A Basic Grammar of Modern Spoken Tibetan - A Practical Handbook (With Roman)

One of the many responsibilities assigned to LTWA at its inception nearly twenty years ago was to provide facilities for the study of the Tibetan language. Accordingly classes have been offered which have been attended by several hundred people from countries all over the world. To begin with there were few text books designed for foreigners to learn Tibetan, so it has also been LTWA policy to develop such materials and consequently a number of books and tapes have been published.

Tashi Daknewa is one of LTWA's resident Tibetan language teachers and with twelve years classroom experience, as well as a one year sabbatical teaching and studying in the USA, he has developed a keen awareness of students' needs. Through diligently noting the many and various questions he has been asked over the years, as well as the answers he gave, he has been able to compile this book, which illustrates Tibetan grammar from a quite fresh perspective. What he has tried to do is to address the problems that occur in students' minds when initially presented with Tibetan grammar in the traditional way.

Tashi is to be congratulated for his initiative and dedication and it is my fervent hope that by easing the linguistic difficulties somewhat this book will contribute to international understanding and friendship for Tibet and her people.

A Basic Grammar of Modem Spoken Tibetan is written for those non-Tibetan who have a keen interest in learning the proper rules of spoken Tibetan grammar. This book is based on my twelve years of experience in teaching Tibetan language at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala and one year teaching and studying in the U.S.A. During these years I have collected several notes which express the common grammatical problems of Tibetan language students. In this book I have tried to present the grammar rules as clearly as possible with a number of simple examples, so that it may be used by anyone who has no previous knowledge of spoken Tibetan. The English translations follow the Tibetan as closely as possible in order to help students understand both its meaning and form.

This book is written in a style which is completely different from the old traditional method. Moreover, it had been entirely based upon the modern colloquial grammatical rules, keeping in view the present requirements of the students. It is my hope that this method will truly benefit students and help them to learn both spoken and literary Tibetan. I would welcome any suggestion or comments in order to improve this book.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all of my friends who have assisted and encouraged me to write this book. Special thanks go to Mr. Gyatsho Tshering, Director of Library of Tibetan Works and Archives for reviewing the text. Also to Mr. Losang Dhonden.a Tibetan language research officer at LTWA for revising the entire Tibetan section and to Miss Kate Roddick from Britain, presently engaged in Tibetan Medical research for revising the English section.