Welcome to Volume 2 of The Heart of Tibetan Language. As with the first volume, in this innovative course book, you do not need to re-learn English grammar to study a foreign language. Instead, you will continue to study the language by further deepening your understanding of the way Tibetans think and express themselves. Relying on your knowledge from Volume 1 about the special features of the Tibetan language, such as the all-pervasive system of self and other, volitional and non-volitional verbs, evidence, and so on, this second Volume introduces you to the fascinating world of intermediate Tibetan grammar and conversation. When studying this textbook, you will explore and learn many indispensable and interesting intermediate-level grammar tools, read and listen to authentic dialogues, learn relevant vocabulary, enjoy curious cultural information, laugh at Tibetan jokes, as well as enjoy hearing award-winning Tibetan songs in every lesson. At the end of each lesson, a set of rubrics supports your evaluation of the process of learning and enhances your meta-cognitive skills. Franziska Oertle’s novel approach introduces you to the indigenous notions, logic, and categorizations used by the Tibetans, combined with a student-centered, contemporary-learning methodology. This highly effective methodology helps learners gain a deep understanding of the Tibetan mindset. As you learn the basics of how to communicate in colloquial Tibetan, The Heart of Tibetan language may even change how you view yourself and the world

Welcome to Volume 2 of The Heart of Tibetan Language. As with the first volume, in this innovative course book, you do not need to re-learn English grammar to study a foreign language. Instead, you will continue to study the language by further deepening your understanding of the way Tibetans think and express themselves. Relying on your knowledge from Volume 1 about the special features of the Tibetan language, such as bdag and gzhan/ (the all-pervasive system of self and other), byed 'brel las tshig and byed med las tshig (volitional and involitional verbs), evidence, and so on, this second Volume introduces you to the fascinating world of intermediate Tibetan grammar and conversation. When studying this textbook, you will explore and learn many indispensable and interesting intermediate-level grammar tools, read and listen to authenticdialogues, learn relevant vocabulary, enjoy curious cultural information, laugh at Tibetan jokes, as well as enjoy hearing award-winning Tibetan songs in every lesson. At the end, a set of rubrics supports your evaluation of the process of learning and enhances your meta-cognitive skills. Franziska Oertle's novel approach introduces you to the indigenous notions, logic, and categorizations used by the Tibetans, combining them with a student-centered, contemporary-learning methodology. This highly effective methodology helps learners gain a deep understanding of the Tibetan mindset. As you learn the basics of how to communicate in colloquial Tibetan, The Heart of Tibetan Language may even change how you view yourself and the world.

Offering a variety of exercises for each lesson of the textbook, the Exercises provide optimal methods and opportunities for practicing the three language skills: speaking, listening, and reading. The exercises are skillfully designed to be engaging and enjoyable. All the lesson's exercises contain a section of grammar and conversation. The themes of the conversation sections are interwoven with intermediate grammar concepts (such as the conditional, reported speech, modal verbs, nominalizers, and so forth), which are required for employing a considerable degree of complexity in conversations

Welcome to the Heart of Tibetan Language! With this innovative course book, there is no need to re-learn English grammar in order to study a foreign language. Instead, you will learn to speak the language by discovering the way Tibetans think, through the heart of the Tibetan language.Can you imagine a language in which letters have their own genders? In Tibetan, speaking to certain people, and even about sacred places and buildings, requires special honorific terminology. Not only that, but an auxiliary form is used to indicate whether the speaker has direct experience of what is being said! Do you wonder how you will learn to use the all-pervasive notions of "Self and Other" (¿¿¿ & ¿¿¿¿ bdag & gzhan/), volitional and non-volitional verbs (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ & ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ byed 'brel las tshig & byed med las tshig/), and so much more? Franziska Oertle's novel approach, introduces you to the indigenous notions, logic and categorizations used by Tibetans themselves,combining them with a student-centered, contemporary learning methodology.Exploring these concepts may seem a bit challenging at first. But rest assured, the presentation is fascinating and engaging. This is a most effective way for learners to gain a deep understanding of the Tibetan mindset. The Heart of Tibetan Language may just change how you view yourself and the world, as you learn the basics of how to communicate in colloquial Tibetan.

It is said that practice is the 'Mother of all Learning.' This is particularly true when it comes to learning a foreign language. This exercise book is therefore an indispensable addition to - or part of - The Heart of Tibetan Language Textbook. Offering a variety of exercises for each lesson of the textbook, it provides optimal methods and opportunities to practice the four language skills: listening, reading, speaking and grammar. The exercises are skillfully designed to be engaging and enjoyable. Every lesson contains a topic of grammar and conversation, with related exercises. Topics of conversation are typical themes for beginning language learners, such as: introducing yourself, family, food, weather, free time, shopping, etc. These are interwoven with the basic grammar concepts required to have a simple conversation in the three times (tenses), including imperatives. In addition to being motivating and friendly, the colorful layout of the pages represent the elements, as well as the colors of the Tibetan prayer flags. In this way, we are reminded how fortunate we are to have this precious opportunity to study the Tibetan language.

This textbook will thus not only help you to acquire language skills in colloquial Tibetan, it will simultaneously introduce you to a whole new manner of thinking and viewing yourself and the world. Unlike all other spoken Tibetan language textbooks that I’m aware of, this one (almost) does not make use of grammatical terms and categories commonly used in European languages. Instead, you will become familiar with the notions, logic and categorizations that are used by Tibetans themselves: namely, the all-pervasive notion of “Self and Other” བདག་ & གཞན་, volitional and non-volitional (བྱེད་འབྲེལ་ལས་ཚིག་ & བྱེད་མེད་ལས་ཚིག་), etc. In this way, you too, will eventually come to understand the Tibetan mindset. Being a strong advocate of such an approach is not personal philosophy and preference. It is, more importantly, the fruit of teaching Tibetan language from such a point of view over the past seven years. The response of all of my students to such approach has been extremely positive. You may still ask: “Why bother to learn all these new categories?” As you will soon realize, the Tibetan language is very particular. Letters have genders, an honorific language register is used for certain people and even sacred places and buildings, and the use of an auxiliary indicates whether or not the speaker has direct experience of what is being said. None of this exists in the English language and there are, therefore, no English grammatical categories for such functions. Learning all of these differences may seem like a headache initially – but they are profound and fascinating and I trust you will come to enjoy putting the puzzle pieces together!

A Textbook in Classical Tibetan is the first comprehensive course book in the Classical Tibetan language written in English. The textbook describes the grammar of pre-16th-century Classical Tibetan works for beginners and students of intermediate level. It is intended to cover the most essential topics that can be mastered within two semesters of an academic class. Classical Tibetan is a written Middle Tibetan language that has been in use in Tibet from the 9th century. Until the early 20th century it served all purposes, from administrative, to medical, to religious. Nowadays Classical Tibetan remains an important part of religious identity and services for communities also outside of cultural Tibet, foremost in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, but also elsewhere, most importantly in Europe, North America and Australia. The main body of the textbook consists of an introduction to the Tibetan script, eighteen lessons, and a reading section. Each lesson elucidates several grammatical topics which are followed by an exercise and a word list. The chapter readings contain four supplementary readings. In addition to the main parts of the textbook, a brief introduction to Tibetic languages provides linguistic context for the language taught in the textbook, whereas the chapter Translations of Exercises and Readings contains translations and explanatory notes to the exercises provided at the end of each lesson, as well as to the readings. A Textbook in Classical Tibetan is essential reading for both undergraduate and graduate students without any knowledge of Classical Tibetan, but also for those who would like to deepen their experience of the language by reading annotated excerpts from well-known pieces of Tibetan literature.