Tibetan

A member of the Tibeto-Burman group of Sino-Tibetan family of languages, spoken by c. 4 million people mainly in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (Xizang) in China, where it has official status, with further speakers in adjoining areas of Nepal and India.

Tibetan was first attested in the 7th century, when Buddhism began to penetrate into Tibet. The old literary language was used for a large output of philosophical, philological and historical works. Modern literary language started emerging in the late 19th century.

There are several major dialects in Modern Tibetan, which are sometimes viewed as different languages. Lhasa dialect seems to be emerging as a potential standard form. The language is spelt in the Tibetan alphabet which is derived from the ancient Indian script, Brahmi.


CLASSIFICATION = Sino-Tibetan family, SCRIPT = Tibetan

Courses

Colloquial Tibetan the complete course for beginners TIB CBEG 3
A manual of spoken Tibetan (Lhasa dialect) TIB C.1(PACK)*A
Manual of Standard Tibetan : Language and civilization : Introduction to Standard Tibetan (spoken and written) followed by an Appendix on Classical Literary Tibetan TIB CBEG 1; TIB CBEG 1:1-2(CD)
Say it in Tibetan : conversations in colloquial Tibetan TIB CBEG 2

Dictionaries

Conversational English-Tibetan dictionary TIB DICO 2
The new Tibetan-English dictionary of modern Tibetan TIB DICO 3

Grammar, Reading & Vocabulary

Grammar
Grammar of colloquial Tibetan TIB GRAM 1
Reading skills
How to read Classical Tibetan : volume one : Summary of the General Path TIB RSKILLS 1
Essentials of modern literary Tibetan : a reading course and reference grammar TIB RSKILLS 2
Vocabulary
Tibetan phrasebook & dictionary TIB VOCAB 1

Films

Phorpa TIB FILM 1(DVD)
The Tibetan book of the dead TIB FILM 2(DVD)*