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Learn Sanskrit Online

learnsanskrit.org

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Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#11

Post by s-topper »

r0h1n wrote: post #8
s-topper wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not?

There's nearly an infinite amount of knowledge in the world. And each of us has a finite amount of time. Why not is not an answer. Of what use is Sanskrit to anyone who learns it? P.S. I say this as a person who was forced to study Sanskrit in school for three years.

>>>>>>>Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?

>>>>>>>>There's nearly an infinite amount of knowledge in the world. And each of us has a finite amount of time. Why not is not an answer.

You can apply that flawed reasoning to pretty much everything. It would've been a perfectly valid question if you had said "Why would I want to learn Sanskrit?". Please don't universalize your opinion by saying things like why would anyone want to learn Sanskrit online or offline.

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#12

Post by slaxman »

r0h1n wrote: post #3

Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?

I am a ployglot and know several indian and foreign languages. My favourite is Sanskrit. Why? Once I learnt Sanskrit, esp. the grammar, learning other languages was really easy. You easy almost all languages have their roots from Sanskrit. The grammar rules for German and Finnish, for example, are a subset of Sanskrit.

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#13

Post by chattoraj »

r0h1n wrote: post #9
ximeng wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They try to answer that question here: http://www.learnsanskrit.org/introduction "Its importance is plain: Sanskrit was once the most influential literary language in India, and texts written in the language could be understood by millions of people throughout the South Asian world. These texts contain profound meditations on every point on the spectrum of human concern: existence, reality, God, love, duty, marriage,…

> "By learning this language, you open the door to more than three thousand years of intellectual history, both in India and beyond." What does that even mean? Indian history, intellectual or not, isn't being held captive behind closed doors waiting for Sanskrit-speaking liberators. As someone who was forced to learn Sanskrit in school for 3 years, I'll repeat: it has zero value unless you happen to be a researcher o…

>isn't being held captive behind closed doors waiting for Sanskrit-speaking liberators

Over-dramatizing the other guy's statement does not constitute a response.

Even ignoring the religious angle, Sanskrit was the primary language of literature, science and philosophy in India for over a millennium. Surely a person might want to read some of that without being employed as a researcher.

(And before you ask, most of it hasn't been translated and will probably never be translated. See http://www.columbia.edu/cu/mesaas/faculty/directory/pollock_... )

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#14

Post by chattoraj »

slaxman wrote: post #12
r0h1n wrote: post #3

Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?

I am a ployglot and know several indian and foreign languages. My favourite is Sanskrit. Why? Once I learnt Sanskrit, esp. the grammar, learning other languages was really easy. You easy almost all languages have their roots from Sanskrit. The grammar rules for German and Finnish, for example, are a subset of Sanskrit.

> You easy almost all languages have their roots from Sanskrit. The grammar rules for German and Finnish, for example, are a subset of Sanskrit.

Your claims are a subset of the “everything comes from India” school of BSology.[1]

German is related to Sanskrit but does not descend from it.[2] Finnish belongs to a different language family entirely.[3]

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln5QgeCL1fs

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IndoEuropeanTree.svg

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralic_languages

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#15

Post by donniezazen »

slaxman wrote: post #12
r0h1n wrote: post #3

Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?

I am a ployglot and know several indian and foreign languages. My favourite is Sanskrit. Why? Once I learnt Sanskrit, esp. the grammar, learning other languages was really easy. You easy almost all languages have their roots from Sanskrit. The grammar rules for German and Finnish, for example, are a subset of Sanskrit.

How do you practice or make yourself not forget the several languages you know? I find it really hard to be proficient in a language unless you live among native speakers?

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#16

Post by angerman »

slaxman wrote: post #12
r0h1n wrote: post #3

Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?

I am a ployglot and know several indian and foreign languages. My favourite is Sanskrit. Why? Once I learnt Sanskrit, esp. the grammar, learning other languages was really easy. You easy almost all languages have their roots from Sanskrit. The grammar rules for German and Finnish, for example, are a subset of Sanskrit.

Could you please elaborate on this a little more? How did German and Finnish derive from Sanskrit? Could you give examples?

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#17

Post by madhuprasanna »

chattoraj wrote: post #13
r0h1n wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "By learning this language, you open the door to more than three thousand years of intellectual history, both in India and beyond." What does that even mean? Indian history, intellectual or not, isn't being held captive behind closed doors waiting for Sanskrit-speaking liberators. As someone who was forced to learn Sanskrit in school for 3 years, I'll repeat: it has zero value unless you happen to be a researcher o…

>isn't being held captive behind closed doors waiting for Sanskrit-speaking liberators Over-dramatizing the other guy's statement does not constitute a response. Even ignoring the religious angle, Sanskrit was the primary language of literature, science and philosophy in India for over a millennium. Surely a person might want to read some of that without being employed as a researcher. (And before you ask, most of it…

>Sanskrit was the primary language of literature

was one of the.. FIFY.

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#18

Post by r0h1n »

s-topper wrote: post #11
r0h1n wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nearly an infinite amount of knowledge in the world. And each of us has a finite amount of time. Why not is not an answer. Of what use is Sanskrit to anyone who learns it? P.S. I say this as a person who was forced to study Sanskrit in school for three years.

>>>>>>>Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online? >>>>>>>>There's nearly an infinite amount of knowledge in the world. And each of us has a finite amount of time. Why not is not an answer. You can apply that flawed reasoning to pretty much everything. It would've been a perfectly valid question if you had said "Why would I want to learn Sanskrit?". Please don't universalize your opinion by sayin…

I maintain that very few people have a reason to learn Sanskrit. It is a dead/dying language that will add zero value besides the esoteric joy of knowing a language for the sake of knowing it.

If you feel that is not the case, please elucidate your reasons. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#19

Post by r0h1n »

chattoraj wrote: post #13
r0h1n wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "By learning this language, you open the door to more than three thousand years of intellectual history, both in India and beyond." What does that even mean? Indian history, intellectual or not, isn't being held captive behind closed doors waiting for Sanskrit-speaking liberators. As someone who was forced to learn Sanskrit in school for 3 years, I'll repeat: it has zero value unless you happen to be a researcher o…

>isn't being held captive behind closed doors waiting for Sanskrit-speaking liberators Over-dramatizing the other guy's statement does not constitute a response. Even ignoring the religious angle, Sanskrit was the primary language of literature, science and philosophy in India for over a millennium. Surely a person might want to read some of that without being employed as a researcher. (And before you ask, most of it…

Again, what HN reader (or otherwise), do you think is interested in reading ancient literature written in Sanskrit? A researcher or linguist I'm guessing. And maybe 3 other people.

I'm afraid your arguments in favour of learning Sanskrit are as generic and theoretical as most other comments.

Re: Learn Sanskrit Online

#20

Post by yati »

r0h1n wrote: post #3

Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?

From your comments, this is like asking "Why would someone, programmer or not, want to learn Lisp online?". The answer: because they want to, because they might find it interesting. They don't have to ask you. You may not like something, but that is your preference. Don't impose it on us.
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