Sanskrit phonetics LalithA SahasranAma [182] niskriyA

[Guest guest]

Hello Mary Ann,

> Hello Colin: Thank you for the informative post on Sanskrit. It

will definitely help me in

> sounding out the various phrases, mantras, and words that are

posted on the

> message board here.

 

Glad to be of help!

 

The other thing is, of course, that the

> letters we are reading and posting in for the various Sanskrit

words aren't the letters

> of Sanskrit, so really, it's all phonetic, isn't it?

 

This is an interesting point.

 

The traditional letters of Sanskrit (that is, Devanagari script and

other related scripts) actually comprise a very accurate, phonetic

writing system.

 

In other words, once you understand how Devanagari works, you never

have to ask or look up how to pronounce a word you see on a page --

the writing itself tells you exactly.

 

So...

 

To write Sanskrit phonetically in our western (Latin) alphabet, all

we have to do is to choose a western letter as the "equivalent" for

each Devanagari letter... except for one little problem -- there

happen to be twice as many letters in the Devanagari alphabet as in

the Latin alphabet.

 

That is why people developed the system where some Latin letters

appear with horizontal lines above them, or dots under, or (in

emails etc) with some letters capitalized.

 

May the Goddess bless your path.

Colin

 

 

, "Mary Ann"

<buttercookie61> wrote:

>

> Hello Colin: Thank you for the informative post on Sanskrit. It

will definitely help me in

> sounding out the various phrases, mantras, and words that are

posted on the

> message board here. I have learned pronunciation by singing

bhajans, chanting, and

> learning hathayoga asana names, but it is good to know what is

meant by the ways

> the letters of the language are shown in print. The other thing

is, of course, that the

> letters we are reading and posting in for the various Sanskrit

words aren't the letters

> of Sanskrit, so really, it's all phonetic, isn't it? I am sure

someone else made this

> point before, and I am glad to be understanding it now.

>

> Om Amma Shivaya,

>

> Mary Ann

>