Re: study books

> I also have several yrs of Latin background (no Greek) and
> remember how patiently my father (who had been a classics
> scholar) used to help me translate Caesar and Virgil while I'd
> complain about the uselessness of studying dead
> languages....hmm...

I rather enjoyed studying classics, despite the funny looks I'd get
from people for wanting to study a dead language. Now, I just get
funny looks from my wife, who gets irritated at any sort of Dhamma
study that I do -- but then she loves it when I talk with her or the
kids about stuff! But studying Pali? Heaven forbid!

> I threw out the book and notes in one of my many moves. Now
> I'm encouraged by you all to do a little better in self-study
> mode....my problem is like yours - forgetfulness...but I'm not
> letting it be a concern...I just treat it as a game and I think,
like
> Rob, one has to approach it in a way that's fun or seems
> relevant.

At this point, I just read the same things over and over, trying to
get the reading to feel natural, rather than a word by word thing. Of
course, this requires knowing the vocabulary, but there is something
more satisfying about being able to read some sentences well instead
of just being able to recite a vocabulary list well. Also, it helps
solidify the grammar better. Of course, this is all just guesswork
because I don't have as much experience with this method.

> lose it' approach ...Going back to study foundations (i.e grammar
> in Warder) is a real test of my patience;-) I'm not writing any
> notes this time, but attempting to learn a few declensions (as we
> used to do in Latin days).  I'll probably be glad when my students
> return to give me an excuse to break;-)

Warder dispenses with the tables of verb and noun endings. I do miss
them. I did find some on a nifty Taiwan website
http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/DBLM/olcourse/olcourse.htm. You'd probably be
able to benefit from the extensive resources in Chinese there as well!

> I also like using the hardcopy Rhys Davids & Stede dict. (a gift to
> us from PTS!) Given time, I could browse and follow up refs for
> hours.....we also have the Childers one somewhere..

I'm going to order the Rhys Davids/Stede...

> don't have the Andy Shaw Pali conversion thingy, so appreciate if
> you and Rob post the slabs of Pali converted already along with
> translations here.

The Andy Shaw thingy is pretty nice...

> p.s. "3. "pa.tipadaa" -- why the long "a" at the end? PTS
dictionary
> (on-
> line) only gives "pa.tipada". Surely it's not nominative plural."
>
> I believe  pat.tipadaa is nom f sg
> (we haven't got to it in Warder but I also refer to another helpful
> small book with some helpful grammar tables at the back called
> "Pali Buddhist Texts' by Rune Johansson  which we also used to
> use in the London classes (and amazingly didn't get thrown out).

O.K. I'd buy that.

It's nice to know you are out there doing the same thing I'm doing
(but at a more advanced, 'review' level).

Dan