Beginning to Learn Sanskrit

[fem_phoenix1109]

Namaste,

I am on a mission to teach myself Sanskrit. I am so intrigued by the language, and ultimately my goal is to read and understand some spiritual texts without relying on someone else's interpretation, as well as to be able to follow along during puja.

Currently I am working through a book by Thomas Egenes, Introduction to Sanskrit part I. I really like the way it is laid out, into simple lessons that build upon each other.

So far I am only four lessons in, but am starting to know a few words, and recognize the letters in devanagari. I really love it, and it is very exciting and rewarding when little pieces start to fall into place, and I start recognizing bits and pieces when looking at sanskrit writing.

I just wanted to start this thread to share my progress, as well as to get feedback from any others who have been on this journey. How did you go about learning Sanskrit? Are there any tips or resources that you would like to share that you have found useful?

One thing that I am struggling with is pronunciations. There are several letters that sound identical to me, but they are different based on the position of the tongue. I can't distinguish them just by hearing them, but I suppose that comes from practice.

I have found a couple of beginner's videos on pronunciation which have been very helpful:

Tips for Proper Sanskrit Pronunciation for English Speakers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkwyNqsm8CQ

Devanagari (Sanskrit) Pronunciation and Transliteration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UfCGrvfmOY

Thank you

[Believer]

Namaste,

It is indeed commendable to set yourself to learning a totally different language to the extent of being able to read and understand the spiritual texts. I am sure some of the other members would share their experiences and help out with this project.

..........ultimately my goal is to read and understand some spiritual texts without relying on someone else's interpretation.....

In the ancient times there was the tradition of oral transmission of texts from generation to generation of the holy men. Brevity was used to the fullest extent to reduce the material required for memorization. So, in many instances the spiritual meaning is hidden in the text and hard to decode. That is where spiritually evolved souls are needed to understand the message contained in them. It is the personal realizations of the Gurus that give different slants to the same text and get written down in simpler language for the masses. So, if I were to learn Sanskrit and translate it, it would have a slant based on my experiences and acceptability. I, being a common person would not be able to see everything being offered and may miss out on much of the spiritual message; or may even misinterpret the text based on my experiences and beliefs thus far. That provides a challenge in interpreting 'higher level' spiritual texts and a beginner has to be careful about not ending up writing one's 'own book' per his/her limited understanding/beliefs. Just a thought about the pitfalls of trying to see farther than one's spiritual eye can.

Pranam.

[saidevo]

namaste.

A good way to learn proper pronunciation in Sanskrit is to listen to the chanting of simple Sanskrit shlokas and learn to recite them and understand their meaning. Here is a link I came across today:
http://gaana.com/album/s-rajeswari-g...d-other-slokas

The meaning of simple shlokas might probably be found here:
http://www.greenmesg.org/mantras_slo...di_sevitam.php

Namaste,
I am on a mission to teach myself Sanskrit. I am so intrigued by the language, and ultimately my goal is to read and understand some spiritual texts without relying on someone else's interpretation, as well as to be able to follow along during puja.

[Aanandinii]

Namaskar Fem_Phoenix-ji,

I am doing the same! =D Largely for the same reasons too.

I found a couple of android apps I use on my commutes to learn the alphabet and grammar concepts. I posted them in This Thread. Perhaps they could be of help to you as well.

I like the strategy for learning the alphabet that WAGmob uses, giving a word for each letter, similar to our "'A' is for 'Apple', 'B' is for 'Boy'" method in English, and you can start getting a sense of spelling because they spell out each word as well.

The other App I gave in that thread is a Primer that does a really good job of helping the beginner and storing useful information and tables for more advanced speakers. It has helped me a lot with the pronunciation issue you mention. I worked for a Language Teaching institution once, a long time ago. As you say, in English we don't have some of these sounds as English is not so inflected, so we just never learned how to hear and make certain sounds, and the older you get the harder it is to learn to hear and make sounds we don't have in our native language. But, learning also helps keep the brain young and plastic.

