Peacocks, Titanika, and Immersive Language Learning Environments

Dancing peacocks, spring wildflowers, little drizzle, warm lakes, acres of greenery --- beautiful Barsana Dhaam near Austin was a perfect place for us to spend our Easter weekend this year. But this was no regular vacation. We were there from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon for an immersive language learning family camp. From little kids to grandparents came from all over Texas came to soak themselves in the sweet nectar of one of the oldest languages of the world – Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is the mother of several Indo-European languages and has flourished over several millennia contributing to the rich cultural tradition of India and elsewhere. In every field of life imaginable, be it medicine, mathematics, religion, music, sculpture, poetry, literature , yoga, or religion, there are myriads of Sanskrit texts, compositions, commentaries, and aphorisms created by great scholars. Sanskrit is appreciated by linguists as a complex, evolved and precise language. Did you know that NASA researchers have determined that it is the best suited language for artificial intelligence?

Language is such an integral part of any culture. Given that Sanskrit is the foundational language for many Indian cultures; I see it as a key that would open the door to having a deeper understanding of my own cultural heritage. Sadly, Sanskrit is no longer widely spoken around the world. Although I have learnt many Sanskrit songs as a child, I continue to sing them without understanding their full meaning.

When I heard about Yamunotri, an annual Sanskrit camp for the entire family, I was initially skeptical. Learning a new language as an adult can be daunting. I had heard from some close friends that Sanskrit is a difficult language to learn. Thankfully, I had some things going for me. Sanskrit shares a lot in common with two languages that I know well – Tamil and Hindi. In fact, Hindi and Sanskrit share the same script – Devanagari. Also, I knew that there will be many other adult beginners attending the camp and I would not be alone. Since classes were divided by age groups, my child would also get to play and learn with others his age. I wanted him to be exposed to Sanskrit at an early age. Even if I didn’t learn anything, I felt that he would benefit from simply being immersed in this environment, even if for a few days. These were the reasons I was inclined to register for the camp.

I was in for a very pleasant surprise. Not only was the locale of the camp enchanting but the teaching style was very easy-going, informal, and nurturing. There were about 18 of us in the adult beginners’ class. My teacher, Mr. Padmakumar, was one of the best teachers I have had, not only in Sanskrit but in life. He encouraged us to keep creating simple sentences without worrying about being wrong or right. He told us that conversing is the most natural way to learn a new language – not through learning grammar or starting with epics like Ramayana. Small baby steps and constant practice are the foundations for a firm ground for learning anything. He hardly used any English in class all through. If we didn’t understand a word, he would sometimes act it out for us. He told us simple, familiar stories in Sanskrit and asked us to tell it back to the class.

We learnt to make small conversations: “How are you? What is your name? What is this? Who is that? What time is it? What are you doing? Where is this?” It made me realized that a majority of our everyday conversations in any language includes asking many questions. We don’t need a huge vocabulary to manage most of our everyday conversations. This gave me confidence to start making simple sentences.

By the end of the second day, we were broken up into small groups of 5 or 6. Our task was to come up with some entertainment programming. Our group brainstormed on many ideas and finally settled to do a “Titanika Masala”, considering that it was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It was a comedy play where two guys decide to go on a cruise ship called Titanika imagining it to be a regular fun cruise but it turns out that Titanika is a Sanskrit-immersive cruise! So they have to start the day (like we did in the actual camp) with yoga being taught in Sanskrit followed by music class with Sanskrit songs. The story ends with the Titanika sinking but us getting saved because we use the “fish pose” learnt in our yoga class to stay afloat and alive. We had a whale of a time preparing for the play.

It felt great that within a couple days, we were able to even create our own play and act it out in a new language. Other teams put up plays that were equally entertaining and fun to watch. We were amazed at the talent.

The tough part will be keeping up the practice after the camp is over. The good news is that several DVDs, CDs and books are available to continue learning the language. In big cities like Houston and Austin, there are also weekly contact classes. For those of us in smaller cities, we have to find a conversational partner to keep up the language skills we have acquired or use technology like skype or phone to connect with other beginning students like us.

Overall, it was a GREAT experience and one that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in learning Sanskrit for themselves or anyone in their families.

Such camps are offered across the U.S. in Austin, Chicago, Bay Area, New Jersey and Michigan. It is entirely volunteer-driven. Check out Samskrita Bharati’s site: http://www.samskritabharati.org/ for more information.

Jayatu Samskritam! Jayatu Manukulam!