Namaste All,
One of my goals this year has been to start learning Hindi. I started back in January and despite the slow going I really enjoy it. I have a few people I know well enough at Temple who help me practice speaking when I visit on the weekends. A Sanskrit group started up at the Temple and even though I didn't have much interest in learning it, the director encouraged me to come to one of the meetings.
I went to the first meeting today and I also really enjoyed the class. While many of the native Indians had some advantage in that they were more familiar with the script and pronunciation already, we were all basically equally new and mystified by it.
I can't imagine it's wise to learn both at the same time. Perhaps if you grow up surrounded by both, its not so bad as someone who is new to both languages. I have to believe it could confuse me to try and learn both at once. And yet, one of the women tried to convince me that Sanskrit would help me with Hindi.
Now, it is said that if one knows Latin, the romantic languages are easier to understand.
Understand. Not speak. I've never heard of someone learning Latin also being able to speak easily with a Spaniard of a Frenchman. I'm not sure that's how languages work. One might be able to grasp meaning from someone as they talk, but communicate back?
Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience and see if anyone else was currently learning. Or, if anyone had any insight into whether learning Hindi and Sanskrit at the same time is a bad idea
I may attend a few more Sanskrit classes to see if the answer comes to me that way. If I start mixing up the two that will tell me.
Shanti.
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