Dear Da.ve,

Most interesting! So your name is pronounced as da.way.

Metta,

Piya

On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 2:33 PM, P G Dave <pgd2507@...> wrote:

> Dear Yong Peng,
>
> P G Dave here. I'll sign as "PG" from now on to avoid confusion.
> My last name is Dave (not the first). Pronounce it as you wud pronounce
> "dave" if it were a pali word). It is an apabransha of the sanskrit word
> "dvivedii" used in western parts of India.
>
> with metta,
> PG
> ________________________________________
>
> On 3/26/08, Ong Yong Peng <pali.smith@... <pali.smith%40gmail.com>>
> wrote:
> >
> > Dear DaveK and Nina,
> >
> > like Nina, I believe that as you read more and progress, the
> > declensions (and conjugations) will become second nature. I believe
> > speakers of other Indo-European tongues would concur.
> >
> > Nina mentioned context. This is so in Pali because in many of the
> > paradigms, you will find noun cases sharing the same declensions.
> > Hence, memorisation at this point becomes less helpful. Being able to
> > read and understand the entire sentence in its context has become more
> > important.
> >
> > However, many people still have taken the effort to put the paradigms
> > into memory, which is not a bad idea if that's your way of learning.
> > In fact, once you have seen them all, you would realise there isn't a
> > lot to memorise.
>
> >
> > As for the English-to-Pali translation, I would encourage you to go
> > through them, partially if not in full. Although it may be true, there
> > isn't any (commercial?) value learning English-to-Pali translation,
> > there isn't really much opportunities for Pali-to-English translators
> > either. Hence, I view this issue totally differently from Bhikkhu Bodhi.
> >
> > I think the Pali-to-English exercise develop my analysis skill, the
> > ability to analyse Pali passages using a tool, which happen to be
> > another language, English. On the other hand, the English-to-Pali
> > exercise develop my synthesis skill, the ability to construct
> > sentences in Pali. This forces me to think in Pali, and allows me to
> > better appreciate the Pali sentences I read. It allows the reader to
> > connects with the author.
> >
> > It's not so much about 'value'. If you think it's good, then go for it.
> >
> > Besides, many of us, including Nina and myself, have went through the
> > book together and put up the solutions online. We hope someone will
> > come along someday to go through the solutions, and let us know of any
> > mistakes.
> >
> > Btw, Dave, are you the one who were organising Pali study group in
> > your area, or was it the other Dave or someone else. Frankly, I am
> > getting a bit confused between you two. Would appreciate if you can do
> > some intro again. Thank you.
> >
> > metta,
> > Yong Peng.
> >
> > --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com <Pali%40yahoogroups.com><Pali%40yahoogroups.com>, dkotschessa wrote:
> >
> > My problem is with the initial pain of learning declensions. As slow
> > as I seem to go, I still do not seem to have the mind for keeping
> > track of them. Is it a matter of hard rote memorization, practice,
> > context? Might someone advise me of some sort of strategy?
> >
> > My second question concerns the type of exercises I am doing. Bhikkhu
> > Bodhi recommends only doing pali to english exercises in the DeSilva
> > Primer. His take is that translating in the other direction isn't
> > particularly useful as a skill. i.e. there are no real practical uses
> > for translating any kind of english texts into Pali. However I wonder
> > if it still isn't a useful exercise for getting familiar with the
> > language.
> >
> > Do people find much value in translating from English into Pali?
> >
> >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>



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