Tibetan Language Program
New class in Thosamling Institute
Advanced Tibetan class on Dharma.
The goal of this class is to train the students to understand oral Dharma teachings while building up the vocabulary specific to Dharma.
This class will start on 5th August 2013 and conclude on 11th October (10 weeks).
It is given by our English translator. She will lead students through the audio material of teachings given by our residential teacher, going word by word, sentence by sentence.
Schedule: 4 class of 2 hours a week.
Level of the class: Students need to have a certain fluency in colloquial, as well as knowledge of basic Dharma vocabulary.
Crash Course
(the course will start only if there are enough applicants)
A course for students with little or no experience of Tibetan. We will go through the alphabet, basic pronunciations and sense structures. By the end of the course students will be able to read texts, will have a basis of Tibetan grammar and thus will be able to understand simple sentences.
Period: July 2 nd till September 20 th 2013
Classes will be from Monday to Friday, twice a day.
Teacher: to be announced.
Literary Tibetan
A Two-Month Intensive with Professor Bill Magee.
Period: October 12th till November 23rd 2013.
Thosamling is grateful to announce this unique opportunity for an in-depth study of literary Tibetan with Professor Bill Magee. As a long time teacher of literary Tibetan, he has extensive experience and skill in making the classical texts accessible to any one with a basic level of Tibetan – in fact, he possesses the rare talent to make learning literary Tibetan seem fun and easy!
As a translator of classical Tibetan texts (currently he is engaged in a project with Professor Jeffrey Hopkins) and author of numerous books and articles, Bill Magee truly has a wealth of experience to share.
About the
course:
This course will provide students with a clear understanding of how to examine a Tibetan sentence, to understand its grammar, a solid foundation of vocabulary for reading Ge-luk texts, including debate-oriented texts, an appreciation for the wide differences between the literatures of the different lineages, and an appreciation for the distinctive Tibetan-Sanskrit translation style. The course will provide an excellent foundation for the continued study of the Tibetan language on a professional level.
Practical information:
The course will last 8 weeks, with 4 classes a week.
During this period there is also ample opportunity to take classes at the Tibetan Library. They offer a range of courses, from Buddhist Philosophy to different levels of Tibetan language.
About the
teacher.
Bill Magee is Associate Professor of Tibetan Buddhism (ret.) at Dharma Drum College in Taiwan. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Tibetan philosophy, and co-author (with Dr. Elizabeth Napper) of Fluent Tibetan: a Proficiency-oriented Language Learning System.
Before moving to Taiwan, Dr. Magee earned his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia under the direction of Jeffrey Hopkins while teaching Tibetan language at the University's Foreign Language Institute. With Jeffrey Hopkins, Dr. Magee administers two on-line Tibetan archives: the Hopkins Tibetan Treasures Multimedia Research Archive (http://haa.ddbc.edu.tw) and the Uma Institute (http://uma-tibet.org). He was the chair of the organizing committee for the XVIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies in 2011 and is currently the vice president of the Uma Institute for Tibetan Studies and working as a translator for its Go-mang Translation Project.
