Skip to main content

☸🦍 fun pali pronunciation lesson: tapping with the fingers as a metronome to distinguish between long and short syllables.


audio for the lesson:

♦ buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi.
(to the) Buddha (as a) refuge (I) go.

On the audio, when I recite this carefully select phrase, each finger tap on the table is equivalent to one long syllable in time.

Two short syllables = 1 long syllable in time. 
I selected this phrase because the number of short consecutive syllables are even (except for the 'i' in the last word gacchami). This is so the metronome tapping stays in sync.

The purpose of this exercise is to train you to get a feel of timing for 2 shorts = 1 long temporally. In practice, you don't have to get the timing perfect, but the more accurate you are, the more easily pali speakers can communicate with each other without ambiguity and confusion. Imagine during an arahant council and everyone is reciting the suttas they know in unison to verify the fidelity of transmission. You don't want to be the oddball out of sync that keeps interrupting the group chant. 

Breaking down the syllables word by word:
bud - long
dham - long
sa - short
ra - short
nam - long
gac - long
chā - long
mi - short

Remember the 4 simple rules of pronunciation? 
☸🦍 pali pronunciation, quick and easy, 4 simple ...

In the phrase above, pronounce every letter you see.
Note that a long syllable does not have to contain a 'long' vowel.
The long 'ā' vowel has a bar on top of the 'a'.
The short 'a' vowel does not.
Similarly: 'ī' is long, 'i' is short vowel.
Similarly: 'ū' is long, 'u' is short vowel.
The remaining two vowels are tricky: 'e' and 'o' are always long vowels, even though they have no bar on top of them. This is just a dumb rule we have to live with because the people who designed the romanized pali script decided that was the way it was going to be. Perhaps they thought saving ink on the printing presses from not having the extra bars on top of the 'o' and 'e' would save money? Who knows. 

So the basic of the 4 rules of pronunciation is, pronounce every letter you see, including the 'h', know the difference between long and short vowels, long and short syllables, treat multiple consonants like speed bumps, and listen to accurate pali audio to learn from.

My pronunciation is very competent on timing and fundamentals, but not up to par on the more subtle things that Americans have trouble discerning from native Indian or Sri Lankan vocals. Ideally use Ven. Jiv's audio samples whenever possible on lucid24.org. He's the gold standard. Other Sri Lankan bhikkhus and bhikkhunis are excellent, but sometimes they get a little carried away with musicality and it can be hard for a beginner to know what is being musical and what is the actual vowel supposed to sound like. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lucid24.org: What's new?

Link to lucid24.org home page :    4👑☸   Remember, you may have to click the refresh button on your web browser navigation bar at to get updated website. 2026 1-30 Overhauled the DN, MN, SN menu pages - Supreme navigation January 30, 2026 2025 12-16 2025-12 December: Major update on look and feel of Lucid24.org 2024 9-17 Lots of new stuff in the last 2 and a half years.  Too many to list. Main one justifying new blog entry, is redesign of home page. Before, it was designed to please me, super dense with everything in one master control panel. I've redesigned it to be friendly to newbies and everyone really. Clear structure, more use of space.  At someone's request, I added a lucid24.org google site search at top of home page. 2022 4-14 Major update to lucid24.org, easy navigation of suttas, quicklink: the ramifications 4-2 new feature lucid24.org sutta quick link 3-28 A new translation of SN 38.16, and first jhāna is a lot easier than you think 🔗📝notes relat...
3 comments
Read more

My thoughts on Dalai Lama kissing boy, and the solution

HHDL = His holiness, the Dalai Lama I've collected good references here, including the actual video, and snippets from forums discussions containing valid critcism and explanations of cultural context, and most importantly, what the rules of the actual vinaya that buddhist monks are supposed to follow: 1min. video: Dalai Lama kissing boy and asking him to suck his tongue At the time of this writing, HHDL is about 88 years old. He has an exemplary record devoting his life to compassionate service to all living beings,  as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. In this age of 'me too',  everyone with a cell phone with high resolution cameras, and the ability to quickly publicize any indiscretion or sexual crime, we've seen sexual predators in positions of power being exposed and convicted. Leaders of large corporations,  governments, professional sports, doctors, leaders in all religions. Tibetan Buddhism has an especially poor track record with corrupt sexual predators. https://thewal...
1 comment
Read more

Explanation from B. Thanissaro regarding Ajahn Mun biography section where he has conversations with (living) Buddhas

Ajahn Mun Bio, account of conversation with Buddhas excerpt from p.172 Venerable Ãcariya Mun Bhýridatta Thera: A Spiritual Biography by Ãcariya Mahã Boowa Ñãõasampanno.   http://www.forestdhamma.org/ebooks/english/pdf/Acariya_Mun__A_Spiritual_Biography.pdf On the nights subsequent to Ãcariya Mun’s attainment of vimutti, a number of Buddhas, accompanied by their Arahant disciples, came to congratulate him on his vimuttidhamma. One night, a certain Buddha, accompanied by tens of thousands of Arahant disciples, came to visit; the next night, he was visited by another Buddha who was accompanied by hundreds of thousands of Arahant disciples. Each night a different Buddha came to express his appreciation, accompanied by a different number of Arahant disciples. Ãcariya Mun stated that the number of accompanying Arahant disciples varied according to each Buddha’s relative accumulation of merit – a factor that differed from one Buddha to the next. Many critics cite that passa...
2 comments
Read more