LRZTP 8 learning goals and topics

LRZTP 8 learning goals and topics

Educational Goals

The main aim of the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program is to provide the students with the tool, i.e. a high level of proficiency in Tibetan language. However, in order to be able to translate Dharma texts and interpret the teachings, it is necessary not only to have an excellent grasp of the language itself but also to immerse oneself in Buddhist and Tibetan culture, terminology and philosophical aspects of the Dharma. And getting to know the language is in itself a complex task; we are required not only to speak and understand modern Tibetan but also to be able to read the scriptures. Thus, LRZTP provides the students with all these tools. During the 2-year program we teach spoken, colloquial, everyday language, the classical language of Buddhist texts and we dive into the Buddhadharma to acquaint learners with vital terminology. Upon completing the program the graduates will speak, read and write Tibetan, have the confidence of using the language in everyday situations and will be ready to take upon them the grand mission of spreading words of the Buddha to the world in their native languages.

During the course of studies the students will be able to read in Wiley (the most commonly used transliteration system of Tibetan), དབུ་མེད་ (printed script) and དབུ་ཅན་ (specialized script); and to write or type in Wiley and འཁྱུག་ཡིག་ (handwriting script) as a tool to recognize and memorize the words and structures in Tibetan.

  • The students will be able to read different types of texts related to Dharma by recognizing and using the semantics and syntax present in texts such as: བློ་སྦྱོང་ཚིག་བརྒྱད་མ། (Eight Verses on Mind Training), བསྡུད་གྲྭ (Collected Topics), བློ་རིགས། (Classification of the Mind), གྲུབ་མཐའ། (Tenets), parts of སྤྱོད་འཇུག (The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life), རྒྱལ་སྲས་ལག་ལེན་སོ་བདུན་མ། (37 Practices of a Bodhisattva) and ལམ་རིམ། (Stages of the Path). There will also be introduction to Tantra.
  • Apart from regular classes the students will have conversation partners every day to be able to incorporate what they have learnt into their communication with Tibetan language native speakers.
  • They will use their own background, personal and academic, to improve their learning of a language and to help their classmates. At the same time they will upgrade their Dharma experience and meditation techniques using the Tibetan language.
  • The students will become part of the Dharamsala’s society while interacting through the means of Tibetan language.

Modules

Year 1

  • Module One – Colloquial Tibetan for everyday situations, focus in the three tenses
  • Module Two – Colloquial Tibetan for everyday situations, expanding complexity of communicational skills
  • Module Three – Colloquial Tibetan for everyday situations, further increasing complex grammar knowledge and first  Colloquial Dharma dialogues
  • Modules Four and Five – more sophisticated Colloquial grammar and Simple Colloquial Dharma dialogues
  • From Module One through Five – introduction to Classical Tibetan language grammar

Year 2

  • Module One – 1st year review u0026amp; Literary grammar, introduction to ལམ་རིམ། and བསྡུས་གྲྭ
  • Module Two – Forming solid basis in Reading Comprehension (learning through developing required skills), continuation of ལམ་རིམ། and introduction to བློ་རིགས།
  • Module Three – Authentic performance in Reading Comprehension (learning through analizing different texts), final part of ལམ་རིམ། and study of གྲུབ་མཐའ།
  • Module Four – Listening Comprehension in different accents (learning through developing required skills), textual basis: རྒྱལ་སྲས་ལག་ལེན་སོ་བདུན་མ། and བློ་སྦྱོང་ཚིགས་རྐང་བརྒྱད་མ།
  • Module Five – Authentic performance of Listening Comprehension u0026amp; introduction to Dharma teaching interpretation, main focus will be on སྤྱོད་འཇུག

The two month intensive interpretation program will include the following

  • Methods of Interpretation; note taking, retention, engaging with the audience, appropriate conduct for interpreters
  • Refinement of Dharma terminology u0026amp; Syntax

Evaluation

Students undertake a variety of formative assessments to improve their class attainment and summative assessments to monitor educational outcomes – evaluation activities throughout as well as evaluation at the completion of each module. In other words students will have examinations and thorough review of each module’s material and will be obliged to particpate in projects throughout the program as well as produce a thesis at the end of the course.

 

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