WHY LEARN
PHONETICS BUILDS I.Q.
English spelling is not phonetic.
Therefore, in dictionaries, after each
word we find symbols in brackets
which tell how the word should be
pronounced.
Eg. (From R. Digest Dictionary)
come /kûm /
It's written 'c' but pronounced as a 'k'.
This doesn't happen in Indian language
dictionaries - the spelling itself is
perfectly phonetic. In other words,
you pronounce each syllable as it's
written.
Such confusion in English is an
impediment to learning. Modern
Montessori teachers have realized that
children’s learning ability becomes
inhibited by the fear of making
mistakes if a child is told that he’s
“wrong” if he writes k-a-t for ‘cat’,
when in fact he’s right. Further
confusion arises because vowels
change their sounds (or become
silent{?}) without warning. Just see
these:
Eg: Worn; warn; yarn.
Worn; work; won’t; wood; food.
Co-opt; com; come; comet; cow; coo.
In Indian languages, each vowel
has one and only one sound no matter
where it may appear,by itself or in a
word. It has been shown scientifically
that learning phonetics boosts hearing
and memory, thus increasing one’s I.Q.
Therefore in Montessories, they teach
young children phonics but not
spelling (which serves no practical
function!) until they are older.
A CULTURED PERSON’S SPEECH
Our speech is one of the most
important assets that we possess. As
wise men have said, “The well-dressed
fool remains undiscovered so long as
he does not speak.”
Refine your speech by participating
in the Simplified Romanized Saìskåt
(SRS) course which promises to
enhance your speech in all languages.
SRS: A BOON FOR HINDUS
All mantras that Hindus use for
prayer, such as ‘Oà namaù çiväya’,
ROMANIZED
‘vakra tuëòa mahä käya..’, and ‘oà
namo bhagavate väsudeväya’ etc. are
all Saëskåt. This short course will
enable Hindus to chant them
accurately with confidence and
absorption.
Hindus can learn to recite our
scripture the Bhagavad Gétä daily for
purification and enlightenment, just as
Muslims recite the Koran and Christians
recite the Bible. The philosophy of
the Gétä is very deep indeed, but any
common man can get deep insights if
he reads from the Gétä every day. In
our scriptures, this is called
‘swadhyäya’, a prescribed daily duty
for all Hindus.
Most Hindu parents and leaders are
aware of the appallingly low levels of
spiritual knowledge amongst Hindus
which leads to masses being converted
to other relgions. Learning to
pronounce the Saìskåt alphabet is the
key to knowledge and the ancient
wisdom of our ancestors, because all
our Hindu scriptures are recorded in
Saìskåt. As Mother Maìgalam,
President of the Pure Life Society, says
emphatically, “If every Hindu child is
taught the Bhagavad Gétä, there is no
doubt the child will deepen its faith in
Hinduism. We are failing in our duty
as a parent if we do not teach our own
treasured shastras (scriptures) to our
children.”
INDIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE
All Indian languages are written
phonetically, so they are natural and
easy to learn. Amongst the great
languages of India, Tamil and Sanskrit
stand out as the oldest and most
highly developed. Both of them are
“designed languages”, from which all
the other global languages have been
derived or evolved. This fact is
accepted by most professors of
linguistics today. Language,
therefore, is one of Mother India’s
greatest contributions to human
civilization.
The study of Linguistics in the West
was unknown till the first book of
Sanskrit grammar translated into
English reached the shores of
SAÌSKÅT
England. Today linguistics is studied
in all major Western universities.
LANGUAGE & CULTURE
Sadly, perhaps as a combined
consequence of British colonialization
and urbanization, many well-educated
Indians of today cannot read or write
their mother tongues, although they
may be able to speak them.
Therefore, they lose out on
developing their phonetic skills, and
worse still, become alienated from
their own culture and heritage. As
the Malay proverb says: “when a
language dies, a culture dies”
EASY WAY TO LEARN TAMIL ETC.
The discovery of this new method of
teaching Romanized Sanskrit by Dina-
Anukampana Das is a major break-
through that can help people
(especially the English educated
masses) to pick up reading their
mother tongues easily. The vast
number of characters (alphabets) to
be memorized in Indian languages is
a major stumbling block for
beginners. This problem is side-
stepped in Romanized script because
it uses merely 35 letters (a few
diacritical marks are added to the
already familiar 26 Roman alphabets)
to cover all the sounds.
The unique exercises which Dina has
developed are remarkably effective
and very enjoyable for all ages. It is
similar to the way a child learns
languages with no books. It can best
be described as: “transforming all
hidden rules which one should
remember, recognize and apply, into
visual symbols and patterns which
one can see and spontaneously
apply”. His techniques produce
amazing results within weeks and can
be adapted for teaching Tamil and
other Indian languages too.
Students will learn how to pronounce
all Sanskrit words with confidence.
They will learn to spontaneously
apply the ‘hidden rules’ that govern
how to break words into syllables,
and they will learn precisely where to
place their tongue to produce each
sound accurately. This leads to
sharpness of hearing and improved
memory.