ebooks Manual of Standard Tibetan: Language and Civilization by Nicolas Tournadre; Sangda Dorje in History

Review

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Excellent In-Depth Starting PointBy JasonI found this book very confusing and intimidating at first; and initially didn't think it was very good. At first i found it poorly organized and confusing. Now that i have continued working through it; i am finding that it is making more and more sense; and is becoming clear. I think i was just initially intimidated by the Tibetan language itself; rather than the book. I have looked at many other titles available for learning Tibetan; and i find this one to be one of the most in depth and comprehensive and easy to understand. But no book have i found to be completely clear; and so this book too has its flaws.. For me; i feel frustrated when terms are introduced for example in the introduction with only the wylie transliteration; and no tibetan script or even the book's own transcription system. Though i do feel that working through the book eventually i will feel confident enough to understand what those terms are in all three tibetan script/wylie/and transcription(pronunciation). I also wish that the part showing how to write the characters was improved with stroke direction; as i find it highly important to begin learning to write properly at the beginning in order to best learn the language. But i do not expect any book to be the /only/ book that i will need on the subject; so with that in mind; i find this book the best i have come across so far. On a final note; i would recommend still listening to a native speaker or highly practiced teacher however you can; either through a class or recordings (as actually the book provides with cds--i have not yet listened to them; as i am taking a class with the book online; so i suppose my review is somewhat incomplete at this time); so that you can match correct pronunciation. Also; another reviewer here complained that the authors have invented their own system of transliteration; and that it is pointless because one must eventually learn Wylie in other textbooks. I actually disagree. The system employed in this book is actually a system of transcription; meaning it is a clue to the pronunciation more directly than transliteration is. For example; the word for summer དབྱར་ཁ་ would be transliterated in Wylie as "dbyar kha" which for me; until i learned the system of pronunciation based on prefixes and so forth; gives no clue as to the word's real pronunciation; which the book gives as /yarka/. So while learning the Wylie system of transliteration can be useful; i find the book's system of transcription very helpful as a beginner; and it is very well designed.Over all; this book is highly recommended!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great book for learning TibetanBy Paul GomezThis is the best Tibetan language resource on the market - the CDs which are included are fantastic.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. At last a proper Manual!By CustomerI have been trying to learn Tibetan from books and CDs for quite some time and after some unsuccessful attempts with other Language Packs I finally decided to try The Manual of Standard Tibetan and I am more than happy! Within two weeks I have learnt more than what I had learnt in one year! I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn more than the usual everyday expressions found in all Tibetan phrasebooks!