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His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Franziska Oertle, 2014
In October 2015 the seventh Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Programme (LRZTP7) will begin. LRZTP is FPMT’s only Tibetan-language interpretation program, located in Dharamsala, India. Students spend two years in Dharamsala acquiring the language skills necessary for interpretation and can spend another two years outside of Dharamsala receiving onsite training as an apprentice interpreter.
One of LRZTP7’s newest teachers is Swiss-born Franziska Oertle. After meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2006, Franziska moved to Bouddhnath, Nepal, where she lived with a Tibetan host family and studied Buddhist philosophy and Himalayan languages at Kathmandu University (Rangjung Yeshe Institute – RYI). After finishing her Bachelors degree in 2009, she worked as a Tibetan language instructor and interpreter trainer while completing her Masters degree in Tibetan grammar.
Since then, Franziska as been teaching colloquial Tibetan language on various levels and institutions in Nepal and India including: the Emory University Study Abroad semester; the RYI Intensive Summer Course; the School of International Training; and Sarah College.
Wishing to contribute to Tibetan language learners as well as the preservation of the endangered Tibetan language, Franziska is writing a colloquial Tibetan manual. Unlike other textbooks, it synthesizes traditional indigenous Tibetan grammar and contemporary language learning methods.
LRZTP7 director Yaron Bahir sat down with Franziska to talk to her about the studying and teaching of Tibetan:
Franziska Oertle
What is the benefit of studying the Tibetan language?
Since language is inherently linked with culture, one can probably only gain a deep and thorough understanding of Tibetan people and the Dharma if one knows the Tibetan language. One of the major personal gains is being directly able to understand Tibetan lamas and rinpoches.
On a more global level, every Tibetan language student contributes to the preservation of an endangered language. And in the case of translators, they are the bridge between languages and cultures and are indispensable for the spreading of the Dharma.
What methods of teaching do you use to teach the Tibetan language?
The Tibetan language is very peculiar and its grammar extremely vast, profound, and beautiful. Therefore, I find it very important for students to understand the Tibetan language from within by studying the two major Tibetan grammar treatises, the Sum cu pa and rTags kyi ‘jug pa. At the same time, in order for the language to become alive we need to embrace contemporary (communicational) teaching methods and a large variety of different activities, supports, and materials, such as dialogues, stories, games, audio, electronic dictionaries, flash card programs on phones and iPads, etc.
Do you have any brief advice for anyone who wants to study Tibetan?
You just have to love it! When we love what we are doing, we learn more quickly and happily. And my second heart advice: immerse and connect yourself into the Tibetan-speaking world as much as you can. Ideally, if your life-conditions permit, live for some time in a Tibetan-speaking part of the world.
Registration for LRZTP7 is now open. Please visit the website for more information: www.lrztp.org
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