Anyone to teach me Sanskrit? Netherlands

[Darji]

Any one of our fellow fosters here in the Netherlands to help me learn Sanskrit.

Alternatively, any good sources out there period?

[Sherab]

Simplest and easiest: Learn the Devanagari alphabet

[Sahasranama]

There are some courses in Amsterdam. The university in Leiden has classes too.

[Ekanta]

Simplest and easiest: Learn the Devanagari alphabet

I found a way around this for those interested. Devanagari is as far as I know a script to write sanskrit, not sanskrit itself. So if the sound is preserved its basically the same. Now all those texts written in devanagari can be accessible... one just have to learn to understand the words.

http://www.sanskrit-sanscrito.com.ar/en/essentials_software/index2_software.shtml

Here you can find that nice editor, see pics below. There are some other software too.

[amra]

Maurer, Walter Harding (2000). The Sanskrit Language: An Introductory Grammar and Reader

M Kale - A sanskrit grammar

Mudgala Khosha is an excellent resource it contains 2 or 3 sanskrit dictionaries that can be searched electronically saves much time in searching through massive dictionaries.

http://mudgala.com/kosha/

You cannot learn much on your own it is best to have a teacher

[Ekanta]

While on in, does anyone know if there is a software (understandable) to convert the fonts "Xdvng" and "DV-TTYogesh" to unicode? Some sites use these fonts.

[sambya]

sanskrit can be written in vernacular and other languages also . like transliterating the original devanagari . when read out from such a text , the pronounciation remains absolutely the same , though the script is not devanagari . many brahmins used to compose in sanskrit in this manner in middle ages throughout india .

where i leave , in bengal , it had been a tradition to teach compulsory sanskrit in schools . consequently my father and grandfather all had elementary knowledge of sanskrit . however this trend is fast dissapearing . luckily i was educated in a school , which had sanskrit in it although it was a typical western school in other respects .

i think sanskrit must be learned from a person directly , coz pronunciation is of utmost important here and often very difficult .

[Sahasranama]

Learning from a live teacher has many benefits. My sanskrit teacher used to chant the declinations of nouns and verbs with the class. I didn't have many classes though, because the other students lost their interest in Sanskrit and wanted to learn Hindi. I had a easier time following the classes, because I had Latin and Greek in school. Pronunciation was a piece of cake, since I had listened so much to bhakti music. If you are motivated you can also learn on your own.

Some links:

http://sanskritdocuments.org/learning_tutorial_wikner/index.html
http://sanskritdocuments.org/atul/
http://www.ukindia.com/zip/zsan01.htm
http://chitrapurmath.net/sanskrit/sanskrit_Iesson.asp
http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/sanskrit/lessons.php
http://www.sanskrit-sanscrito.com.ar/
http://vedamu.org/Sankrit/sankritmain.asp

[ScottMalaysia]

I have a book I got from a Hindu bookstore in Malaysia called "Learn Sanskrit in 30 Days". It's written in the same style as the old Latin textbooks like Kennedy's Latin Primer, presenting noun declension tables, verb conjugation tables and translation exercises.

I have scanned the first part of the book and uploaded it to the following link: http://www.4shared.com/document/BqujAdEY/Learn_Sanskrit_in_30_Days__Inc.html . If you find it to be useful, please let me know and I will scan the rest of the book for you.

[Darji]

Thank you everyone for all the help!

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Darji: So are you in the Netherlands or in US? The profile is US.
If you are in Netherlands, what is the Hindu breakdown of roots there:

Surinam, Trinidad, India, Sri Lankan?

I am curious, as it might go a ways to explaining some things.

Aum namasivaya

[Darji]

Hmm, I fixed it, again. Must have reset.

The People I know here (well acquaintance to as their children go to school with my step-children) are Suriname Hindoe, and the one I talked to the most says his family was from Bihar, but he does not practice.

