Dear Florian,
Welcome to the group! Thanks for introducing yourself and telling us a bit
about your background which I find quite interesting. I hope you'll find the
list a good resource and support for your studies.
I'll say a bit about my own involvement with Pali which has been ongoing for
about 40 years now. My interest in Pali and Buddhism was probabaly sparked
when I began hearing about the teachings of Bhikkhu Ananda Bodhi in 1970
from one of his students in my hometown here in Canada. During my wanderings
in the UK in 1972-3 I attended a couple of Buddhist meetings in Edinburgh
and heard a wonderful recording of a Western bhikkhu chanting pūja which got
me more interested in Pali and by 1976 I took up the study of Pali in a more
serious way with the help of Warder's Introduction to Pali. Around the
beginning of 1980 I had some Pali lessons with three teachers: two were
Sinhalese, one a monk, the other a Ph.D student doing his thesis under Prof.
A.K. Warder. I attended one of Warder's Pali classes with a friend who was
studying primarily Sanskrit at the University of Toronto My friend was the
only sutdent in Warder's first year Pali course. Anyway, it's a long story
from back then until now. It has been and still is a very worthwhile
undertaking.
Best wishes,
Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Florian Weps" <fmw@...>
To: <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 4:12 PM
Subject: [palistudy] Introduction: Florian
> Dear group,
>
> I found this list via pali.sirimangalo.org. The archives here are a
> great resource - I scanned them and read quite a few old threads today.
>
> I'm currently learning Pali on my own, working through Ven. Narada's
> primer with the answer key I found at tipitaka.net. In addition, I have
> the following reference works:
>
> A Pali Grammar for Students, by Steven Collins
>
> Concise Pali-English Dictionary, by A.P. Buddhadatta Mahāthera
>
> A Practical Grammar of the Pāli Languate, by Charles Duroiselle
>
> I also ordered Kurt Schmidt's course, and Glenn Wallis' reader,
> "Buddhavacana", which I'll tackle once I've finished Narada's primer.
> I've played around with the Digital Pali Reader, but have not used it
> seriously yet.
>
> I'm a layperson and complete beginner with regards to linguistics and
> indology. I had a bit of Latin at school, but trained in natural science
> (physics) and work in IT nowadays.
>
> I have a lifelong interest in languages and Eastern religion and
> philosophy. During the eighties, I lived for a few years in Bangkok (I
> was a teenager then).
>
> I live in Switzerland.
>
> Kind regards, and thanks for the opportunity to participate,
> Florian
>
>