Guest guest Posted August 30, 2002 Report Share Posted August 30, 2002 In a recent BBC report by its correspondent Sanjeev Srivastava observd, "One of the oldest languages in the world, Sanskrit, is in danger of becoming extinct in India, the country of its origin.> It is inappropriate to apply a biological metaphor of life and death to languages. No language per se ever dies. It is people who employ this or that language, as a means of communication or expression, live and die. It is true that only a few can speak, read or write Sanskrit today. But in its days of glory Sanskrit rivalled English as a lingua franca. In the nineteenth century India, learning English was compared to the drinking of the milk of the tigress. It is possible to bring Sanskrit back to that empowering status today. Sanskrit Bharati, Banglore, a voluntary organization dedicated to the pomotion of Sanskrit as a spoken and written language, provides volunteer instructors who conduct week end or ten day intensive courses on spoken sanskrit (check their web site on the internet for etails). Here in Montreal we are organizing one such course on the week end of Sept 13, 2002. S. Tilak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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