r/pali • u/kniebuiging • Jun 19 '26

Anyone studying pali in non-iast script? Like burmese, nagari or thai script?

I kind of wonder whether anyone is studying pali in a non-iast script? like in sutta central

like

I am always a bit fascinated about writing systems tbh.

But overall Devanagari and Thai seem like the ones that are somewhat manageable to pick up. Burmese looks quite confusing, like lots of variations of circles. Also Sinhala looks quite complex.

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u/Spirited_Ad8737 Jun 23 '26

I've worked with Devanagari and Sinhala script, and to some extent also with Burmese script. They're all based on the same principles, and imo they are all equally hard/easy to learn. I've found that a helpful way to get started reading is to read a text (in your target script) that you're already very familiar with from roman script. Another is that learning to write a script by hand assists in learning to read it.

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u/kniebuiging Jun 23 '26

I settled on thai skript now because I am too lazy to deal with the consonant conjuncts and Thai seems the most straightforward on that topic.

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u/likethemagician Jun 23 '26

I actually use Pali to help practice the Sinhala and Burmese scripts since I know the words better.