« Potent Carcinogen found in Most Condoms | Main | Possible Proof of Riemann Hypothesis »

June 04, 2004

I'm Learning Tibetan

Well, I'm finally doing it -- I've started studying Classical Tibetan. After many years of procrastinating I've taken the leap. You may wonder why anyone would need to know Classical Tibetan -- the answer is that it is the language used in all the classical Tibetan Buddhist texts. One of my main interests in life -- although not one that is featured in this blog -- is Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, which after studying almost everything else, is the only philosophical tradition that is both scientific and useful enough to be of any practical value, in my opinion. At this point I've read just about every translation of classical Tibetan texts available in English, so the only way I will be able to go further is to read the original Tibetan texts themselves -- there are tens of thousands of incredibly profound and important texts that haven't been translated yet. I'm very excited about being able to read these myself. The next step after that will be to learn Modern Tibetan so I can actually speak to Tibetans, but that will be later on. So currently I am trying to reshape my brain to write and think in Tibetan, a language that is sort of like a cross between Chinese, Hungarian and Sanskrit! Yikes -- it's a completely new way of thinking and requires incredible concentration, at least at this stage -- but I'm hoping that after a few months it will start getting easier. Wish me luck! And by the way if you are serious about learning Tibetan I can recommend a great tutor.

Posted on June 04, 2004 at 11:36 AM in Buddhism, Consciousness, Philosophy, Religion |

|

Comments

Jessica

Tashidelek Trinley,

I am French girl who are comming in Nepal and desire to learn Tibetan at 29th june 2008.
I am searching someone to teach me ths language, so if you are interested to teach me, please contact me.
I have some question...I hope you will see this mail...I don't get other way to contact you.
Jessica

Posted by: Jessica | June 12, 2008 at 11:45 PM

Trinley

I am a tibetan language tutor living in Nepal and I have good knowledge of tibetan traditions, religion and culture as I was a monk in tibet for more than ten years. if anyone wants to learn tibetan in nepal, don't hesitate to contact me.
good luck

Posted by: Trinley | December 03, 2007 at 03:26 AM

Jenny

Nova,

It's now January, 2006. I'm wondering how your attempt to learn Classical Tibetan has gone. (It seems there are enough of us responding to your interest to start a class.) I wish you luck.

Jenny

Posted by: Jenny | January 28, 2006 at 03:41 PM

sonam rinchen

Hello everyone,
My name is Sonam. I am Tibetan tutor living in Vancouver. I have been teaching Tibetan for over two years. I have also began giving lesson on the internet with one of my student from Miami. If any of you want to learn Tibetan feel free to contact me.

Regards,
Sonam Rinchen
[email protected]
www.learntibetan.net

Posted by: sonam rinchen | December 18, 2005 at 01:41 PM

Tulsidasi

Hello,

Hope you've had much success with your studies. I'm also in the Boston area and interested in learning Tibetan. Are you still taking classes and is your teacher taking on more students? Inquiring minds want to know so please keep me posted.

Thanks,

Tulsidasi

Posted by: Tulsidasi | December 08, 2005 at 03:08 PM

fanglong

Hi Nova,
It's a long time you've posted the news you were going to learn Tibetan. What's up about that? I am a sino- and tibetologist, a Frenchman moreover, so fond of Eastern languages (as once they were called) : I've been seduced by your reflexion on "self-awarenes". I'm sure you know Tibetans are extraordinary on that subject, especially in the "Great Perfection" litterature. I hope you can now dive in those written marvels.
Please let me know more of your projects...
PC

Posted by: fanglong | July 31, 2005 at 10:51 AM

Jim

Hi,
Good luck in your studies. I am interested in learning Tibetan as well.
In a month I will be married to a Tibetan woman. If I don't learn Tibetan I will spend the rest of my life listening to it but not understanding.
She learned English, I have to learn Tibetan.
I do want to learn it though..
Is your teacher near NYC?
Jim

Posted by: Jim | March 20, 2005 at 11:41 AM

Trausti

For those looking for free online study material, visit the Tibetan Language Student at www.learntibetan.net

Good luck with your study,
Trausti

Posted by: Trausti | March 06, 2005 at 11:39 PM

Olaf

Hello Nova,
Thanks for the great blog, always offering something new to chew on.

You wrote:
"is the only philosophical tradition that is both scientific and useful enough to be of any practical value, in my opinion."

Another one that is both scientific and useful is spiritism, and I have noticed that many spiritists who also are familiar with the buddhist philosophy appreciate both.

Good luck with your studies!

Posted by: Olaf | October 24, 2004 at 04:11 PM

xavier

Hello Nova,

you might be interested by a free open-source tool I wrote a few years ago to search
an electronic Tibetan dictionary
(Rangjung Yeshe Tibetan-English)
See the attached URL.
bde brjod (best wishes)

Posted by: xavier | August 21, 2004 at 02:49 PM

Willow

I am also a Tibetan Buddhist who is trying to find a teacher to learn Tibetan. I am taught myself some basic Sanskrit, but my main interest is certainly Tibetan. I have applied to University here to hopefully study Asian Studies and in the process find someone who will teach me Tibetan.

Good luck with your studies!

Posted by: Willow | July 05, 2004 at 09:30 AM

kyle

i am a tibetan buddist and would like to learn tibetan as well. if possible, can you tell me how to get started and share some of your experience with me? thanks. good luck.

