MN-118, SN 54.1, etc- Digha=Long, Rassa=Short. Why "Heavy / Light"?

[mikenz66]

OK, here is some discussion:

Mindfulness of breathing: an evolving approach to translation (MN118)

Since my recent essay on the future tense in mindfulness of breathing, I have revisited my approach to the translation. As always, my primary concern is to translate the text in a way that accurately captures the meaning in idiomatic English, so that a reader does not require notes or further explanation for comprehension. It is my job as translator to do the hard yakka, so the reader can ignore the form of the text and understand the point of it. One of the difficulties, which is always a stru…