This is a shell course complementing the suite of flexible single issue elective courses grouped around the compulsory core coursework. The concept is to be able to respond to current issues that emerge as a result of regional dynamics. The course would normally be offered on campus but may be wholly or partly delivered in-country depending on the nature of the topic.

The topics will vary for year to year and will generally be announced in the October before teaching begins.

Topics

Introductory Tibetan - Offered Summer Session 2012.

Tibetan is the most widely spoken language in the Himalaya, with its dialects being used all the way from Baltistan in Pakistan to the Chinese city of Chengdu.  Tibetan was also the target language of one of the largest translation projects in history, in which thousands of Indian and Chinese Buddhist texts were rendered in Tibetan; the results of which often providing scholars with access to texts and traditions that were not preserved anywhere else.

This intensive, introductory course will first provide the students with the basic tools to read, write and communicate in this language. This course will explain and assist its students to read and write the dBu chen Tibetan script, and based on this knowledge be able to conduct basic conversations in Tibetan. It will also focus, through continued supervision and assessment, on the pronunciation of Tibetan, as this usually proves difficult for most Tibetan learners. Based as it is around the commonalities between colloquial and literary Tibetan – particularly the common grammatical particles and structures – this course will provide an introduction to both these interdependent aspects of Tibetan language studies. This follows a model of teaching Tibetan that has been highly successful at both the School of African and Oriental Studies in London, and the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris.  What is more, these common grammatical events will be contextualised within everyday situations, enabling the students to develop their language skills in “workshop” sessions.

The opportunity to learn to speak, read and write Tibetan will be appealing to a number of groups within the Australian community.  To begin with it provides an opportunity for language students to study an influential, linguistically hybrid language. It will provide access to the inner workings of Tibetan culture for those involved in NGOs that focus on the region, including Tibet support networks.  It is an opportunity to learn the source language of the texts used by those involved with Tibetan Buddhism.  And it is also an opportunity for those in the Australian Tibetan community who have never learnt to read, write and speak central, standard Tibetan.

Contact: Ruth Gamble E: ruth.gamble@anu.edu.au

W: chl.anu.edu.au/china/tli.php

Generic

Due to the individual nature of this course it is not possible to provide an exclusive list of learning outcomes. However, the following is an indicative list of possible outcomes. it is expected that on successful completion of this course students should be able to:
1. identify issues of interest in the field under consideration;
2. discuss these issues coherently and persuasively;
3. assess arguments made in the field;
4. explain the complex attitudes people have to these issues;
5. analyse and compare relevant data;
6. collaborate with other students and staff to select and combine materials for a case study;
7. research, present and justify the results of your collaboration with other students and staff with respect to the case studies;
8. reflect on and articulate how your own views on the field have developed over the course of the semester

Introductory Tibetan

By the end of this course, students will be able to read and write Tibetan in the dBu chen script.  They will also be able to conduct basic conversations in Tibetan, pronounced in modern, standard form.  As this course will focus on the particles that play a predominant role in both contemporary and classical Tibetan composition, they will also be able to read elementary Tibetan texts with the aid of an instructor.

Introductory Tibetan

-Nightly Homework  35%

-Pronunciation Check-up [Friday, Week One] 10%

-Midway exam (includes oral interview) [Monday, Week Three] 15%

-Final exam (including basic translation) [Friday, Weed Three] 20%

-Participation and Attendance 20%

Varies depending on topic and whether offered as an intensive or semester-length course.

Refer to the course content and structure of each topic.

Consent of Program and Course convenors.

Introductory Tibetan:

Tournadre Nicolas and Sangda Dorje. 2003. Manual of Standard Tibetan. Ithaca: Snow Lion.

[With supplementary materials supplied in class and via Wattle.]

Nil