The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan [Hardcover]

Melvyn C. Goldstein (Author), Pierre Robillard (Author), T.N. Shelling (Editor), J.T. Surkhang (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520204379 | ISBN-13: 978-0520204379 | Publication Date: April 2, 2001 | Edition: 2nd

The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan surpasses existing dictionaries in both scope and comprehensiveness. Containing more than 80,000 lexical items used in political, social, economic, literary, and scientific discourse, this invaluable sourcebook includes the tens of thousands of new words that have been coined or that have come into use since Tibet was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1951. The dictionary lists lexical items characteristic of the special written genre that was used by Tibetan government officials up to 1959 as well as new terminology used in the Tibetan exile communities in South Asia. It contains both the core lexical terminology used in everyday life and standard modern writing and many proverbs and sayings that appear frequently in contemporary literary materials. The entries provide spoken pronunciation and thousands of illustrative sentences.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Melvyn C. Goldstein is John Reynolds Harkness Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University, as well as Director of the University's Center for Research on Tibet. He is author or coauthor of over eighty articles and books on Tibet, including A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951, (1989), Essentials of Modern Literary Tibetan: A Reading Course and Reference Grammar (1991), and The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama (1997), all published by California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1164 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 2nd edition (April 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520204379
• ISBN-13: 978-0520204379
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #759,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable, regardless of editorial shortcomings, June 30, 2001

By 

Indrek Park - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan (Hardcover)

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Available...BY FAR, June 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan (Hardcover)

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.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Necessary for students of Tibetan, July 7, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan (Hardcover)

This book is invaluable and necessary for students of modern Tibetan. For those like 'iasa' in Aspen, it is useless simply because what they need is an English-Tibetan dictionary! Anyone obtuse enough not to know the difference shouldn't be surprised to find that they can't read Tibetan unless they know the script and the basics of spelling.