Beginner's Step-by Step Guidebook - For Learning Tibetan

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Item Code: NAH713
Author: Dorje Khedak
Publisher: Dorje Khedak, Nepal
Language: Tibet and English
Edition: 2016
Pages: 92
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 9.5 inch X 7.5 inch
Weight 190 gm
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Fully insured
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Shipped to 153 countries
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More than 1M+ customers worldwide
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100% Made in India
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23 years in business
Book Description
Preface

When I was in south India many years back, I taught Tibetan to some of my foreign dharma friends. At that time I had a feeling that it would be beneficial if there were good books that can help one learn Tibetan; books that can help people who are interested to read and write this beautiful and rich language; books that people can carry in their classes as textbooks or self help guide so that they can learn Tibetan by themselves. A year later in 2005, I started making such a book and finally succeeded by publishing and printing 500 copies. With the passage of time, many people appreciated the book and with the increasing demand, I am bringing out the improved and revised second edition.

The aim of making this particular book is to benefit students who have an interest to learn the basics of Tibetan language starting from the alphabet. The students can be either foreigners or those who are traditionally related to the Himalayan Buddhist culture. Since Tibetan Buddhism spread to different parts of the world in the last few decades, there is a significant increase in the number of foreign students who are interested to learn Tibetan. On the other hand, the new generation of Tibetans and Himalayan Buddhists born in the foreign countries are facing great difficulties in learning their mother language. In fact, many of the Tibetan youngsters who are put into English medium schools at a tender age have not even seen the Tibetan alphabets let alone studying them. In order to help these two types of people, I have prepared this book. Generally, for Tibetan children living in a Tibetan family, learning Tibetan is not as challenging as learning other languages like English, Chinese, Arabic, European languages, and so forth, because Tibetan is their mother tongue. The only thing that they need in order to learn Tibetan is a little diligence, interest, resource and guidance.

To have a basic knowledge of Tibetan language, one needs to learn just 41 letters: 4 vowels, 30 consonants, 3 superscript) and 4 (subscript). If you want to learn how to read and write perfectly, you should learn only 107 letters: 4 vowels 30 consonants 12 superscript, 10 superscript, 11 superscript , 6 subscript, 12 subscript and three punctuation marks which appear in the beinging, middle and end of the words with symbols like head letter, the dot, and the brush stroke.

The literary tibetan based upon the four vowels and thirty consonants are commonly used all over the Himalayan regions of Tibet, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, and so on. The knowledge of colloquial Tibetan does not ensures the knowledge of the literary Tibetan, This is a fact as there are many Tibetans who can speak Tibetan fluently, but cannot write even a single sentence and read it correctly. Therefore, speaking and writing both are very important.

This book is designed as a step-by-step method for learning how to read Tibetan systematically without much intricate details. I have seen many people reading Tibetan prayers with the help of transliterations in English, Chinese or Nepali that are mostly incorrect. Hence, one should try to read the Tibetan without the help of phonetics to achieve accuracy.

This book will definitely enable people to read Tibetan directly without relying upon transliteration. I also hope that after studying this book, learning to speak Tibetan and pronounce Tibetan words will be much easier.

It is very difficult to transliterate Tibetan pronunciation perfectly into English letters. Thus, I recommend you to learn from someone who knows Tibetan well for your good pronunciation.

I heartily thank everyone who helped me to complete this book including Khenpo Sonam Tsewang.

Finally, I dedicate this book for the preservation of the Tibetan language based Dharma and culture which has the power of bringing peace and harmony on this planet. I pray for the longevity of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Penor Rinpoche's Yangsi, and all the great living masters.

Contents

1Biography of Thonmi Sambhota 1
PART ONE

VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

2Eight symbols of the origin points of the letters 4
3Thirty consonants 5
3The origin of the thirty consonants 6
4How to pronounce in English? 8
5Some single letters have meaning 10
6The four vowels 10
7How to pronounce when four vowels are used with thirty consonants? 12
8Words formed by combination of vowels and consonants 18
10Vocabulary 19
11Prefix, root letter, suffix and post suffix 21
PART TWO
THE STEP-BY-STEP METHOD OF LEARNING HOW TO READ TIBETAN

12Learn how to spell tibetan letters 22
13Ten suffixes with root letters 23
14Read the two words together 24
15Root letter with the vowels and suffixes 26
16Root letter with the five prefixes 28
17Root letter with both the prefix and suffix 30
18Post suffixes after the suffixes 31
19How Tibetan letter is read 32
20Root letters that change their sounds with prefixes 33
THREE GOCHEN (SUPERSCRIPTS)
21Rago, the superscript Ra 34
22Superscript Ra with suffixes, prefixes, vowels and post suffixes 35
23Lago, the superscript La 37
24Superscript La with the suffixes, prefixes and vowels 38
25Sago, the superscript Sa 39
26Superscript Sa with the suffixes, prefixes and vowels 40
FOUR DOGCHEN (SUBSCRIPTS)
277 Yatag42
2812 Ratag 44
296 Latag 46
3012 Wazur 48
DOUBLE AND TRIPLE STACKED LETTERS AND OTHERS

31Example of Ba root letter which change with Da prefix 49
32Double and triple stacked letters 50
33How to read both subscribed and superscribed letters together? 51
PART THREE

LEARN HOW TO READ TIBETAN CONDENSED or SHORTHAND WORDS

34Recite the prayers 54
35The way of reading tibetan sentences 56
36The prefixes used only with consonants 57
37Language pronunciation 60
PART FOUR

USED IN SANSKRIT

38The six reversed letters (Log yig drug) 61
39Five heavy sounding letters (Thugpo nga) 61
GENDER LETTERS
40Root letters 62
41Prefixes 63
42Suffixes 65
PART FIVE
DIFFERENT WRITTEN TIBETAN LETTERS

43Explanation of Wu-chen written letters 67
44Others 70
45Seven seals that avoid mistakes 78
46Introduction to tenses and nmbers etc 81
47Explanation of the book cover 85







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