Request for recommendations

[Ben]

Hi all

For those of you who are familiar with pali and teaching pali, I would appreciate it if you could list some resources appropriate for a raw beginner. While I am aware of a number of pali language resources, I don't feel qualified to be able to assess them. Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards

Ben

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Ben,

I thought about this at one time. It became evident to me that if I was going to do it properly I was going to have to learn Pali grammar. Other than some real basics, it was looking as it is was going to be a lot of work, for (comparatively) little reward. Someone somewhere mentioned an approach, which is now my own, and that is to simply learn as many Pali technical terms as possible. The example they used is that of a scientist. Someone who still uses the English language as their mode of communication but has a library of a full range of technical terms that are relevant to their area of expertise. Anyhow, that's the approach I've adopted, in the interests of 'return for investment'.

Metta,
Retro.

[David N. Snyder]

Here is a link to a list of Pali instruction resources I made. I'm no expert yet, but I have started to learn some!

http://dhammawiki.com/index.php?title=Learn_Pali

[Ben]

Thank you Retro and TheDhamma!
Many thanks for your recommendations
Metta

Ben

[pererin]

Many thanks indeed for these excellent resources.

I was unable to download the lessons in http://www.bodhimonastery.net/courses/P ... _Pali.html - do I need to get a special font in order to do so?

Metta

[Dhammanando]

Hi Pererin,

I was unable to download the lessons in http://www.bodhimonastery.net/courses/P ... _Pali.html - do I need to get a special font in order to do so?

The contents are all mpeg audio files and pdf's, so you shouldn't need any special font. The problem is that the links simply don't lead to the specified items but to a 404 ("Not Found") error message. This indicates that the client was able to communicate with the server but either the server couldn't find what was requested, or it was configured not to fulfill the request and didn't reveal the reason why.

It may be just a temporary problem, so try again later. If it still doesn't work then you might perhaps e-mail them: contactus@bodhimonastery.net

Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu

[Peter]

Bodhi Monastery recently revamped their website. Maybe they have started phasing out the old site and that's why the link didn't work. Is this what you're looking for?

http://www.bodhimonastery.net/bm/about-buddhism/audio/55-a-course-in-the-pali-language.html

[David N. Snyder]

Any Pali experts out there want to make some money? What if Rosetta Stone had Pali? I sure would advance-reserve a copy of that.

Rosetta Stone practically has every language . . . except Pali.

[cooran]

Hello TheDhamma,

I'd be interested to hear more (in another thread if you wouldn't mind) of all the languages you mention. The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact which was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of hieroglyphic writing. The stone is a Ptolemaic era stele with carved text made up of three translations of a single passage: two in Egyptian language scripts (hieroglyphic and Demotic) and one in classical Greek. It was created in 196 BC.

metta
Chris

[pink_trike]

Hello TheDhamma,
The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact which was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of hieroglyphic writing. The stone is a Ptolemaic era stele with carved text made up of three translations of a single passage: two in Egyptian language scripts (hieroglyphic and Demotic) and one in classical Greek. It was created in 196 BC.

Hi Chris, I think TheDhamma is referring to is http://www.rosettastone.com/

[David N. Snyder]

Hi Chris, I think TheDhamma is referring to is http://www.rosettastone.com/

Hi Chris, pink,

Yes, that is what I was talking about . . . a popular item for learning languages here in the U.S.; perhaps not worldwide yet.

[David N. Snyder]

The Rosetta Stone software includes headphones and a microphone. My kids are using it to learn Spanish (second most popular language in the U.S.) and it is very good; interactive and all with tests of your pronunciation, etc.

That would be so great if a Pali version becomes available.