Learning New Language, Danger in 26.1 !!

[marybluesky]

I've recently started to learn Hindi as I find this language beautiful & it has many words & structures in common with my mother tongue.

Excited, I asked the I Ching's opinion and it replied with 26.1.2 to 52: there's danger, stop, keep in place !!!

 

[redoleander]

I wonder if it’s more an instruction on how to proceed? To know when to stop (this could be about pacing yourself well, not getting too excited and then burning out), and also to think about what you’ll do when it gets hard or you’re frustrated (kind of like getting a flat tire, what attitude will you have on the side of the road? Angry and cursing or laughing and playing games while you wait). It will be interesting to see what the obstacles end up being or why these attitudes are needed. Maybe other things in life come up that are more worthy if your attention and you’re being told in advance that is just fine. That it’s ok to stop and read the signs.

I don’t know if it means you can’t try at all but perhaps a warning to be alert to the future signs holding you back and not to fight them when they arrive. If it were something about which you already had doubts, I’d say just stop now. The stop may not even be especially long term, more about not fighting it when it comes.

 

[dfreed]

Hmm, it does suggest a bit of hesitancy or danger, doesn't it?

26 Judgement - TAMING POWER OF THE GREAT. Perseverance furthers. Not eating at home brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.

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Wilhelm's translation of Line 26.1 is - Danger is at hand. It furthers one to desist.​

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Rutt is a bit different - Line 26.1 - There is danger. Favorable to offer sacrifice.​

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And for 26.2 we have: The axletrees are taken from the wagon. Or ... Carriage loses axle-case.​

It could certainly suggest you stop, or perhaps ... with 26.1 there is some 'danger' (hardship, mis-interpretations, feeling stuck), but there is a way around this - maybe a 'sacrifice' of more time, or to give up feeling you NEED to learn this in a hurry ....

26.2 - Carriage loses an axle-case: you 'break down', are temporarily stopped, but you find meaningful and useful ways to wait until the carriage gets repaired, and you then continue on, and since you are no longer in a hurry ... this is not such a big deal.

'Not eating at home' brings to mind eating out, maybe in a foreign place, where you get to order your dinner in Hindi .... To 'cross the great water' implies a great, and perhaps challenging or difficult journey or undertaking, where you might face breakdowns or danger - but that doesn't mean you should not attempt the crossing.

Hexagram 52 - two mountains - suggest a pause or stop. Maybe if you have doubts about learning Hindi, you need to stop and ask whatever it is you need to ask - for example: is there any downside to learning Hindi? Could it be that this is taking time away from something else? Trigram mountain is also about looking to the past to inform the future ... so perhaps: did I try to learn other languages before this and what happened? What challenges, mishaps, or 'danger's did I face? (And you can then move on, into the 'future' informed by your past experiences.)

Just saying. Best, D

 

[Viru10]

Not sure what the danger would be in 26.1. I sometimes get similar issues when I'm asking the I-Ching for "permission" to do something. I would say go ahead and try it anyways and see what happens, then you can confirm what 26.1.2 is referring to specifically. Even, like Redoleander said, you burn out it's not a big loss. Then you can know personally what 26.1.2 would mean.

I speak Hindi myself and I haven't encountered any danger... yet lol. I believe there is probably some Persian influence due to the Mughals in India etc. Hindi is kind of a blend of Sanskrit and Farsi, I think that's why it's referred to as an Indo-European language distinct from the Dravidian languages in South India that are completely different.

Maybe check out Urdu if Hindi is too confusing. Not sure if you are familiar with Arabic script but Urdu is basically the exact same thing as Hindi but written in Arabic.

 

[marybluesky]

Thanks very much Viru!

I thought Urdu was quite different from Hindi although they had a lot in common.

The Arabic script would make things much easier, useful hint! As a beginner, the hardest thing is to learn the Hindi script, which is interesting, but not similar to anything I've worked with so far. Maybe that's what the I Ching wants me to stop?

 

[dfreed]

The Arabic script would make things much easier, useful hint!