There are two mandirs here;

Shri Laxmi-Narain (that also does Arja Samaj) http://www.mandiralmere.nl/

and

Shri Krishna Mandir http://www.krishnamandir.nl/

My problem is, I am a Scot raised in the UK and lived many years in America and my Nederlands (Dutch) is only slightly better than my Sanskrit, I work at home and have very little social interaction with Dutch speakers and suriname Dutch I have a really hard time following. So there is the double whammy a non dutch speaking dirty mleccha trying to find my way in the labyrinth of Sanatana Dharma hehehe

I hope this proves my sincerity as I couldn't have picked a more difficult path :)

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam; It has been my experience that the more migrations, the less casted people are. Its still there sometimes but not to the same degree. For starters indentured labour was generally from lower castes, so some caste was eliminated just in that process.

I know no one from Surinam here, Guyanese, and Trinidian, yes. Probably similar other than language.

Aum Namasivaya

[Sahasranama]

Vannakkam; It has been my experience that the more migrations, the less casted people are. Its still there sometimes but not to the same degree. For starters indentured labour was generally from lower castes, so some caste was eliminated just in that process.

I am a surinam Hindu here in the Netherlands.

People still brought caste system with them. A lot of people from lower castes converted to the Arya Samaj, most brahmins in Surinam were very arrogant. If you look at the brahmins from Surinam living in the Netherlands, they are still very arrogant about their birth, even though some of them are not practicing Hindus anymore.

Not everyone came as labourers though, my great grandparents from my father's side all functioned as priests, later my grandfather opened his own business. My mother's grandparents were not allowed to come to surinam, because they didn't want any more brahmins in the country, so they had to change their names to kshatriya names, they functioned as superintendants.

[Darji]

Sahasranama,

You know anyone around Almere that speaks good English willing to help would you?

[Eastern Mind]

I am a surinam Hindu here in the Netherlands.

People still brought caste system with them. A lot of people from lower castes converted to the Arya Samaj, most brahmins in Surinam were very arrogant. If you look at the brahmins from Surinam living in the Netherlands, they are still very arrogant about their birth, even though some of them are not practicing Hindus anymore.

Not everyone came as labourers though, my great grandparents from my father's side all functioned as priests, later my grandfather opened his own business. My mother's grandparents were not allowed to come to surinam, because they didn't want any more brahmins in the country, so they had to change their names to kshatriya names, they functioned as superintendants.

Namaste: Thank you for this. I stand corrected. The various places (Fiji, South Africa, Caribbean, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles) all have their various tales I'm sure.

Aum Namasivaya

[Sahasranama]

Not really, but there is an Indian Arts school in Amsterdam. They do teach Sanskrit: http://members.multimania.nl/ripa/sanskriet.htm

[Darji]

I haven't a car nor the money to pop back and forth between Hampsterdam and here. I might Ask my friend, I know he doesn't practice but I am sure he might know someone.

Thanks for the link though... it does amaze me how Almere is smack in the middle of the country, but nothing is close :( Everything is in Hampterdam or Zuid-Holland

[Sahasranama]

Namaste: Thank you for this. I stand corrected. The various places (Fiji, South Africa, Caribbean, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles) all have their various tales I'm sure.

Aum Namasivaya

I just asked my father why their grandparents moved. They were a rich family of Ojha brahmins, but 19 of my father's nana's brothers had died of an infectious disease. They were involved in exorcism and that kind of stuff, they believe the deaths were a curse from bhavani. An astrologer told him to leave the country.

Most Hindus here in the Netherlands are from Surinam. They have their own language Sarnami which is derived from Bhojpuri. There is a small community of srilankan hindus and punjabis in the Netherlands too.


I haven't a car nor the money to pop back and forth between Hampsterdam and here. I might Ask my friend, I know he doesn't practice but I am sure he might know someone.

Thanks for the link though... it does amaze me how Almere is smack in the middle of the country, but nothing is close :( Everything is in Hampterdam or Zuid-Holland

I understand.

I asked my father, he knows someone in Almere. If I get permission to give his phone number, I will send you PM.

[Eastern Mind]

Sahasaranama: Well then, its a good thing he left the country. 19 brothers, not cousins or family members just? That is a whopping lot of brothers.

See how birth control has changed society?

Aum Namasivaya

[Sahasranama]

Yes, it's hard to believe. My mother has 9 sisters and 2 brothers. I haven't seen half of them in my life. ;)

AUM Namo Narayanaya