This class is oriented toward students who have had some training in the Tibetan alphabet, spelling, and beginning dialogs (see prerequisites below). The emphasis of the classes will be on developing fluency with spoken Tibetan. Students will focus on training in successively more complex Tibetan colloquial dialogs. The class will cover the material in the first six chapters of The Heart of Tibetan Language by Franziska Oertle. There will be homework assigned weekly.
Required Text: The Heart of Tibetan Language, Franziska Oertle
Prerequisites: At least two 2020 Summer Institute sessions of LAN 500 or equivalent (see details below).
Students should know:- How to pronounce in the Central Tibetan dialect all the letters 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 verbally spell a Tibetan word
- 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.)
