A. Do not get too bogged down by grammar and usage while you learn Sanskrit. Often Sanskrit is considered to be all about mugging up lots of declensions and conjugations and this fears off most students. Instead take is as a natural language. Feel free to make the most blatant grammatical errors so far you are able to convey your message. Develop a feel for the language instead of thinking about grammar.
How did we learn Hindi or English or our mother tongue? Did we learn grammar first or language first? And do we speak these languages in a grammatically correct fashion even today? Why burden Sanskrit with overdose of grammar in very beginning then?
Simply start talking on every other thing in Sanskrit and enjoy the funny pronunciations you make or blatant errors you make in grammar. Have a laugh on that and simply continue. Soon you will develop a natural grip over the language and grammar will be automatically taken care of.
B. Try using Sanskrit words even in your mother language. After all Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. Let the children associate with their Mom and have their foundations strengthened! And in process, your road to mastery of Sanskrit will also be traversed faster.
C. Download a copy of Introduction to Vedas (Hindi) from http://agniveer.com/2045/introduction-to-vedas/ if you know Hindi. This is an amazing text not only to understand Vedic concepts but learn Sanskrit naturally. Because most sections of the book are presented in very simple Sanskrit as well as Hindi. In some sections there are deviations in Sanskrit and Hindi message and it would be a good idea to explore those areas and form the right opinion!
If we find interest in this pilot, we would also work towards web-based live classroom teaching on Sanskrit, a Sanskrit course for Hindi students as well as an expert course on Vedic Grammar. May Ishwar provide us strength for all this.
Agniveer is pleased to introduce lessons in Sanskrit for general consumption. This is a course for 20 months and we shall keep adding lessons in beginning of each month.
The course is intended towards those who understand Devanagari script and know simple English. No familiarity in Sanskrit is assumed. However those who have faint memories of Sanskrit in their school days would be able to grasp the initial lessons faster.
Sanskrit forms the foundation of our culture (not only for India but for entire humanity), it being the language of the oldest literature known to humanity. We hope these lessons would help most of us come closer to our roots.
Just few tips on speedy learning:
a. Do not get too bogged down by grammar and usage while you learn Sanskrit. Often Sanskrit is considered to be all about mugging up lots of declensions and conjugations and this fears off most students. Instead take is as a natural language. Feel free to make the most blatant grammatical errors so far you are able to convey your message. Develop a feel for the language instead of thinking about grammar.
How did we learn Hindi or English or our mother tongue? Did we learn grammar first or language first? And do we speak these languages in a grammatically correct fashion even today? Why burden Sanskrit with overdose of grammar in very beginning then?
Simply start talking on every other thing in Sanskrit and enjoy the funny pronunciations you make or blatant errors you make in grammar. Have a laugh on that and simply continue. Soon you will develop a natural grip over the language and grammar will be automatically taken care of.
b. Try using Sanskrit words even in your mother language. After all Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. Let the children associate with their Mom and have their foundations strengthened! And in process, your road to mastery of Sanskrit will also be traversed faster.
c. Download a copy of Introduction to Vedas (Hindi) from http://agniveer.com/2045/introduction-to-vedas/ if you know Hindi. This is an amazing text not only to understand Vedic concepts but learn Sanskrit naturally. Because most sections of the book are presented in very simple Sanskrit as well as Hindi. In some sections there are deviations in Sanskrit and Hindi message and it would be a good idea to explore those areas and form the right opinion!
If we find interest in this pilot, we would also work towards web-based live classroom teaching on Sanskrit, a Sanskrit course for Hindi students as well as an expert course on Vedic Grammar. May Ishwar provide us strength for all this.
Sanskrit Swyam Shikshak (self-tutor) is one of the best books for getting the working knowledge about the language. If you know Hindi then you can easily learn Sanskrit. This book can be obtained from the websites http://rajpalpublishing.com or http://www.vedicbooks.com . Watch the video below:
