Learning Practical Tibetan
| By Andrew Bloomfield and Yanki Tshering | Places to Purchase: |
| Published by Snow Lion Publications | |
| 1998 - 202 pages | |
| ISBN : 1-55939-098-0 |
Summary
Good introduction to the spoken language. This is an easy and fun to use book that will enable you to maintain simple conversations. The two 90 minute tapes are excellent for learning correct pronunciation.
Review
This is a good book for an introduction to the spoken language. It is based on the Tibetan Phrase book (Snow Lion Publications, 1987), but has one very important advantage. which is inclusion of the Tibetan script.The book starts off with a chapter on grammar, but it is only a short introduction as the focus of this book is conversation. What follows is 18 chapters of dialogues, phrases and vocabulary. Each chapter has a theme, such as greetings, accommodation, food, shopping etc. Each sentence is presented in four ways, first in English, then in Tibetan phonetics, then in English using Tibetan word order, and finally in the Tibetan script. Here is an example from the book; this sentence is taken from chapter 14, Transportation:
| -I want to stay here for a few days. |
| Dhey nyi-ma kah-shey deh-gi-yin |
| (here) (day) (several) (staying) |
| 8+m:-(m-1-"-<=-0 &+- <m-9m,k í |
This way of presenting each sentence is very helpful. It will help you in understanding the structure of the Tibetan sentence, as well as getting the pronunciation correct. Beginners should also find it easier to locate each word in the Tibetan script, since the order of the words is given in English. The only thing I would have liked to see here is the Tibetan script first and the translation last. Then you could cover up the translation while you try to translate the script yourself. For those who want to use the book as a phrase book, the existing arrangement is better.
You can get two 90 minute tapes, read by a native Tibetan, which cover every single word and sentence in the book. Those tapes are very good, they will make it easier for you to get the pronunciation correct. If you buy this book, I highly recommend you get the tapes as well.