THE DICTIONARY PROJECT

When our society are learning their own language in school, they come across an inevitable difficulty which arises from the fact that the rest of the world has moved on beyond Tibet in the fields of science and technology. Many technical words that we meet in the English language cannot be translated into Tibetan because they do not exist there.

To resolve this dilemma, we began a Tibetan English /English/Tibetan dictionary project last year, intended to produce the most comprehensive Dictionary to date, which will include translations and explanations of foreign technical and technological terms as well as the more familiar vocabulary.

We have employed three staff members to work on project, based in Dharamsala, and appealed to other Tibetan institutions to help finance it. As a result, the Tibetan Children Village kindly consented to bear the costs for the first year, and the Tibetan Homes foundation has now taken on the responsibility for the second year. We anticipate that the Dictionary will take as long as three or four years to compile as it follows a very thorough method of research: lists of the technical words and terms with no Tibetan equivalent are sent to Tibetan scholars and language experts in India and abroad, who then submit their comments and suggestions to the local Advisory Committee in Dharamsala. After this Committee has made its selection of the suitable equivalents, there are referred to an External Advisory Committee for confirmation. The confirmed word or phrase may then be incorporated into the Dictionary. We intend this dictionary to be definitive and therefore of use to our schools, and to every student of the Tibetan language in India and elsewhere in the world.