At 12:42 24.03.2005 +0700, Bhante Yuttadhammo wrote:

>IMHO, find a teacher and take a structured course. You can learn Thai
>by yourself easily, because you're in Thailand. But, apart from going
>to Paliland, I can't imagine anyone getting far by themselves in the
>Pali language.

To find a teacher and take a structured course is an excellent advice. But
you can also learn Pali on your own. In order to do that, you need a good
book - I recommend Warder - and you need to structure your way of using it.
Have a note book at your side, and a pencil in your hand while reading.
Underline important points in the tutor. Write every exercise, write every
example in your note book. Write word lists and learn them. Device tests
for yourself. A good method for learning vocabulary is to write a list of
pali words on the left hand side of the note book. Then see if you can
translate them into your own language down the center of the page. If you
have space left at the right margin, cover the pali words with a sheet of
paper, and see if you can translate every word back into pali again. Make a
list of your errors, and make a new test out of them. Do the same with the
grammar, declensions and conjugatios. Write them, and see if you can write
them from memory the next day. If not, try again. Write tests, leave them
till the next day, and see how much you can remember then.

When you have worked your way systematically through say five lessons, go
back and do lesson one again as if it were for the first time. That should
be fairly easy, but it will help you fix it in your memory, and you can
tidy up minor mistakes and lapses. Then do lesson six. Go back and repeat
lesson two. Continue that way, slowly, painstakingly and methodically, and
you will find that Paliland gets more and more familiar to you.

I learnt Pali on my own using this method. As the study progressed, I also
found it useful to look into other tutors and grammars in order to compare
and have a different angle at some problems. But the main thing is to
device a structured method and stick to it.

Later I studied Pali and Sanskrit at the university, but by then I found
that I already knew more Pali than what the university demanded for graduation.

Best regards,

Kåre A. Lie
http://www.lienet.no/