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Gyani ji

I agree that sometimes translations can seem way off the mark. But until someone has fully learnt to grasp a language, there are limited ways to support them. In this light, with all their limitations, translations and transliterations serve a good purpose although I agree nothing beats reading bani in its original form. I mentioned earlier that often my reading of a transliterated word in English is significantly different to the correct pronunciation.

One of the many beautiful things about Gurmukhi is that it is phonetically correct. This means the symbols strictly map to specific sounds. Trying to teach people English and having to explain untold contradictions regarding grapheme to morpheme mapping gives one a greater appreciation for the consistency of the language.

However I don't agree that it boils down to just 35 letters anymore. Some of these letters (the ones at the end of the lines) have become so rarely used that I can't remember having ever encountered them.  In reality there are now 40 different letters (including the ones added to accommodate Persian vocabulary) and about a dozen or so other vowel/diacritical symbols.