Pattern Drills in Intermediate Conversational Tibetan

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As my friend Kenneth Lieberman has mentioned in his foreword, this booklet of Pattern Drills and a booklet of Pronunciation Drills, published separately are some of the results of an intensive course in conversational Tibetan that I gave in 1985, in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

I suggested to the students that the materials we had covered be gathered together in a book or series of booklets. Having already organized the course Ken was enthusiastic about the idea and agreed to follow it up.

In spring 1986 Ken came to Dharamsala to study language and philosophy at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) and we worked on the first draft that he had done. I had to rewrite most of it, and eventually it was finalized and I recorded the Tibetan pronunciation on tape.

LTWA agreed to Ken’s request to publish this and a booklet of Pronunciation Drills. I would have further improved the final draft, but have had no opportunity to do so. Nevertheless, it is hoped that it will be useful to the Tibetan language students, which was our original intention.

Finally, I would like to thank Kenneth Lieberman for his cooperation and contribution, for without his effort the booklets would not have come out by this time.

Furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Thom Jefferson, founder of the Tibetan Library in Eugene, Oregon, for his pioneering work for the promotion of Tibetan Studies in Eugene, and also for his sympathetic cooperation in bringing out these two booklets, and whose exemplary honesty I greatly admire.

The intensive course in conversational Tibetan given by Ngawangthondup Naked in Eugene during the summer of 1985 contained a wealth of information about how to hear spoken Tibetan and presents information that is not available in most Tibetan language textbooks.

Students are referred to Ngawangthondup Narkyid’s Three Study Tools (third edition), published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India, which may be used as a companion volume.

This workbook provides extensive aural drill for the purpose of training the student’s ear to recognize standard Tibetan pronunciation. For this reason, one must use the book along with its accompanying tape, recorded by Ngawangthondup Naked at the University of Oregon.