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Title: The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan by Melvyn C. Goldstein, T. N. Shelling, J. T. Surkhang, Pierre Robillard ISBN: 0-520-20437-9 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 02 April, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Best Available...BY FAR
Comment: This dictionary is undoubtedly the best out there for modern literary and colloquial Tibetan. It is excellent for political, literary, and colloquial terminology. Of course, the depth of these genres comes at the expense of (non-basic) religious/philosophical terminology. But anyone who is in the market to buy this book would have known this about the dictionary and Goldstein's expertise already.
Since the majority of Tibetan-English dictionaries are "Dharma" oriented anyway, this dictionary is a welcomed and needed departure from the norm. Moreover, whereas virtually every widely available "Dharma" dictionary is put together by a pseudo-scholar, and is full of laughably incorrect glosses/definitions for a high percentage of terms, this dictionary -- compiled by a genuine scholar of Tibetan -- rarely has off the mark definitions.
Rating: 2
Summary: An Obtuse Approach
Comment: This "Dictionary" might be useful to someone who already knows written Tibetan but it is almost useless for those who do not. For example: If you wish to look up a certain Tibetan word, say, "Trungpa" to discover it's English meaning you will find that everything is ordered according to the Tibetan alphabet in the Tibetan alphabet. I still have not found Trungpa or any other word I was looking for, for that matter.
The authors have committed a serious error in my opinion and have created what might be called an archetypal example of scholarly myopia. Most of us do not wish to become Lotsawas (Translators). Most of us wish to be able to look up an Englsh tranliteration of a Tibetan word and discover it's meaning.
The creators of this book should look up the word Bodhisattva in a Sanskrit Dictionary. Then they should create an English-Tibetan counterpart for this work which would demonstrate compassion towards those of us who have no intent of becoming Lotsawas.
If you already have a handle on written Tibetan then this "Dictionary" is probably just great, but for the rest of us it is just a huge waste of time.
Rating: 5
Summary: Indispensable, regardless of editorial shortcomings
Comment: I have used Goldstein's new dictionary every day since I bought it from the Amazon. It is undoubtedly the most up-to-date Tibetan dictionary ever published that covers well both the written language as well as the spoken language of the central dialect. However, the publishers seem to have been too much in a hurry, if they had taken a few more months, the result would have been perfect. Some of the cross-references tell you to look the word up under another listing, and if you do it, they tell you to get back to the first one. Sometimes the referred listing is missing altogether! It would have been useful if they had given more Sanskrit equivalents for Buddhist terms as the English translations vary. Regardless of these annoying trivia, the dictionary is indispensable for reading Tibetan newspapers and other materials published after 1950. Numerous illustrative sentences make it easier to understand the meanings. In short, its main strength lies in the modern everyday language (for Buddhist texts you will need a more specialised dictionary). Its coverage is so impressive that the Chinese Minorities Publishing House put indefenetely off the publication of its own dictionary which was due later this year. For any serious student of modern Tibetan: get it, you are going to need it.
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