Posted by: kyle | June 24, 2004 at 11:36 AM

jack

good luck! i'm learning too. i've found a great way of learning a language: immersive blogging. unfortunately, there are no tibetan blogs that i know of. do you?

Posted by: jack | June 04, 2004 at 07:41 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

Recent Posts

Nova
Nova
1 Following
141 Followers
The Typepad Team

Archives

More...

About

My Photo

Twine | Nova Spivack - My Public Twine items

Radar Networks

  • twine.jpg
  • logo_v5_03b.jpg
  • logo_v5_03b.jpg

Nova's Trip to Edge of Space

  • Stepsedgestratosphere
    In 1999 I flew to the edge of space with the Russian air force, with Space Adventures. I made it to an altitude of just under 100,000 feet and flew at Mach 3 in a Mig-25 piloted by one of Russia's best test-pilots. These pics were taken by Space Adventures from similar flights to mine. I didn't take digital stills -- I got the whole flight on digital video, which was featured on the Discovery Channel.

Nova & Friends, Training For Space...

  • Img021
    In 1999 I was invited to Russia as a guest of the Russian Space Agency to participate in zero-gravity training on an Ilyushin-76 parabolic flight training aircraft. It was really fun!!!! Among other people on that adventure were Peter Diamandis (founder of the X-Prize and Zero-G Corporation), Bijal Trivedi (a good friend of mine, science journalist), and "Lord British" (creator of the Ultima games). Here are some pictures from that trip...

Pages

Categories

Categories

People I Like

  • Peter F. Drucker
    Peter F. Drucker was my grandfather. He was one of my principal teachers and inspirations all my life. My many talks with him really got me interested in organizations and society. He had one of the most impressive minds I've ever encountered. He died in 2005 at age 95. Here is what I wrote about his death. His foundation is at http://www.pfdf.org/
  • Mayer Spivack
    Mayer Spivack is my father; he's a brilliant inventor, cognitive scientist, sculptor, designer and therapist. He also builds carbon fiber trimarans in his spare time, and studies animal intelligence. He is working on several theories related to the origins of violence and ways to prevent it, new treatments for learning disabilities, and new theories of cognition. He doesn't have a Web site yet, but I'm working on him...
  • Marin Spivack
    Marin Spivack is my brother. He is the one of the only western 20th generation lineage holders of the original Chen Family Tai Chi tradition in China. He's been practicing Tai Chi for about 6 to 10 hours a day for the last 10 years and is now one of the best and most qualified Tai Chi teachers in America. He just returned from 3 years in China studying privately with a direct descendant of the original Chen family that created Tai Chi. The styles that he teaches are mainly secret and are not known or taught in the USA. One thing is for sure, this is not your grandmother's Tai Chi: This is serious combat Tai Chi -- the original, authentic Tai Chi, not the "new age" form that is taught in the USA -- it's intense, physically-demanding, fast, powerful and extremely deadly. If you are serious about Tai Chi and want to learn the authentic style and applications, the way it was meant to be, you should study with my brother. He's located in Boston these days but also travels when invited to teach master classes.
  • Louise Freedman
    Louise specializes in art-restoration. She does really big projects like The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Gardner Museum and Harvard University. She's also a psychotherapist and she's married to my dad. She likes really smart parrots and she knows how to navigate a large sailboat.
  • Kris Thorisson
    Kris has been working with me for years on the design of the Radar Networks software, a new platform for the Semantic Web. He has a PhD from the MIT Media Lab. He designs intelligent humanoids and virtual realities. He is from Iceland, which makes him pretty cool.
  • Kimberly Rubin
    Kim is my girlfriend and partner, and also a producer of 11 TV movies, and now an entrepreneur in the pet industry. She is passionate about animals. She has unusual compassion and a great sense of humor.
  • Kathleen Spivack
    Kathleen Spivack is my mother. She's a poet, novelist and creative writing teacher. She was a personal student of Robert Lowell and was in the same group of poets with Silvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop and Anne Sexton. She coaches novelists, playwrites and poets in France and the USA. She teaches privately and her students, as well as being published, have won many of the top writing prizes.
  • Josh Kirschenbaum
    Josh is a visual effects whiz, director and generalist hacker in LA. We have been pals and collaborators since the 1980's. Josh is probably going to be the next Jim Cameron. He's also a really good writer.
  • Joey Tamer
    Joey is a long-time friend and advisor. She is an expert on high-tech strategic planning.
  • Jim Wissner
    Jim is among the most talented software developers I've ever worked with. He's a prolific Java coder and an expert on XML. He's the lead engineer for Radar Networks.
  • Jerry Michalski
    I have been friends with Jerry for many years; he's been advising Radar Networks on social software technology.
  • Chris Jones
    Chris is a long-time friend and now works with me in Radar Networks, as our director of user-experience. He's a genius level product designer, GUI designer, and product manager.
  • Bram Boroson
    Bram is an astrophysicist and college pal of mine. We spend hours and hours brainstorming about cellular automata simulations of the universe. He's one of the smartest people I ever met.
  • Bari Koral
    Bari Koral is a really talented singer songwriter. We co-write songs together sometimes. She's getting some buzz these days -- she recently opened for India Arie. She worked at EarthWeb many years ago. Now she tours almost all year long and she just had a hit in Europe. Check out her video, on her site.
  • Adam Cohen
    Adam Cohen is a long-term friend; we were roommates in college. He is a really talented composer and film-scorer. He doesn't have a Web site but I like him anyway! He's in Hollywood living the dream.
Blog powered by Typepad
Member since 08/2003