Can anyone comment on the difficulty, workload for this course?
I know nothing... about sanskrit, but I wanted to learn something completely new.

Thank you

I knew someone who took it and, on the plus side, they said it was very easy and they learned a fair amount of basic Sanskrit grammar. On the minus side, the person was a prof and they could speak quite a few "Indo-Aryan" languages fluently before they went into the course.

In general, though, I'd think that Sanskrit would be easier for a native English speaker to learn than, say, Mandarin or Japanese. This is because Sanskrit is part of the same language family as English. However, it will probably be more difficult than an intro French course or an intro German course, just because we have familiarity with French and German words via English.

This course is intro to sanskrit grammar. Initially you learn sanskrit alphabets and then you proceed to translation of the sentences. The course is extremely easy in terms of content and workload. Prof is also very helpful.

Here is the course breakdown

Term 1
Midterm 1: 10%
Midterm 2: 10%
Translation Assignment (best out of 2): 10%
Final 1:15%

Term 2
Midterm 3: 10%
Midterm 4: 10%
Translation Assignment (best out of 2): 10%
Final 2: 15%

and Participation: 10%

Most of the people I know got 11+. The class size was around 40. It is hard to learn the content from textbook so it is necessary to attend the class. I would give this course 9.5/10 and would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in learning sanskrit or looking for good elective.

So I can still do well even if I know nothing about Sanskrit? Thanks!

Originally Posted by kwyhan

So I can still do well even if I know nothing about Sanskrit? Thanks!

Definitely! We had a couple students who knew nothing about the language and ended up doing well. The prof is very very helpful!

yup there were many people in our class who had no sanskrit background and most of them did well.

I was just about to make this thread asking the exact same question. Thanks.

I'm interested in taking this course as well.
I learned Hindi a couple of years ago (I'm kinda rusty now) but I was just wondering, will knowing some Hindi help in this class?

hindi is not necessary but there is 90 % similarity between hindi and sanskrit alphabets. so it can help but is not required.

I think that if you're just looking for an easy elective to take and don't have much interest in this field... this is definitely not the right course for you (Maybe take some second year Economics courses lol). It's hard to learn a new language as an adult if you're not committed to it. I learned Sanskrit before and knowing other Indo-Aryan languages is honestly not that much of a help... the vocabulary is quite different and the translations can be challenging.

Only really take the course if you're interested in learning the basics of the language and know that you'll be dedicated to it.

I knew a blind dude (well almost blind) in my program who took it. He said it was really easy for him... but then again, he was an international student from India fluent in Hindi.

the prof for the course is amazing! he is really willing to accommodate for everyone. The workload is not too much. The course is definitely an enjoyable one regardless of the fact that you have ever taken hindi or sanskrit ever.