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Comment by r0h1n | Hacker News Reader

> "By learning this language, you open the door to more than three thousand years of intellectual history, both in India and beyond."

What does that even mean? Indian history, intellectual or not, isn't being held captive behind closed doors waiting for Sanskrit-speaking liberators.

As someone who was forced to learn Sanskrit in school for 3 years, I'll repeat: it has zero value unless you happen to be a researcher or a linguist.

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>isn't being held captive behind closed doors waiting for Sanskrit-speaking liberators

Over-dramatizing the other guy's statement does not constitute a response.

Even ignoring the religious angle, Sanskrit was the primary language of literature, science and philosophy in India for over a millennium. Surely a person might want to read some of that without being employed as a researcher.

(And before you ask, most of it hasn't been translated and will probably never be translated. See http://www.columbia.edu/cu/mesaas/faculty/directory/pollock_... )

>Sanskrit was the primary language of literature

was one of the.. FIFY.

Maybe you should read the rest of that sentence...

Again, what HN reader (or otherwise), do you think is interested in reading ancient literature written in Sanskrit? A researcher or linguist I'm guessing. And maybe 3 other people.

I'm afraid your arguments in favour of learning Sanskrit are as generic and theoretical as most other comments.

I am interested. Not a researcher, not a linguist. Just some asshole who wants to know a new skill that may come in handy when exploring Indian mythology. You really need to just concede that your interests are your own and that your rather harsh view of Sanskrit is one that isn't universally shared.

I am with you - as someone who was forced to learn Latin in school for four years. The reason given to us was exactly the same, just replace "India and beyond" with "Europe and beyond".

I'll repeat: it has zero value unless you happen to be a researcher or a linguist.

I studied Latin for six years and I don't remember anything about it anymore, but I'm far removed from the linguistic domain now.

I only took a year of Latin but I found it very useful in understanding my own language, English, as well as helping me in learning French (almost bilingual) and Spanish (competent). But the biggest benefit was that when I learned Russian, the whole idea of a case system was something that I was already used to, and the rest of Russian grammar (the verb) is incredibly simple in comparison to any other European language. Latin is an ideal stepping stone to fluency in Russian, and that is a very useful language to know in the modern world.

I'm a regular HN reader, and IT professional, and I'm currently learning Latin, have been for the past few months. Why? To gain access to classical, Medieval and Renaissance literature, and more importantly, to the mindset of the Romans. A similar reasoning would apply to Greek or Sanskrit.

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