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Star
16 October 2009, 04:07 PM
Namaste! :D

Last night, I was reading some more of "What is Hinduism"...and a great thought crossed my mind! I figured, I could translate WiH into Portuguese. :)

So today, I sent an email to Himalayan Academy, saying the following:


"Namaste,

It is with great joy I'm nearly finishing reading your book "What is Hinduism".

I was wondering if you'd allow me to begin a translation of "What is Hinduism" into Portuguese. This, of course, would be fully voluntary on my part (no monetary implications whatsoever, etc.). I've recently offered to help a national website translating a few texts from English to Portuguese, and I'd be ever so honoured if you'd allow me to start this translation, too. I feel it could help me in my spiritual path, as well as many others'. I am proficient in both languages, having been born in Portugal, but having lived in England for several years (including most of my pre-university education) and now I'm studying in Portugal again, at university (Medicine).

If such a translation was to be allowed, I'd like to be able to create a Portuguese blog where I could post chapters, or "teasers". The final work would be compiled into a .pdf file for free online reading. I'm also in touch with the local Hindu community, in case they'd be interested in actually getting it printed.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Rita"Of course, I was overjoyed when I heard from them a few minutes ago...and they're reply was quite impressive, I thought:


"Aloha from Kauai, Rita!
You will be amazed to know that just this morning were were working with our Brasilian nerd, Andre, on some tools for distributing Gurudeva's profound teachings, and learned that an international accord has just been signed to unify Portuguese (he said the linguists in Portugal are not delighted with this). Then you write to request putting "What Is Hinduism?" into Portuguese!

We are thrilled to say yes to your offer. You seem uniquely qualified for the task, and your inspiration is important to capture the spirit of the book. By the way, it is being printed in India in a slightly cheaper way for the seekers there, and a Delhi filmmaking family is working for over a year on the first of what we hope will be 47 22-minute films, one each for the chapters and introduction. When that is done (in ten years), we can re-narrate in Portuguese using your work.

I like your plan, to create a blog and post the progress to it, and to later provide PDFs for downloading. By the way, where are you living? Can you send a photo of yourself?

Hoping you could take into account the new language rules as you proceed, as much as is natural and does not make you stumble. Let's begin!

Om shanti,

Palaniswami"Some would call this an amazing "coincidence"...personally, I think Lord Ganesha has been dancing around here again. ;)

So yeah, I'm really, really pleased about this. Some nice karma will derive from this work, I'm sure.

Eastern Mind
16 October 2009, 05:43 PM
Star:

Way too cool.

Aum Namasivaya

yajvan
16 October 2009, 06:49 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté star (et.al)



were were working with our Brasilian nerd, Andre


I know of this Andre and talk to him every so often. He has been kind enough to help me decipher some of the more difficult words I encounter i.e. he is quite proficient in saṃskṛt.
Perhaps with some luck ( & blessings) I will get to be 1/100th as competent in my saṃskṛt grammar and comprehension as he is.

praṇām

satay
16 October 2009, 11:52 PM
Namaskar Star,
That's amazing. Congratulations!
Be sure to put a link to your blog in the dharma related websites section of HDF.

Star
17 October 2009, 04:28 AM
Namaste everyone :)

Thanks for the kind comments. I will make sure to include a link there, satay. Yajvan, that sounds pretty amazing. I'll ask Palaniswami for his email address so hopefully I can get in touch with him too during the translation (being no "professional" translator I might have some difficulty with some words...).

Ooh, this is all so exciting! :D :D *feels like a small happy kid*

eriko
17 October 2009, 07:13 AM
This is just amazing Star. I am so happy for you and for myself. I don't know how the last sentence fits but I just so happy. You have really inspired me. I wish you all the best with it.

sunyata07
17 October 2009, 07:52 AM
Namaste Star,

That's wonderful news! A great way to contribute to spreading lessons from Dharma to more people. Truly Ganesha has been opening doors for you. :D

devotee
17 October 2009, 09:50 PM
Namaste Star,

Hindus will be indebted to you for your valuable services. :)

My best wishes !

OM

Star
18 October 2009, 12:38 PM
Namaste,

Thanks again everyone. :) *blushes*

Today I got round to creating the blog, with my first post (no book translation yet, just an introduction as to what lead me there and email bits). It's now online at http://dharmacaminhoparaaverdadesuperior.blogspot.com/

I'll also post the link in the Dharma-related websites section, as suggested above by satay. :)

dhruva023
18 October 2009, 09:40 PM
English version of it can be read using this link
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=Internal&a=http%3a%2f%2fdharmacaminhoparaaverdadesuperior.blogspot.com%2f (http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=Internal&a=http%3a%2f%2fdharmacaminhoparaaverdadesuperior.blogspot.com%2f)

Star
19 October 2009, 03:58 AM
Wow, online translators are getting scarily good...lol. :D

rkpande
19 October 2009, 04:40 AM
dear star,
may lord Ganesha bless you.

Eastern Mind
22 October 2009, 06:15 PM
Wow, online translators are getting scarily good...lol. :D

But nothing compares to an individual who will have their heart in it. There are subtle nuances which simply can't be done without heart.

Aum Namasivaya

Spiritualseeker
23 October 2009, 08:26 PM
Wow star congradulations. Iam happy if you ask me definately Lord Ganesha is behind this. You are accumulating much merits. :)

Star
24 October 2009, 06:04 PM
Thanks everyone once more... *blushes*

I haven't managed to translate as much thus far as I'd have liked to due to a lot of university things coming up, but with God's grade I'll get there eventually. :) It makes me quite happy every time I finish a new paragraph!