Sanskrit as an actively spoken language died out long ago. It now has only scientific value. That is what many people believe, turning their backs on the ancestor of the Indo-European languages.
In India, however, the language is still alive among the descendants of the Brahmins. A young Indian woman told me that her knowledge of Sanskrit actually helps her learn German.
Relationship between Languages
In Germany, we mainly learn other European languages at school. We already notice differences when learning French and English. The European branch of the Indo-European language family has many branches: Romance (e.g. French, Italian, Spanish), Germanic (e.g. German, English). Other branches are the Slavonic (e.g. Russian, Polish) and Nordic languages (e.g. Danish, Swedish), as well as Greek and Albanian, which are not related to other languages. These languages are related to other languages of the Indo-Aryan language family as Indo-European languages. These include Hindi and other languages of northern India, Urdu spoken in Pakistan, and Pashto from Afghanistan. All these languages have in common that they have a case system and their verbs change according to person and tense. However, the details of these grammatical rules vary widely. There are languages with nine different cases and a variety of verb forms, or the other extreme of few verb forms and barely recognizable cases. English is an example of the latter case.
Sanskrit: First Grammar Fixed in Writing
Sanskrit is also the first language whose grammatical rules were set down in writing. The Indian philosopher Panini, who lived in the 4th or 5th century BC, described the grammar of Sanskrit in around 4,000 rules, the correct application of which was intended to function like a language computer. However, until the end of 2023, the system remained a mystery. An Indian student solved it: In eight different cases, there are often conflicts as to which rules should be applied. He has now discovered the pattern that resolves these conflicts: the rules for the end of a word take precedence over the rules for the beginning of a word. This meta-rule is now being put to the test. When it proves to be correct, it will have an immense influence on the study of Sanskrit texts and Indian Studies.
Grammar: As Consistent as a Computer Program?
One might think that grammar rules actually function like a program for constructing correct sentences and texts. It certainly worked for Sanskrit. But when learning foreign languages, we have all experienced something quite different. And when we asked the teacher, “Why doesn’t this mean…?” we had to be satisfied with the answer: “That’s an exception.” And in English, there seem to be more exceptions seem than regularities.
Who isn’t familiar with regular and irregular verbs in various languages… We can create a sense of order here with different verb groups. And what about sentence structure? Here, too, different rules apply to declarative sentences, subordinate clauses, interrogative sentences, and imperative sentences…
Unfortunately, when learning foreign languages at school, grammar is presented in small puzzle pieces. It takes several years for students to see the big picture. Many have become frustrated and given up as they cannot figure out the overall structure.
Grammar at GaLaLea
At GaLaLea, we have recognized this problem. As Vera F. Birkenbihl said: It is not necessary to cram vocabulary and memorize grammar rules. On the one hand, we only offer new vocabulary in the context of a text or dialogue. On the other hand, we give the students the chance to discover the abstract grammar rules themselves using a large number of examples. This also makes clear how everything is related
. In this way, you learn to understand the logic of the new language and can apply it. Language learning then becomes like a journey of discovery. And every new discovery makes the learner happy and curious about the next one.