This course is a continuation of our Colloquial Tibetan series and is oriented toward continuing students who have had training in the Tibetan alphabet, spelling, and beginning dialogs. The emphasis of the classes is on developing further fluency with spoken Tibetan both in listening and in speaking. Students focus on training in successively more complex Tibetan colloquial dialogs. Spoken Tibetan is emphasized in class and students are encouraged to use Tibetan when asking questions as opposed to resorting to English. The course covers the material in chapters 6, 7, 8 of The Heart of Tibetan Language (HOTL) by Franziska Oertle. Homework is assigned.
Faculty: Gerry Wiener and Nima Bhuti
Dates and Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 6:00pm Pacific Time, September 13 – December 15, 2021
Prerequisites: Students should know:
- The equivalent of the first five chapters of HOTL
- How to pronounce in the Central Tibetan dialect all the letters and vowels in the Tibetan alphabet
- How to identify the main letter of a Tibetan word
- What prefixes, superfixes, subfixes, suffixes, and second suffixes are, and how they affect pronunciation
- How to spell a Tibetan word aloud
- What the essential and existential verbs are and how they are used (yin, min, red, ma red, yod, med, ‘dug, mi ‘dug, yod red, yod ma red)
- Demonstrative pronouns (‘di, de, pha gi, etc.)
- Personal pronouns (khong, khyed rang, etc.)
- Volitional and non-volitional verbs
- Transitive and intransitive verbs
- Verb tenses (past, present, and future) and auxiliary verbs
- Basics of locative, genitive, and instrumental cases
- Some understanding of the difference between honorific and non-honorific terms and when to use them
- How to read somewhat more complex Tibetan sentences aloud (but not necessarily understand their entire meaning)
Required Texts: Heart of Tibetan Language: A Synthesis of Indigenous Grammar and Contemporary Learning Methodology (Vol. 1, Text Book) by Franziska Oertle and the associated Exercise Book
Available through Dharma Publishing at: https://tinyurl.com/4jnxndu2