Tibetan language dictionaries just keep getting thicker with the
creation of more words to help define a changing world.
"New words are being created one after another. I have to rely on
Tibetan language dictionaries instead of my memory now," said
Qamba, a professional translator from the Lhasa Translation
Bureau.
And that costs a lot of time and money, Qamba pointed out.
In
his 26 years as a translator, Qamba has regarded the Tibetan
dictionary as an indispensable tool in his work. But a Tibetan
dictionary was rare in 1972, when he learned Tibetan-Han
(Putonghua, or standard Chinese) translation in the Central
Nationality Institute.
Puncog Zhaxi, a translator who worked on the translation of the
"Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local
Government of
Tibet on the Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet"
signed in 1951, said that at that time, due to the lack of a
Tibetan dictionary, the true meaning of many modern words such as
"imperialism" could only be guessed at.
The Tibetan language is one of the oldest languages in the world,
with a history of more than 1,300 years. The first Tibetan language
dictionary came out in 1949, engraved on wood. A lama scholar named
Gexi Qughizaba spent 10 years compiling it with assistance of a
peer in Lhasa.
In
1957, this dictionary was published by the Nationality Pressusing
modern printing technology. However, the 900-page dictionary was
mostly used for help in reading sutras and Tibetan ancient books.
That volume is now sorely outdated.
Since the Tibet democratic reform in 1959 and along with the
progress of the Tibetan ethic group, Tibetan and Han scholars have
compiled and published a series of dictionaries including the
"Han-Tibetan Glossary Dictionary", the "Tibetan Language
Dictionary" and the "Tibetan-Han-English Dictionary." And there are
dictionaries specially filled with terms on politics, economy,
history and literature in Tibetan.
The first Tibetan dictionaries were the size of a normal book; now,
the thickest dictionary is in three volumes, more than 3,000 pages
in total, and is too heavy to carry around in a rucksack or
briefcase, scholars note.
The latest publication is the "Han-Tibetan Dictionary", which came
out in 1991, containing more than 80,000 terms. It includes not
only Tibetan words, but also a lot of idioms, adages and scientific
expressions. It contains a chemical element glossary, which has
never before been translated into Tibetan language.
With the development of the Tibetan economy and society, the
ancient Tibetan language has been enriched with many modern and new
words and phrases, such as "environmental protection." Many are
used frequently by modern Tibetans, such as "market economy" and
"reform and opening up to the outside world."
With the frequent addition of Tibetan words, the standardization of
the language became a new issue for scholars to tackle.
The Tibetan Language Advisory Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region
has recently called on professional translators from different
fields to discuss ways to advance the standardization of the new
words in the ancient tongue.
( December 3, 2001)