my work is benefiting others.
Keeping an open mind and having a resilient mindset is something that I gained from the LKY School. This wasn’t taught in a class, but it was the experience of being exposed to classmates from 30 countries, where you would hear about what it’s like to struggle with housing and basic sanitation, and frame it against the luxuries and efficiency that we have here in Singapore. When I feel discouraged, I can draw upon my classmates’ stories for strength. It helps me to stay motivated and optimistic, and gives me a broader perspective to appreciate what I have.