german is a must (frauwallner, von hinuber, oldenberg, and
many other great german scholars of early buddhism).
a reading knowledge of japanese would be very useful,
especially with the rise of the study of early buddhism at
otani university and the international college of advanced
buddhist studies in japan. the best person to contact in this
regard in kanzaburo tanabe or hubert durt in japan. they can
have you navigate the best work in japanese. i read an early
draft of richard jaffe's book on the japanese scholarly
interest in south and southeast asian buddhism which will be
available in the spring. he looks at the way new schools of
japanese scholars started seriously studying sri lankan, thai,
and burmese buddhism in the 1920s (part of the military
interest in the region as well at that time). he traces this
scholarship through the 20th century. look out for that book.
what we really need are scholars who can read russian. there
has been a lot of good work in russian that is generally
ignored by the international community of scholars.
of course, depending on your interests, knowledge of a
southeast asian vernacular (burmese esp.), chinese or tibetan
would be useful for early buddhism. too many languages too
little time.
best,
jm
---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 07:46:06 -0600
>From: Alan McClure <alanmcclure3@...>
>Subject: Re: [palistudy] Languages for academic study of Pali
>To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
>
>Dear all,
>
>Seeing that there are many professors and other experts of
Pali in this
>group, I have a question that I know you will all have a
relevant answer
>to. Therefore, I would appreciate as many answers as
possible, whether
>short or long (although the longer the better.)
>
>If one is interested in the study of Pali and early Buddhism
as it
>develops into Theravada, setting aside textual languages
(i.e., Pali,
>Sanskrit, Classical Chinese, Classical Tibetan) what would be
the most
>important languages to be able to read regarding having the
most access
>to academic writings on these issues?
>
>Currently I can read English and French and I find them both
useful.
>However, I cannot read German, and was thinking that this
might be my
>next focus. Yet, I have also heard that Japanese scholars
are currently
>writing extensively on the Pali canon and the Agamas (also of
interest
>to me), and I also assume that Sinhala would be useful for
the study of
>Pali and Theravada.
>
>May I have your views, based on your experience, regarding
this issue?
>Is it reasonable to think that Japanese might be the most useful
>scholarly language for these areas after English? Or would
one of the
>other languages I have mentioned be a better option (i.e.
German,
>Sinhala)? I look forward to your responses with appreciation.
>
>
>With metta,
>
>Alan
>E-Sangha Pali Discussion Forum for the advanced or beginning
student of
>Pali:
>http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?showforum=50
>
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
909-827-4530
justinm@...