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Language Tibetan and (Mandarin) Chinese © Lonely Planet Publications 357 Language CONTENTS TIBETAN Tibetan is a member of the Tibeto-Burman Tibetan 357 family of languages, and is spoken in Tibet The Written Language 357 and within exiled communities of Tibetans. Pronunciation 358 Lhasa dialect, the standard form of Tibetan, Accommodation 358 employs a system of rising and falling tones, Health & Emergencies 359 but the differences are subtle and meaning Conversation & Essentials 359 is made clear by context. Beginners need not Directions 359 worry about them. Language Difficulties 359 Like Chinese, Tibetan has no articles (a, Numbers 359 the) and doesn’t use plurals. Here the simi- Shopping & Services 360 larity ends, however. Tibetan differs from Time & Dates 360 European and Chinese languages, as it has Transport 360 a subject-object-verb sentence structure. Mandarin 361 Thus, where in English we would say ‘I see Pronunciation 361 John’ (subject-verb-object), in Tibetan the Accommodation 361 sentence is nga John thong gi duk, (‘I John Conversation & Essentials 362 see’, subject-object-verb). In another Directions 362 marked difference from Chinese, Tibetan Emergencies 362 has tenses and conjugates its verbs with Health 362 particles. There’s also a fairly complicated Language Difficulties 363 Numbers 363 system of prepositions (words like ‘in’ and Paperwork 363 ‘on’). Shopping & Services 363 If all this makes Tibetan sound extremely Time & Dates 363 difficult to pick up on the road, don’t fret; Transport 364 providing you relax a little, it’s fairly easy to get together a basic repertoire of phrases that will win you friends and help to get The two principal languages of Tibet are things done. For information on language Tibetan and (Mandarin) Chinese. The im- courses, see p316. Lonely Planet’s Tibetan LANGUAGE portance of Chinese is an unfortunate real- Phrasebook, which includes sections on ity in Tibet, and all Tibetans undertaking trekking, visiting temples and handicrafts, higher studies do so in Chinese. In urban is also recommended. Tibet (the countryside is another matter) almost all Tibetans speak Chinese. Never- THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE theless, even if you have studied or picked The Tibetan script was developed during the reign of Songtsen Gampo in the 7th up some Chinese in China, it’s worth trying century. It was founded on Indian models to get a few phrases of Tibetan together. It and comprises 30 basic letters including the will be much appreciated by the Tibetans vowel ‘a’, and four extra vowel signs for ‘e’, you encounter on your travels. ‘i’, ‘o’ and ‘u’. Each letter can be written in Linguistically, Chinese and Tibetan have three different styles, depending on the very little in common. They use different context in which a text is to be used. This sentence structures, and the tonal element is 7th-century Tibetan script was based on the far less crucial in Tibetan than in Chinese. language spoken in Tibet at the time, and Also, unlike the dialects of China, Tibetan spellings have never been revised since. As has never used Chinese characters for its a result of significant changes in spoken written language. Tibetan over the last 12 centuries, written 358 TIBETAN •• Pronunciation lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com TIBETAN •• Health & Emergencies 359 My name is ... – and yours? TIBETAN TREKKING ESSENTIALS HEALTH & EMERGENCIES ngai ming-la ... sa, a- ni kerâng-gi tsenla kare ray? How many hours to ...? I have altitude sickness. Help! ... ... rog nângda! Is it OK to take a photo? ... bahtu chutsö kâtsay gogiray nga lâdu nagi Fire! par gyâbna digiy-rebay? I want to rent a (yak/horse). I must get to low ground as quickly as possible. may bahgi! / Thief! Where are you from? nga (yâk/ta)-chig lagöyö nga sa mahsa gâng gyokgyok joh gokidu kuma du! kerâng loong-pa ka-ne yin? I need a porter. Go away! Slowly, slowly! kalee kalee phah gyuk! nga dohbo khukhen-chig gö Let's go! ta doh I’m ill. I’m from ... nga ... ne yin ... I need a guide. nga nagidu Australia autaliya sleeping bag nye-koog tent gur It’s an emergency. Canada canada nga lâmgyü chaykhen-chig gö road/trail lam za dâgpo ray! New Zealand shinshilen How much does it cost per day? mountain ri Call a doctor! UK injee loongpa âmchi kay tongda! cave dâgphuk USA amerika nyima rayrayla laja kâtsay ray? Call the police! Which way to ...? pass la river tsângpo korsoong-wa kay tongda! Yes & No ... I’m lost. ... dohyagi lâmga kagiray? valley loong shong There are no words in Tibetan that are the nga lâmga lasha direct equivalents of English ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Is this the trail to ...? lake tso hot