Publication Date:February 6, 1999 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Promotion:Save $5.00 when you spend $25.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.Terms and Conditions Availability:In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
fast pace, lots of vocabFebruary 14, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are only 22 chapters in this book so you get great bulks of input per chapter. For instance, chapter 3 gives present tense (active and middle), the "a" declension (masc. and neuter), the irregular verb "as" (to be), a look at the use of "sma" (a particle), and about 60 vocab words. Then, after all that, you are given about 15 practice exercises and a 7 1/2 lined paragraph to translate.This just isn't enough. Compared to Latin and Greek, Sanskrit isn't necessarily more difficult, there's just a lot more to take in. It's too much to retain and too little practice. Wheelock's Latin for instance gives just a little bit of info. per chapter, only 20-25 vocab words (actually there are more but the author is specific as to which need to be memorized), a bunch of Latin to English, a few English to Latin, a nice sized paragraph to translate, extra practice in the back that focuses in on the topic at hand and comes with the answers, AND you can buy a workbook to go with all of that. This is spread across 40 chapters. It seems that all my Sanskrit textbooks want me to learn everything at once. Sanskrit is too complicated for that. However, this book does have a great chapter on sandhi and lots of reading. If one does Thomas Egenes first this is a great primer (although I like Samskrta-Subodhini better), but I wouldn't recommend diving into this. Personally I do not like the idea of going all the way through Egenes just to turn around and start at the beginning of a primer. I wish there were a book that moves slow like Egenes but also gives a fuller lesson on the language like this book. I own just about all of the books available for learning Sanskrit along with the reference grammars and the dictionaries but have yet to find an equivalent to Wheelock's Latin and Greek: An Intensive Course or Athenaze. It's not that I wouldn't recommend this book but buy Thomas Egenes' Into. to Sanskrit parts 1 2 along with it and go through them first. That means you have to go through 3 texts before you can begin a reader like Lanman with facility, ugghh!
Better for referenceDecember 2, 2007 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In general, Sanskrit beginners are poorly served in English. Texts for beginners are few and far between, and they vary between making the subject excessively easy, at the expense of oversimplification (e.g. Egenes), and making it almost incomprehensible by trying to do too much. I would put Goldman in the latter category, with regret, since this is probably the standard teaching text for 1st year Sanskrit. Goldman is generally adequate when it comes to explaining forms, but is usually poorly organized, and uninformative when trying to explain the significance and use of said forms. Equally, Goldman has a tendency to be brief when a more precise and extensive discussion is needed. Too often, the text reads like the arid pedantry of a teacher who does not wish to answer the questions that students invariably want to ask. The readings, which retell the Ramayana, work quite well, but the sentences for translation from English are very tedious, and are of questionable use to students. I find that this text has to be supplemented (and corrected) with a variety of other works, especially the Teach Yourself Sanskrit by Coulson, before students can really get to grips with how Sanskrit operates. Personally, I would use Egenes and Coulson to start with, and bring in this as a review text for second year Sanskrit.
The perfect textJune 21, 2006 5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I used this text from day one of my three years of Sanskrit study and must recommend it without reservations. Although dense with grammar, its organization and thoroughness are unsurpassed by any of the other texts commonly used, which I find lacking in such thorough explanations. Each section includes everything relevant to the topic as opposed to other texts that distribute information over several chapters. The key to working with this text, as my teacher who had been a student of the authors related to me, is that it must be constantly read and reread, not linearly gone through. Additionally, the decision to put all of the sandhi in one chapter makes for an excellent resource. Although this text may look intimidating, if one puts in the effort it will be extremely rewarding. Even 4+ years after beginning my studies it is my primary Sanskrit resource.
Outstanding "secondary" textDecember 5, 2004 5 out of 5 found this review helpful
As a review grammar this is an outstanding textbook! It is orientated for 2nd-year students who wish to read the Ramayanan and as such is well-written. However, as Goldman writes in the introduction, it is not a beginner's book. As a Sanskrit teacher for over 30 years (Emory University, Atlanta, GA and Hindu University, Orlando, FL), I use it as a 2nd-year review grammar.
Be prepared to buy additional booksNovember 6, 2004 8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I have been assigned this text in my Sanskrit class. Goldman tries to introduce too many things at once and in too few chapters. Explanations are sketchy at best and the charts are difficult to understand unless you already know the information. My whole class is struggling with Goldman's text, we have had to buy additional books to supplement Devavanipravesika. Don't expect to get by with just this text unless it's for review.