I'm a bit baffled as to why you think this would make things much easier? If you want to learn Urdu, which uses Arabic script, then you should learn to write Urdu, but that is not then learning Hindi (spoken along with written), nor is it the meaning I see in your reading.

And as far as I know, Arabic and Farsi (Persian) are different languages - maybe similar in the ways English and French are. They are from different language families, with Arabic being an Afroasiatic (Afro-Asiatic) language as are Berber, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Aramaic.

As to Indo-European, I think this refers to a proto-language (over 5000 years old) that is considered to be the root or 'mother' language of a whole range of languages, from Celtic, to Armenian to Hindi. It does not mean that a language is part Indo (Indian or Asian) and part European. And I doubt that learning Welsh or Celtic is going to help in your Hindi studies.

Best, D

 

[marybluesky]

I'm a bit baffled as to why you think this would make things much easier?

Because I already know the Arabic script.

 

[dfreed]

Because I already know the Arabic script.

Well, then maybe you should learn Urdu. Good idea. As someone said, it is the same or very similar to spoken Hindi, but the writing is different.

 

[Viru10]

For context, I'm north Indian (from Delhi) and can freely talk with my Pakistani friends here in the US who speak Urdu. I personally could never even distinguish between the languages besides perhaps a few Farsi words. Even the dialect and accent is indistinguishable between north Indian Hindi and Pakistani Urdu. They are effectively the same language excepting the written aspect.

The written communication is different but Devanagari is hard af to learn for Indians let alone anyone else. If you already know Arabic script already and learn Urdu you will be able to communicate with Hindi speakers.

Again, no clue on why or how this could be dangerous. That's why I suggested trying it out because there isn't much obvious risk here, then you could see what 26.1.2 is actually referring to.

 

[marybluesky]

UPDATE:
Finally, I've started learning Devanagari since less than 10 days & I enjoy it.

I wasn't prepared last May, so I stopped learning Hindi & Urdu systematically, although I didn't stop watching & listening to Hindi media.
Bradford translates 26.1 as: "This will get harsh, Worthwhile to quit". It was harsh then & that's what happened.

Initially I guessed this passion for Hindi language was rather a fever in a critical point of my life. It did start like a fever, however hasn't burnt out up to this day. In fact it deepened & extended. In the mean time I studied more & more about India's history & culture & it's similarities with my country's. I intend to travel to India as soon as the pandemic is over.

 

[Olga Super Star]

I M confused.
Is Devanagari Hindi or Urdu?

 

[IrfanK]

I M confused.
Is Devanagari Hindi or Urdu?

Hey Olga, Devanagari is the script used for Hindi (and Sanskrit, maybe a few other Indic languages). Like this:

आ हिंदी वर्णमाला का दूसरा अक्षर जो 'अ' का दीर्घ रूप है ।

I studied Sanskrit at university for a while -- just long enough to gain an impression of what an incredibly complicated language it is, it sort of contains every European language within it. I remember my Sanskrit teacher saying that he thought Hindi and Urdu were really the same language, just a distinction made for political reasons, and one uses the Devanagari script while the other uses Arabic.

Mary, good luck with your studies!

 

[marybluesky]

I M confused.
Is Devanagari Hindi or Urdu?

Devanagari is the Hindi script, and Hindi and Urdu are almost the same speaking language, as Viru has explained in the posts #4 and #9.

 

[Viru10]

I remember my Sanskrit teacher saying that he thought Hindi and Urdu were really the same language, just a distinction made for political reasons

According to my dad, (I don't know much about Indian history), the Persians/Mughals that invaded in the Middle Age period didn't speak Hindi (called Hindustani at the time I think) and so created a blend language written in their native script (Arabic) to make it easier to communicate with the locals.

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan even though it really is a language of New Delhi (which is why it's so similar to Hindi), most people in the Pakistan region spoke Punjabi and Sindhi before partition in 1947.

 

[Olga Super Star]

Yes, I found the word 'Hindustani' in Jane Eyre