>The main thing lacking is an account of the grammatical cases which are
>found in Pali but not in English (e.g. it won't tell you what 'ablative'
>means).

Perhaps we could compile a glossary/dictionary on Pali grammar.

peace

Ven Kumra

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That would be great if it could be of use to both those trying to learn
Pali, and those wishing to get a deeper grasp of the Dhamma. The concept of
words that have no modern and/or cultural equivalents often make the
translated texts a little awkward for the reader. I have a copy of ���The
Seeker���s Glossary of Buddhism��� published by the Corporate Body of the
Buddha Educational Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan. It has been the most useful
book I ever owned. But, without access to a native speaker who is also very
competent in the learner���s language causes the language being learned to
be less lively. Book knowledge can only go so far before a dead language
really is lifeless. Nuances that should convey the total imagery become as
two dimensional as the page they are printed on.

To further my point, I tried for a while to learn Gaelic. One word that
popped up on a few occasions was ���sum���. It was defined in different
dictionaries as a measure of land, as a pasture, and as other vague, similar
definitions. But until it was explained verbally, it had no clear meaning
in my mind. And I doubt anyone really knows what a runrig is. I���m sure
there is a lot in Pali texts that I���m missing or misinterpreting too.




_
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(| -_- |)
O\ = /O
____/`---'\____
.' \\| |// `.
/ \\||| : |||// \
/ _||||| -:- |||||_ \
| | \\\ - /'| | |
| \_| `\`---'// |_/ |
\ .-\__ `-. -'__/-. /
___`. .' /--.--\ `. .'___
."" '< `.___\_<|>_/___.' _> \"".
| | : `- \`. ;`. _/; .'/ / .' ; |
\ \ `-. \_\_`. _.'_/_/ -' _.' /
===========`-.`___`-.__\ \___ /__.-'_.'_.-'================
Yours in the Dhamma `=--=-'
Kevin

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