spring chu-tsen Where are the toilets? Although it won’t always be correct, you’ll ... sângchö kabâh yöray? di ... dohyagi lâmga rebay? north châng be understood if you use la ong for ‘yes’ and What is the next village on the trail? south lho hospital menkhâng la men for ‘no’. east shâr diarrhoea dröko shewa lâmga tenay chin-na dângpo loongpa karay lebkiray? west noob fever tsawa DIRECTIONS Where is the ...? ... Do you have a room available? Tibetan and spoken Tibetan are very differ- oo as in ‘soon’ ... kabâh yö ray? khâng mi yöbay? ent, and the development of a transliteration ö similar to the ‘u’ in ‘put’ I’m looking for ... system for use by speakers of European lan- u as in ‘rude’ ... guages is a formidable task. ü similar to the ‘u’ in ‘flute’ How much is it for one night? ... ka-bâh yö-may mik tagiyö In this book we’ve generally chosen the tsen chik la katsö ray? most commonly used spelling of each term. Consonants right yeba In cases where there is wide disagreement, With the exception of the examples listed I’d like to stay with a Tibetan family. left yönba we have chosen the spelling that’s easiest to below, Tibetan consonants should be pro- nga böpay mi-tsâng nyâmdo dendö yö straight ahead shar gya LANGUAGE pronounce. nounced as in English. Where a consonant is followed by an h, it means that the con- I need some hot water. LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES PRONUNCIATION sonant is aspirated (accompanied by a puff ngala chu tsapo gö Do you speak English? Tibetan has some tricky sounds for English of air). An English example of this might be LANGUAGE speakers – there are quite a few consonant ‘kettle’, where the ‘k’ is aspirated and the ‘tt’ injeeke shing gi yö pe? clusters, and, like Korean and Thai, Tibetan is non-aspirated. The distinction is fairly CONVERSATION & ESSENTIALS Do you speak English? makes an important distinction between important, but in simple Tibetan the con- Hello. tashi dele aspirated and non-aspirated consonants. text should make it clear what you are talk- Goodbye. kalee pay kayrâng injikay shing-gi yöbay ing about. (when staying) I don’t understand. Vowels Goodbye. kalee shu The following pronunciation guide is based ky as the ‘kie’ in ‘Kiev’ (when leaving) ha ko masong on standard British pronunciation. ng as the ‘ng’ in ‘sing’ Thank you. tujay chay I understand. r like a slightly trilled ‘r’ Sorry. gonda a as in ‘father’ ts as the ‘ts’ in ‘bits’ I want ... ... nga la ... gö ha kosong ay as in ‘play’ good yâg-po e as in ‘met’ ACCOMMODATION NUMBERS ee as in ‘meet’ Where’s a ...? ... ... kabâh yöray? What’s your name? 1 chik i as in ‘begin’ guesthouse dhön khâng kerâng gi tsenla kare ray? 2 nyi o as in ‘go’ hotel drü-khâng 3 soom 360 TIBETAN •• Shopping & Services lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com MANDARIN •• Pronunciation 361 4 shi ian as in ‘yen’ 5 nga SIGNS – TIBETAN MANDARIN iao as in the exclamation ‘yow!’ 6 doog nyen-ga Danger ie as in ‘pier’ Travellers going from China into Tibet or 7 dün zü-sa Entrance o as in ‘or’ 8 gye from Tibet onwards into China are well ad- ou as the ‘oa’ in ‘boat’ dönsa Exit vised to pick up a Chinese phrasebook such 9 gu kah kag Stop u as in ‘flute’ after j, q, x or y 10 chu as Lonely Planet’s Mandarin Phrasebook. It u as in ‘rude’ when preceded by other go-chay Open should help you through most of your travel 11 chu chik go-gyâb Closed consonants 12 chu nyi needs, in both Tibet and China. ü as the ‘u’ in ‘flute’ pah gyâb michok No Photographs 13 chok sum thama ten michok No Smoking ui as the word ‘way’ 14 chu shi PRONUNCIATION uo as the word ‘war’ sâng chö Toilets The dialects of China are tonal, which 15 chö nga means that variations in vocal pitch within 16 chu dug Consonants words are used to determine their meaning. 17 chu dun Many Mandarin consonants are pronounced TRANSPORT When learning Mandarin Chinese, the 18 chob gye I want to go to ... differently from their English equivalents. standard example given to demonstrate the 19 chu gu ... principle of its four tones is ma: Some pairs of consonants have the same 20 nyi shu nga ... la drondö yö pronunciation as each other (eg q and c 21 nyi shu tsa chik Can I get there on foot? high tone: mā – ‘mother’ sound the same), but the sound of the fol- 30 soom chu rising tone: má – ‘hemp’ or ‘numb’ lowing vowel changes depending on which 40 shib chu phagay gompa gyâbnay leb thoobki rebay? ci falling-rising tone: mǎ – ‘horse’ is used. Thus is pronounced ‘tser’, while 50 nga chu Where is the bus going? falling tone: mà – ‘scold’ or ‘swear’ qi is pronounced ‘tsee’. There are three 60 doog chu c/q j z such pairs of consonants in Pinyin: , / , 70 dün chu mota-di kabâh dohgi ray Pinyin and s/x.
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