[INDOLOGY] training in Sanskrit composition

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

If I understand correctly that means quite nearness of the systems ---
three languages in the secondary stage, two in the undergraduate stage and
only specialisation subject in the post-graduate.Relevantly there is
something more in India which has Sanskrit Universities where the long
reigning rules of the UGC do not necessarily prevail. According to rule one
knows just one language by training, that is Sanskrit! .
Is there any parallel to the Sanskrit Universities in the West? Theological
Universities?.

On Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 6:32 PM, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu> wrote:

> Dear Dipak,
>
>      Speaking about the situation of "second" languages in the University
> of Michigan, we have a general rule for all undergraduate students that
> they all must learn at least one non-English language for four semesters (2
> years).  The university teaches 67 languages, including modern and
> classical languages, and any one of these can satisfy the under-graduate
> language requirement.  The most popular "second" language is Spanish, with
> something like 3000 students for first and second year Spanish.  I could be
> wrong about the specific number, but it is very high.  Within my Department
> of Asian Languages and Cultures, Chinese and Japanese have enrollments
> above 500 students.  Hindi attracts somewhere near 100 students, while the
> enrollment for First Year Sanskrit in the upcoming Fall semester is 12.
>      This refers to the general requirements for all undergraduates.  Of
> course there are specialized departments for modern and classical languages
> etc. and there are students, graduate and undergraduate, who are studying
> those languages and cultures as their primary focus.  The numbers of
> students specializing in various languages differ widely.
>
> Madhav Deshpande
>
> On Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 8:01 AM, Dipak Bhattacharya <dipak.d2004 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> This makes quite a different situation from that in India. "Composition"
>> meaning translation *into* Sanskrit *from* a diffrent language is in the
>> Indian curricula from the secondary stage. I thank Professor Gombrich for
>> the clarification.
>>
>> I point to a relevant topic. The position of Sanskrit in the Indian
>> schools has now been touched upon in the List. This calls attention to the
>> European Classical languages in the Western schools. Can it be expected
>> that someone threw light on the position of the Classical languages in the
>> European and American schools. As I knew indirectly French/English was the
>> general preference as the second languaghe and Classical as the third. Is
>> it still the preferred combination?
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 4:52 PM, richard gombrich <richardgombrich at mac.com
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> I am afraid that what recent contributors have written about "Sanskrit
>>> composition" in the Oxford final exams is a bit misleading. In this
>>> context, "composition" meant translation from a set passage of English,
>>> usually from a literary work by a well known author. This precisely
>>> followed how Latin and Greek were taught in schools when I was young -- and
>>> for centuries before that. No originality was involved.
>>> Richard Gombrich
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>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
> Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
> 202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
> The University of Michigan
> Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608, USA
>


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