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wrong pronunciations of Sanskrit
effects of hindI accent




(wrongpronunciationsofs) (wrongprsk)

wrong pronunciations of Sanskritmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ 1825

In theory all Sanskrit teachers should teach the same exact pronunciation. In practice, however, many Sanskrit speakers have quirks that depend on the influence of the local language. For example, most Bengali teachers of Sanskrit will invariably pronounce v as if it were b, so instead of zrI bhagavAn uvAca they will say zrI bhagabAn ubAca. Also their r sound after z will be slightly off, and their J letter will sound like Sanskrit nasalized y~. That happens because they pronounce Sanskrit with a Bengali accent.

This is not unique to Bengal, of course. The way Sanskrit is taught in every region of India has some influence of the local language. See effects of hindI accent for some more examples.

The exception to this are the teachers of veda recitation. They will go to extreme lengths to make sure they pronounce every letter with the exact same sound and the exact same accent they have been handed down since forever.

754 letters. -- 37903pronuguide_MH.bse 465 -- popularity none




(effectsofhindIaccent) (eff)

effects of hindI accentmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ M+ C- 1826

You will notice the following quirks in the Sanskrit spoken by people from NW india. Not all of them are grammatically incorrect.

(1) Some people mispronounce the e at the start of a word as ye.

This is common in Hindi, but very bad Sanskrit.

(2) Most people will skip the final aH or a of a word.

This is fine when you speak Hindi, but it's a no-go in Sanskrit, first because it can get you misunderstood, and second because it makes your verses sound wrong.

(3) The v of Sanskrit is pronounced as English W after consonants, and as Hindi v after vowels.

This is not incorrect in Sanskrit. It is also not compulsory. See pronunciation of v .

(4) Some people mispronounce the Sanskrit ai au as if they were Hindi ai au.

That one is utter blasphemy. If anyone does that in my classroom, I make them say aloud "cow's eye" in English a hundred and eight times.

(5) The r will be tapped in some positions, and rolled in others.

So rAm will have a rolled R, because here r starts a word, but param will have a tapped R, because the r is between two vowels.

This is correct Hindi, but ancient grammarians do not mention such a difference, so it is highly likely that in old times Sanskrit had only one kind of r, the tap.

Anyway, feel free to use a rolled r if it is easier to say for you. Even if it sux, it will not cause misunderstandings.

(6) the final a of a word is deleted

Hindi for rAma is rAm, which is written with a rA and a letter ma, that in Himndi, must be pronounced m. If you have said rAm ten thousand times and you are used to see that word written as rAma, it is very difficult, when you are reading Sanskrit, to remember that, in Sanskrit, the letters rAma stand for rAma not rAm.

People from other regions of India have other quirks. For instance, Bengali people will more often than not mispronounce v as b. They will say bhogobAn (with short 'o' sounds) for bhagavAn. That b is good Bengali but bad Sanskrit. The short o sound is good Bengali, and also very likely to be good Sanskrit too.

1666 letters. -- 37903pronuguide_MH.bse 470 -- popularity 2

1777 correct pronunciation of Sanskrit letters

1825 wrong pronunciations of Sanskrit
















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