This page includes resources for learning Tibetan and supporting Tibetan language education. Beginners should rely on textbooks and courses to learn the language in a structured and gradual way.
Most resources here are suitable for people learning Tibetan through English. Resources for people learning Tibetan through other languages or for people who already speak Tibetan (e.g. heritage speakers) will be specially marked.
Sections:
1. Ütsang Tibetan
This section includes resources on Ütsang Tibetan (also known as Central Tibetan), including Standard Diaspora Tibetan and Lhasa Tibetan.
1.1. Textbooks
The first three textbooks below are available for free online, along with their accompanying audio files:
- Colloquial Tibetan by Jonathan Samuels (2014)
- This book is my #1 recommendation for Standard Tibetan.
free text
free audio
- This book is my #1 recommendation for Standard Tibetan.
- Manual of Standard Tibetan by Nicolas Tournadre + Sangda Dorje, translated by Charles Ramble (2003)
- Anki deck available on Anki Web
free text (you need to make a free archive.org account to access this)
free audio (original + complete audio) — or use the direct SoundCloud links: Disc 1, Disc 2 - free audio (alternate + partial audio)
- Anki deck available on Anki Web
- Introduction to the Tibetan Language by Ruth Gamble, Tenzin Ringpapontsang, Chung Tsering, + Grazia Scotellaro (2018)
- free text + audio
You need to download a multimedia epub reader (such as Thorium for desktops or Lithium for Android) to open this book. Audio and video is included in the epub by default.
- free text + audio
- Esukhia’s Tibetan-language textbooks
- These textbooks are written entirely in Tibetan, because they’re designed to be taught through paid lessons with a Tibetan teacher. Esukhia uses an immersion-only approach.
- free texts
- no audio for the textbooks specifically
- Tibetan Phrasebook (pub. Lonely Planet) by Sandup Tsering (2002)
- this has been released under at least 5 different editions
- free text (3rd edition)
- no audio
- Colloquial Tibetan by Tsetan Chonjore with Andrea Abinati (2002)
- this is a very good textbook, and goes further into intermediate grammar than many other resources
- free text
- no audio
- Fluent Tibetan by William A. Magee and Elizabeth Napper (2016)
- paid text
- free audio
- Learning Practical Tibetan by Andrew Bloomfield and Yanki Tshering (1998)
- paid text
- free audio
- Tibetan by Philip Denwood (1999)
- paid text
- The Heart of Tibetan Language by Franziska Oertle (2019)
- paid text
1.2. Courses
https://canvas.colorado.edu/courses/82958
https://www.shambhala.com/a-guide-to-tibetan-language-programs/
1.3. Dictionaries
- English-Tibetan Dictionary of Modern Tibetan by Melvyn C. Goldstein with Ngawangthondup Narkyid (1984)
- The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan edited by Melvyn C. Goldstein
1.4. Websites
https://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/culturetalk/Tibetan-Language-and-Culture (large collection of Tibetan-language videos with transcripts and translations)
https://global-asp.github.io/storybooks-himalaya/stories/bo/
1.5. Instagram pages
https://www.instagram.com/beri_gyalse (Tibetan only)
https://www.instagram.com/digitalacademy_page
https://www.instagram.com/easytibetan
https://www.instagram.com/esukhiax
https://www.instagram.com/gangjongtbl
https://www.instagram.com/kay.yig
https://www.instagram.com/learn_tibetan_language
https://www.instagram.com/lucky.tibetan
https://www.instagram.com/onlinetibetaneducation
https://www.instagram.com/sit.nepal.himalayan
https://www.instagram.com/thonmi_tsuglag
https://www.instagram.com/tibet_1958
https://www.instagram.com/tibetan.language.1959 (Tibetan only)
https://www.instagram.com/translatingtibet
https://www.instagram.com/voice_of_suntse
1.6. YouTube channels
Alain (French-to-Tibetan)
Ani Dawa Sangmo (Tibetan only)
Dr. Chok Tenzin Monlam’s videos on pronunciation (#1, #2)
Learning: Basic Reading Tibetan Language
iSpeak Tibetan (Tibetan only)
Sambhota Schools (Tibetan only)
Tashi (Tibetan only)
TCV Chauntra (Tibetan only)
2. Amdo Tibetan
2.1. Textbooks
- Colloquial Amdo Tibetan: A Complete Course for Adult English Speakers ༄༅༅།། ཨ་མདོའི་ཁ་སྐད།, by Kuo-ming Sung and Lha Byams Rgyal (2005)
- free text (mirror)
- sample pdfs of lessons 1-10, 14, 18, and 21 available on Kuo-ming Sung’s webpage
- This textbook has audio CDs, but I can’t figure out where these can be bought or accessed.
