Translation (अनुवाद): Sanskrit–Kannada Both Ways
Translation (अनुवाद) runs in both directions - Sanskrit to Kannada and Kannada to Sanskrit - usually one or two sentences each, marked for sense and grammar rather than literary polish.
Sanskrit → Kannada
- Split compounds and sandhi.
- Find the finite verb: it fixes tense, person, number.
- Map cases: प्रथमा → subject with -ಉ/-ಅನು; द्वितीया → -ಅನ್ನು; तृतीया → -ಇಂದ/-ದಿಂದ; चतुर्थी → -ಗೆ/-ಇಗೆ; पञ्चमी → -ಇಂದ (from); षष्ठी → -ಅ/-ದ; सप्तमी → -ಅಲ್ಲಿ.
- Keep Kannada SOV order and add the correct tense marker.
Kannada → Sanskrit
Choose the verb first (गम्, पठ्, खाद्, कृ, अस्, दा), then its गण and पद, then the person-number ending. Select the vibhakti from the Kannada suffix, not from English word order.
Worked example
Sanskrit: बालकः पुस्तकं पठति। Kannada: ಬಾಲಕನು ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನು ಓದುತ್ತಾನೆ। Reasoning: बालकः is कर्ता प्रथमा एकवचन → ಬಾಲಕನು; पुस्तकम् is कर्म द्वितीया → ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನು; पठति is लट् प्रथमपुरुष एकवचन → ಓದುತ್ತಾನೆ. Reverse: ನಾನು ಶಾಲೆಗೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ → अहं विद्यालयं गच्छामि. ನಾನು → अहम् (उत्तमपुरुष); ಶಾಲೆಗೆ → द्वितीया विद्यालयम्, since गम् takes द्वितीया for destination; ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ → गच्छामि.
Traps
- Word-by-word rendering that reverses Sanskrit order.
- Wrong tense: ಓದಿದನು must become अपठत्, not पठति.
- Missing dual forms where the sense is two persons or things.
- Translating an idiom literally instead of its sense.