Hi everyone,
I’m planning on getting my first tattoo which is the Sanskrit for ‘know yourself’. I’ve found a translation online but I just want to double check that it’s correct as obviously it would be quite a disaster if it was wrong. So is anyone able to confirm for me that this (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/attachments/languages/6325d1203494929-english-sanskrit-aatmaanam.jpg) is the correct linguistic translation for ‘know yourself/thyself’?
Thanks a lot in advance for anyone’s help.
Hmm, that’s kind of how and why I want it though
I want it to be a message for me and not really for anyone else, just because the meaning behind it is not exactly something that I’d be completely comfortable really explaining to everyone (the explanation I’d give them would probably just be something like ‘um, just cause it’s good… ya know, to know yourself’). Obviously I don’t read Sanskrit, but I’m going to know what it means and the fact that no one else will means to me that it’s more of a personal message to myself. I definitely wouldn’t want to get it in English.
What’s your reason for saying that?
Well if you have for a while and aren’t in a rush, why not just learn Sanskrit?!
Here is the thing; A saying sounds pretty in english, might be gibberish in Sanskrit even if the translation is correct. I speak several languages and very few sayings have the same meaning when directly translated. And doing your research means going to a professional translator, not assuming a stranger on a tattoo forum speaks Sanskrit and can be trusted to give you a honest translation.
I agree with what has been said, go to a professional translator….but if you insist on getting advice from here…..
A quick google search “know yourself translated in sanskrit” this was the first search result.
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/languages/english-sanskrit-183040.html
This is the PHONETIC translation in Sanskrit Script. It is read exactly as you would read “Know yourself”
Now if you want it translated in Sanskrit Languge (linguistic translation), This is it:
Read as “Aatmaanam Viddhi”; Meaning “Know thy self”
You won’t get much positive feedback for text tattoos from here…most people here generally don’t like them and prefer a nice drawing instead of text, it’s just more aesthetically pleasing as a tattoo for most.
My view is – if you wouldn’t hang it on your wall why would you have it on your skin?
Get a stunning artist to draw something up that means the same thing (in your head) and then live the rest of you life with something beautiful that you’ll never regret. Even if you decide to change the meaning of it later in life.
You can thank me later. 😀
I do appreciate everything you’ve all said, really, thanks for advising me. poxphobia, I’ll think about what you said, but like I said making sure that it’s something correct and not gibberish is what I’m trying to do. Yeah I think finding a professional translator would actually be a good idea, but really I don’t even know where I’d begin trying to find one in real life.
buttwheat, well really it’s not meant to scream anything to anyone except me. I know quite a few people think that tattoos in foreign languages and stuff are for idiots, but there are probably more people in the world who just think tattoos in general are for idiots, and I wonder what the members of this forum would say to them… probably something on the grounds of ‘it’s my body, no one else’s, and I guess it’s lucky it’s on mine and not yours if you think it’s douchey, stupid, hideous, pointless or whatever. Luckily for me, I love it’. All I can say is I’m not getting it to be a douche, I’m getting it because it’s an important message to me, and I don’t want it in English, so I would love for it to be in such a beautiful language, and if other people can’t respect that… well, what do you say to other people when they say they don’t like your tattoos?
ezrider: yeah, that’s exactly what I found when I first looked it up, I want the linguistic translation and what I’m doing now is just trying to double check that the it’s right. thanks though.
Aiken Drum, I guess our opinions just differ there, I’ll think about it but I just never thought of this one as a drawing, or about even getting a drawing at this point. and I just don’t know about re-thinking a tattoo that I’m already quite sure about.
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