Learn Samskritam

2009-01-03T16:30:00.002+05:30

There is lot of stuff available online for learning Samskritam and it is easy to get carried away by the overwhelming information. I feel that it is important to stick to one source and practice that one from beginning to end. So here is my learning plan.

Acharya of IIT Madras has prepared 12 lessons for learning Sanskrit through self-study. Though not comprehensive, the lessons will quickly ramp us up and make ourselves comfortable with Sanskrit. But don't expect that after completing these lessons, you can start interpreting Sanskrit texts on your own.

For a full fledged course, I am using Samskrita Bharati's Distance Learning program. They offer 4 levels and each level has 12 booklets (each booklet consists of 20-25 pages). I just completed Level-1 and I have to admit that it is simply superb. The teaching style is very simple and the excercises are very helpful. The cost of books for each level is Rs 200, so for the entire course it comes to Rs 800. Use this application form to order the material.

While going through the lessons, I make notes of tough concepts so that I can go through them again (The technique that I used since my school days and it always worked for me).

To keep myself motivated, I paired up with a learning buddy and we ensure that we converse in Sanskrit for atleast 10 minutes daily. I know that we are making mistakes, but that's ok. As we progress through the lessons, we realize our mistakes and correct them. When we don't know the Sanskrit word for something, we quickly search in this dictionary. This tool is amazing.

I also subscribed to Sanskrit Chandamama and Sambhashana Sandeshah. Both magazines use simple Sanskrit and I enoy reading them.

Well, that's it. Let me see how it goes.

अथातो संस्कृत जिज्ञासा

2008-05-26T18:44:00.002+05:30

केयूरा न विभूषयन्ति पुरुषं हारा न चन्द्रोज्ज्वलाः ।
न स्नानं न विलेपनं न कुसुमं नालङ्कृता मूर्धजाः ॥
वाण्येका समलङ्करोति पुरुषं या संस्कृता धार्यते ।
क्षीयन्ते खलु भूषणानि सततं वाग्भूषणं भूषणम् ॥

संस्कृत रमणीयम्‌

Learn Samskritam

अथातो संस्कृत जिज्ञासा