If you liked this post you might like this incredible sanskrit web site: http://www.sanskrit-sanscrito.com.ar/en/english-home/
It includes translation of sacred texts.
Learn Sanskrit Online
21–30 of 83 posts
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#22Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?
For the sheer joy of it. I learnt Sanskrit in middle school formally yet superficially. About a year ago I decided I wanted to get rid of the 'superficial' part and devoured several Sanskrit grammar books including this website. It has been a very joyful journey and I feel very happy when I am able to read and understand the only Sanskrit newspaper in the world. I don't know about you but for me that's a good enough reason. Sometimes one makes the journey because the path is so much fun even though the destination may be uninteresting.
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#23Why 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.
You can learn Lisp and do real work with it. It has commercial value. It's not some ancient dead language.
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
You can learn Lisp and do real work with it. It has commercial value. It's not some ancient dead language.
Ah FUD against Sanskrit. Thought I would see those only in Indian politics. Nice to see that on HN too.
Do you, the no-nonsense hyper-practical man, smirk at mathematicians who study pure theory?
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can learn Lisp and do real work with it. It has commercial value. It's not some ancient dead language.
Ah FUD against Sanskrit. Thought I would see those only in Indian politics. Nice to see that on HN too. Do you, the no-nonsense hyper-practical man, smirk at mathematicians who study pure theory?
I was simply pointing out that the analogy is not a good one. I have no problem learning Sanskrit for the pure enjoyment.
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#26Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?
I imagine people like you breezing through life maximizing some objective function, never waiting to admire poetry or relish a moment, only to die at the end. Hyper-practical no-nonsense men questioning the value of everything for everyone. (The funny thing is Sanskrit is incredibly practical for lots of reasons.)
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#27Earlier 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…
I am with you - as someone who was forced to learn Latin in school for four years. The reason given to us was exactly the same, just replace "India and beyond" with "Europe and beyond".
I'll repeat: it has zero value unless you happen to be a researcher or a linguist.
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#28Why would someone, Indian or not, want to learn Sanskrit online?
Serious question, how many languages do you know and actively use?
As someone who grew up bilingual I've found that there is a certain untranslatable element in any language, particular when it comes to poetry and humor.
Why do you learn multiple programming languages? Why are there several types of text-editing systems? Put it to you this way: learning a new language can be as enlightening as learning functional programming for the first time in your life.
Edit: I also want to add that I came across this website in the past http://www.vedicsciences.net/articles/sanskrit-nasa.html where the idea of a highly unambiguous natural language struck me as interesting. Sadly, I've subsequently read a lot of negative comments regarding "vedic" sciences here on HN. Something akin go what the Creationists have tried to do with the bible. But I nevertheless would like to spend a few months looking at Sanskrit grammar and making an opinion about it myself.
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
Russian too.
Re: Learn Sanskrit Online
#30Earlier 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.
As someone whose comparative religion BA was mostly spent comparing flavors of Indian religions, it was very helpful to have a basic understanding of Sanskrit. I don't "use" it now, but knowing it during the research phase of my life sure made the learning process smoother.