FPMT Translation Services

As the Dharma takes root in the West, clear translations of Buddhist texts, prayers, and teachings are crucial. FPMT works with translators around the world to translate Tibetan texts into English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, and many other languages.

Resources for Readers

• A Guide to Sanskrit Transliteration and Pronunciation
  This document gives a brief introduction to the transliteration of Sanskrit, as it is presented in FPMT translations.

English Translations 

In May 2011, FPMT hosted its first international translation conference, Taking up The Challenge of Translating Buddhism, at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy. We hope to be able to organize further translation conferences in the future. Please see the complete and summarized reports for the 2011 conference below:

• Full FPMT translation conference report, May 2011
• Summary FPMT translation conference report, May 2011

Following the 2011 conference, the FPMT Translation Services team began the long-term project of compiling a Tibetan-English glossary for the organization, together with the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translation Team (LRZTT), composed of FPMT-affiliated translators, and the  FPMT Translation and Editorial Board (TEB). The purpose of this long-term project is to create consistency throughout the translations released by the FPMT, thereby improving readers’ understanding of our texts. The first edition of the this glossary is nearing completion, and a copy will be made available on this site for readers to consult.

Other Language Translations

• Pour les traductions en français : Cliquez ici pour visiter notre Service de traduction.
• Traducción FPMT Hispana
• Vietnamese Translations »
• Lam Rim Chenmo (Chinese) Translation »

Some of Our Translators
Our translators live in every part of the world and bring extensive Dharma and language education to their work as translators.

Joona Repo first came in contact Tibetan Buddhism and the FPMT in his mid-teens. He has a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and has held several postdoctoral teaching and research positions with a focus on Tibetan art and religious history. He is currently the FPMT Translation Coordinator.

Conni Krause participated in the seven-year Systematic Study of Buddhism program under Geshe Thubten Ngawang in Hamburg from 1990 to 1997. She is also a graduate of FPMT’s Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program (LRZTP) in Dharamsala, and served as an interpreter for Geshe Thubten Soepa at Aryatara Institute in Munich. She has translated Je Tsongkhapa’s Middle Length Lamrim from the original Tibetan into German, and has helped to make available Discovering Buddhism and the Basic Program texts as well as the FPMT Essential Buddhist Prayer Books in German.

Ven. Fedor Stracke has been a Buddhist monk since 1988 and spent over fifteen years studying at Sera Je Monastic University and attending public teachings given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Since 1996, Ven. Fedor has been teaching in FPMT centers and has served as Tibetan interpreter for various geshes. He currently teaches the Basic Program at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and at Aryatara Institute in Munich, Germany. He has translated the Commentary to ‘Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds’ (Spyod ’jug tikka) by Gyaltsab Je, a  standard Basic Program text, and Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen’s Wisdom Debating Ignorance (Gshaga ‘debs), from Tibetan into English. For the Basic Program in Munich Ven. Fedor has translated various Basic Program texts into German.

John Newman was introduced to Buddhadharma by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan, Nepal in 1973.  He subsequently studied under Geshe Lhundub Sopa Rinpoche at Deer Park Buddhist Center and at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, in Wisconsin, USA.  In 1987 he received a PhD in Buddhist Studies, and he currently teaches Asian religions at New College of Florida in Sarasota, Florida, USA.  He continued to study under Geshe Lundub Sopa Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and his research focuses on Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, especially Madhyamaka and Vajrayana.

Philip Quarcoo was born in Freiburg, Germany. He studied Modern European Languages at the University of Durham in Britain. He participated in Geshe Tashi Tsering’s two -year course Foundation of Buddhist Thought, at Jamyang Buddhist Center in London and later attended classes with Geshe Thubten Soepa at FPMT’s Aryatara Institute. Philip graduated with an M.A. in Tibetan studies from the University of Munich in 2007 and then lived in Mongolia teaching English at FPMT’s Shedrup Ling Centre in Ulaanbaatar. He has translated three short booklets on vegetarianism by Geshe Thubten Soepa, as well as texts by the 19th Century Mongolian scholar Agvaanbaldan. In cooperation with Conni Krause, he recently translated Je Tsongkhapa’s Middle Length Lamrim from Tibetan into English for FPMT’s Basic Program; the work is to be published shortly by Wisdom Publications.

Ven. Tenzin Namdak, born in 1970 in The Netherlands, met the Dharma in January 1993. After his graduation (B.Sc. in Hydrology) he lived for a year at Maitreya Institute in The Netherlands,  receiving lamrim teachings from Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen. On the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche he moved to Dharamsala, India, at the end of 1994 to learn Tibetan language. Here he received the Getsul (March 1995) and Gelong ordinations (March 1996) from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In April 1997 he entered Sera Je  Monastery in South India, where he completed the final exams for the 19-year geshe studies program in November 2015, to receive his Geshe title on April 26, 2016. He is director of Shedrup Sungdrel Ling, Sera IMI House, the house for western monks studying at Sera. He also interpretes for visiting lamas in addition to teaching at Choe Khor Sum Ling, Bangalore. 

Toh Sze Gee holds a BSc with honors in mathematics as well as a postgraduate diploma in education. After teaching in a junior college in Singapore for several years, in 1998 she joined the seven-year residential Masters Program at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, from which she graduated with high honours. Since then she has been teaching regular Dharma courses in Singapore, as well as translating texts from Tibetan into English for the FPMT Basic Program and Masters Program. Sze Gee was well known among the her fellow Masters Program students for her incredible energy both for study and Dharma practice. True to form, she accepted and served not only as teaching assitant for Ornament for Clear Realizations during ILTK’s second Masters Program but also as Tibetan-English interpreter. During that time she completed translating Gyaltsab Je’s commentary to Ornament, including the Haribhadra commentary and Maitreya’s root verses, from Tibetan into English. Sze Gee has since acted as interpreter for Geshe Ngawang Drakpa at FPMT’s Tse Chen Ling Center, California, and as teacing assitsant for the first Masters Program at Nalanda Monastery in France. She recently completed the translation of Chokyi Gyaltsen’s General Meaning of the Middle Way, another important Masters Program text, and currently supports ILTK’s third MP’s Middle Way students by Skype, from Singapore.