Pali language course is not found in the popular language learning software such as Rosetta Stone or Transparent. Otherwise, learning Pali will be less painful with availability of interactive tools these companies provide. I prefer Transparent (www.transparent.com) because it offers quite diverse linguistics products at very reasonable price, compared to Rosetta.

I made a suggestion to Transparent to include Pali in its language inventory. However, I guess the demand is not sufficient or other cost-benefit consideration. Or perhaps, it's quite difficult for them to find the materials/ develop a product.

Hence, I propose that we offer assistance to the company to offset the cost of developing Pali language course. We can also liaise with educational institutions and monasteries to get additional technical assistance (grammar, pronunciation, etc). Some of us might have animation skills, hence can enhance the learning experience. Many of this internet group users have variety of skills that can contribute to betterment of learning Pali. I believe this is a win-win proposition.

Think about the benefits of this. Currently learning Pali is quite a challenge (books, a few online courses). There are a few free online resources, but none is equipped with the resources (flash card in iPhone, puzzle, games) offered by educational company (Rosetta, Transparent, etc).

These for-profit companies will likely last for a long time because they offer quite a number of linguistics products and the demand to learn foreign language will always exist. Once a language course has been developed, it requires little maintenance and will always be on the website. This also ensures survival of a Pali language learning medium.

You might argue why don't we develop it ourselves and make it avaiable online. This is an interesting proposition but we do not have the resources like that of a company. If we assist the company, we might be able to secure agreement from them to sell the product at very low price.

I welcome idea/suggestions/criticism: hui_foyuan@...