Q: A lot of debate happens on true spelling and pronunciation. Which is correct?
A: To me, all are fine. The root word is Sam and hence many say Samskrit is better. But the rule is also that if ‘m’ comes before a consonant that is pronounced by bringing tongue close to teeth, ‘m’ becomes ‘n’ . This just makes pronunciation more free flowing. You just need to change the position of tongue around different teeth.
For example, bandar (monkey) is easy to pronounce compared to bamdar. All sandhi rules are based on which is easy to pronounce. Hence Sanskrit is more natural though many purists want to replace Sanskrit with Samskrit. Choose what you prefer. I prefer ease and comfort.
As for ‘kri’ or ‘kru’, again its a matter of convenience. Actual pronunciation is somewhere between.
Again, on whether we add an ‘a’ at end, I recommend saving a letter less and hence delay Carpel Tunnel Syndrome a bit more.
Just know that in Sanskrit, most nouns have ‘a’ sound at end. Or you can add an ‘a’ to be technically correct. But whatever you do, Roman letters will fail you somewhere in representing Sanskrit words. I prefer to use whatever is more popular and hence helps SEO.
Consider Sanskrit as mother. You talk with mother even with totli tongue as child, and take liberty to be Grammatically wrong and emotionally honest with her. Enjoy being blessed with mother. And enjoy the liberties.
Learn Sanskrit in simple manner –
1. Video Tutorial – Youtube Playlist
2. Lessons in Hindi, English
Spend few minutes daily on one of these and you will be able to learn basics of conversational Sanskrit in simple manner.