- Amdo Tibetan: A Comprehensive Grammar Textbook༄༅༅།། ཨ་མདོའི་ཁ་སྐད།, by Kuo-ming Sung and Lha Byams Rgyal (2021)
- Note: judging by the table of contents, this book seems to be identical to the Colloquial Amdo Tibetan (2005) textbook above.
- paid text
- Modern Oral Amdo Tibetan by Kalsang Norbu, Karl A. Peet, dPal ldan bKra shis, and Kevin Stuart (2000)
- AHP 43: Amdo Tibetan Language: An Introduction to Normative Amdo Tibetan, by dPal ldan bKra shis (2016)
- Nettle Tibetan’s list of Amdo Tibetan textbooks
- Gerald Roche’s Amdo Tibetan Learning Resources: A Review Article
2.2. Dictionaries
- Nettle Tibetan’s list of Amdo Tibetan dictionaries
2.3. Audio and video resources
- The Amdo Collection of audio-visual files on UVA’s website
- The Amdo Tibetan Pangloss collection
- Nettle Tibetan’s page on Amdo Tibetan videos and films
- The Amdo Multimedia page on the Tibetan Phrasebook website
- Internet Archive videos:
- Video Tibetan lessons with English translation on the Internet Archive (2014)
- Oral Amdo on the Internet Archive (2017)
- Videos with the subject “Amdo Tibetan” on the Internet Archive
- Another video
- Another collection
- Note: these videos are all very scattered, and often take a while to load or need to be replayed repeatedly to load. It would be helpful for someone to sort through these and create a complete list, along with notes on redundancies, missing transcripts, etc.
2.4. Websites
- AmdoDialect.net, as captured on the Internet Archive
- The Tibetan Phrasebook website
- The Amdo Tibetan page on LanguageFeast.com, as captured on the Internet Archive
- https://global-asp.github.io/storybooks-himalaya/stories/adx/
3. Kham Tibetan
3.1. Textbooks
- Tibetan – English Colloquial Primer: Kham Dialect, by George C. Craft and Tsering Hu Heng
3.2. Dictionaries
Comparative Dictionary of Southern Khams language varieties
3.3. Websites
https://global-asp.github.io/storybooks-himalaya/stories/khg/
4. Classical Tibetan
4.1. Courses
https://www.nettletibetan.ca/ (a complete free online course on Classical Tibetan)
5. General resources
This section includes resources on various Tibetan languages and dialects.
Dictionaries:
List of Tibetan print dictionaries by Columbia University
Tibetan Vocabulary Google Site (part 1) by Dan Martin
Tibetan Vocabulary Google Site (part 2) by Dan Martin
Cultural websites
These websites are more useful for advanced learners who already know Tibetan.
Other resources:
- Voice of Tibet has audio for its articles. Most of the audio files are in Standard Tibetan, and some are in other dialects. The content of the audio recordings and the articles doesn’t match up perfectly, but it’s still a useful tool for intermediate and more advanced learners who are able to tell when the audio and the text don’t match up.
- There are many children’s storybooks available through Storyweaver and Sambhota Tibetan Schools Society
- Tibetan Character Notes
- བོད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་སྐད་རྣམ་བཤད། (“Description of the Tibetan Dialects”) by དོན་གྲུབ་ཚེ་རིང་། (Dondrup Tsering)
- The Politics of Language Contact in the Himalaya, by Selma K. Sonntag and Mark Turin
- https://monlam.ai/ Tibetan language artificial intelligence
- AI translation
- AI text-to-speech
- AI speech-to-text
- AI OCR
- Tiblical by Dan Martin
- