The name Sanskrit means "refined", "consecrated" and "sanctified". English has very arbitrary-seeming rules, and spelling and pronunciation can change from word to word. For example, the sound "ga" expresses motion, as in the English "go" or the Sanskrit root "gam." Scroll. You will find that the current Rule works complementarily with some Rules governing the combination of a final "s" or Visarga. Why is pronunciation so important in Sanskrit? ... 4.6.1 General Rules 4.6.2 Doubling Class … Sanskrit Pronunciation and Transliteration. Tips and Techniques When a Sanskrit word is written using English letters, it is called transliteration. Practice pronouncing these. ṛ (short) is like the re in fibre, as in pitṛ (father). Some English consonants are similar to those in Sanskrit, and may be used to give a very rough guide to the Sanskrit pronunciation, however, as mentioned earlier, English does not distinguish between dental (dantya) and cerebral (murdhanya). Vowels अ a - as in English "far";… followed. People who know Indian languages can pronounce these letters naturally as they are used to.] The ṛ vowel is also sometimes written as ṛi. The sandhi rules, euphonic grammar rules of splitting the words in the appropriate places have to be necessarily followed lest the meaning is misinterpreted. It is also one of the 22 official languages of India. Another pronunciation hint is that 2 of the same letters together (i.e. k — kiss, kiln, back kh — bunkhouse ('bung-khouse') g — good, give, bug gh — loghouse ('log-ghouse') Pronunciation of Sanskrit letters In this pre-lesson we will take a quick look at the pronunciation of Sanskrit letters. 'C' is always soft as in church. Learn the rule of correct Sanskrit pronunciation. Most of the words in Sanskrit can be properly pronounced following these basic rules. TT) is a repetition of that letters sound, as if it is a whole new word (i.e. A comprehensive guide to the Sanskrit language, with over one hundred lessons and over one thousand exercises. Since the set of vowels and consonants in Sanskrit are different Sanskrit is the classical language of Indian and the liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Module 8: Sanskrit … It is recommended that one learns from a teacher the proper art of pronunciation and articulation and follow the grammar rules of the Sanskrit … This module contains Sanskrit words reading and writing, reading from transliterated versions and a special Vedic mantra for blessing your food – to be used during mealtimes. It is available at AnandaYoga.org. Romance languages come from Latin, so unlike Japanese, Sanskrit, Tagalog or Urdu, Romance language uses the same alphabet with some exceptions and accents. 2.0 Sanskrit Writing System The writing system used for Sanskrit is known as Devanagari. Sanskrit is highly respected in India as their sacred, divine, mother language. UT-TAN-ASANA). [This is meant for people who do not know Indian languages. Sanskrit is a natural language, meaning its sounds are said to truly represent what they mean. 4 / Sanskrit Pronunciation The ṛ vowel is fairly common and can be short or long. With this in mind I share with you this sanskrit pronunciation guide. Guide to Sanskrit Pronunciation There is an audio companion to this document, in which you can hear these words pronounced. When there is a dot under the letter, curl your tongue back and touch it to the roof of the mouth, and then pronounce the letter. Indian languages are phonetic in nature and the written shapes represent unique sounds. In India today the ṛ vowel is often pronounced ri — as in the name KṛṣṇaKrishna or . Module 7: Rules of Sanskrit pronunciation. In Sanskrit and other Indian languages, unlike in English, there is no specific name given to the letters.