Re: Pali phrase book?

With all due respect to Piya Tan and others of like mind, a 'dead' language is usually
defined as one with no native speakers. These are people who learn it as their first
language and for whom it remains the primary mode of communication. By this definition,
Pali is a dead language in spite of the many Buddhists who read and chant it regularly, and
situations like that described by Piya for the Thai abbot in Sri Lanka. Being dead does not
prevent it from preserving the Buddha's teachings.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Piya Tan" <dharmafarer@...> wrote:
>
> When I was a monk in Thailand some 40 years back, I remember my abbot (the
> current Somdet Phutthacharn of Wat Srakes) saying when he went to Sri Lanka,
> he knew no Sinhala, and the Sinhalese knew no Thai. So they communicated in
> Pali.
>
> Furthermore, Pali is not a "dead" language (like hieroglyphics, which nobody
> uses).
> Pali is commonly use by living cultures. Sometimes it is called a
> Kunstsprache,
> which I think literally translates as "speech for art" a sort of artificial
> language
> specially devised to preserve the Buddha's Teachings.
>
> Metta,
>
> Piya
>
>
>
> On Jan 25, 2008 2:59 PM, Jon Fernquest <bayinnaung@...> wrote:
>
> > In a previous thread (History of the word "Aryan") Piya Tan suggests:
> >
> > "I think we should stop speaking English here, and start using Pali. After
> >
> > all this is a Pali website."
> >
> > I would like to do this, but has a spoken Pali primer ever been written?
> >
> > I once asked a former monk friend of mine how to say some simple
> > phrases and even though he can read Pali very well, he wasn't able to
> > produce spoken Pali. Does anyone speak Pali anymore? When did they in
> > the past?
> >
> > This reminds me of a **Pali phrase book** used to help beginners
> > communicate in Pali, that I found at a bookseller in Yangon, Burma
> > several years ago, that was published in Sri Lanka.
> >
> > Has anyone ever seen such a thing or know where it can be obtained?
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > Jon
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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>