To achieve a high proficiency in the Pāli language, starting from the basics, are the four-level courses offered by OCBS suitable? My goal is to learn Pāli to read the suttas in their original language and to translate Pāli texts that lack modern translations.
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That’s how I started. They’re pretty good, well organised IMO. If you can spare the expense, they’re a good video series. Pick up the first lesson and see how it fits you.
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The more comfortable you are with the Pali, the less eager will you be to establish a path of escape from it (by attempting to translate out of it at the first opportunity). Most of the best experts in the Pali (including academics) don’t end up as translators - for trying to translate is usually only to make it comprehensible for others, not for yourself. If you are trying to learn Pali, the objective should be to understand it fully yourself (a process that can take decades for some) rather than beginning to translate out of it after attending an introductory course or two.
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I agree with you, but translating, as you yourself say, is still important to give beginners access to texts they are unable to read directly in their original language. Moreover, translating is a good exercise and a test of one’s own capacity to understand Pāli. My purpose is certainly to understand Pāli texts for myself, but also to make them usable for all people who don’t know the language.
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