I've acquired a book that appears to be a sutra collection, but I can't really get a grasp on what is written. Google Translate is not particularly helpful in this case, and I think the people at the temple are far too busy to help me translate it page by page (and I really would feel bad asking).
Just to demonstrate what I'm getting from Google Translate (selected at random):
Turns into:Nam mô a rị da, bà lô kiết đế, thước bàn ra dạ, ta bà ha.
The above is not even necessarily the strangest result I've gotten from a similar sample size... for instance, the word for Dharma (Pháp) will nearly always translate as "France" unless I put the word for Buddha (Phât) immediately prior to it. *confused* Oddly, this is almost never how I see it used in the book I have, but I sincerely doubt we're chanting about France for an hour. LOLMale model a ri, three fetters lot to the table size stomach, she ha.
Clearly I'm missing a lot of context on how the words are used in Vietnamese...
Is a printed Vietnamese to English dictionary going to be any more accurate, or is that exactly the sort of material that Google Translate is pulling it's results from?
Oddly, resources in Pali / English translation are far more easy to come by than Vietnamese / English, so there really isn't any particular shortage of teachings I'm able to read, but I'd really love to get more out of my time at temple, even if it is only through private study afterward.
Any ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance, friends.