The Primer app has tables that break down and explain the classifications of sounds, (including the vowels, semivowels, and sibilants in those classes), I have used it for a daily drill in making and recognizing sounds - and it has also helped me to recognize letters by their classification and pronounce them correctly when reading too. It's a large app because it also contains a lot of sound files so you can hear things spoken as well - and often can try to read then hear if you read it correctly after. Also, it gives the grammatical names for concepts and terms, so you can learn those as part of your vocabulary too.

Flash Cards. I have about 200 of them at the moment. Letters, and words in Sanskrit to start recognizing them when spoken, with answers and factoids as well on the reverse. Like the card for: च. On the other side of the card might say things like:
चटकः (<- the word I learned for च, Chatakah or Sparrow - not going to spell the rest in Nagari because I can't yet, LOL)
Vyanjanani (consonant)
Sparsa (Stop)
alpa-prana (unaspirated)
Chavarga (Palatal class)
Talu (Palate)

Any of these words I just gave would also have their own flash cards with the word in Devnagari on one side and the word in English on the other, and you could choose either side for reading or vocab drills.

The WAGMob app also has a vocab and common phrases section, and basic numbers, but I haven't started those yet, I'm still finishing learning the alphabet. And as other say, listen to the language as much as possible. Even listening to Hindi can help a little because Hindi's root language is Sanskrit. My spouse is learning that and we often compare vocabulary words. I wouldn't start trying to learn Hindi though, you could end up confusing the two. The sounds are mostly the same, that's how it can help you.

I've recently started trying to learn the slokas and bhajans I'm learning by reading them in Sanskrit where possible as well as in transliterated English, to get a better sense of spelling, structure and pronunciation. It has helped a bit, and I think it will get better with practice. Only thing missing is when I start to learn phrases I will need someone to try and hold conversations with, or much of the spoken language won't stick. Fun bit of useless info - speaking a language, hearing/understanding a language and reading/writing a language, each are controlled by a different part of the brain, and the sections someone is able to use are also tightly interconnected when someone can do any combination. That's why some people are able to read and write, and hear/understand but can't speak well, or any other combination.

Best of luck to you in your learning! I hope you continue and do well! =)

~Pranams

[fem_phoenix1109]

Namaste,

That is where spiritually evolved souls are needed to understand the message contained in them. It is the personal realizations of the Gurus that give different slants to the same text and get written down in simpler language for the masses. So, if I were to learn Sanskrit and translate it, it would have a slant based on my experiences and acceptability. I, being a common person would not be able to see everything being offered and may miss out on much of the spiritual message; or may even misinterpret the text based on my experiences and beliefs thus far. That provides a challenge in interpreting 'higher level' spiritual texts and a beginner has to be careful about not ending up writing one's 'own book' per his/her limited understanding/beliefs. Just a thought about the pitfalls of trying to see farther than one's spiritual eye can.

Pranam.

Namaste Believerji!

You definitely make a good point there. I do have a tendency to want to learn and figure things out on my own, and that is something that could get in the way of my spiritual development I'm sure, if I were to try to read and interpret everything on my own without the guidance of those further along on the path than I am. I still want to be able to read these texts in their original form, but I couldn't imagine ever even getting to that point without the help of a vast set of resources that would include the interpretation of other, more developed souls.

Mostly I just want to know and experience it in its original form. Also, I really want to be able to follow along during puja as well!


Namaste saidevo! Thank you so much for sharing the resources. I will definitely explore those.


And namaste to you as well Aanandinii! It seems as though we are on a similar path, does it not? Thank you so much for the apps & resources, I am going to get a few of those on my phone, as I have an android as well. Currently I am mainly working from the book, Intro to Sanskrit pt. 1 by Thomas Egenes, and even though it takes quite a bit of time to get through each lesson I feel like I am learning a lot. Every lesson so far teaches a few devanagari letters, some vocabulary and conjugation and exercises. Every lesson I add the new letters and vocabulary to my flash cards and don't start with the lessons until I've got them down. I actually enjoy doing it very much! Some days I don't get much time to sit down and do a lot from the book, but I can at least pick up my flash cards and flip through them.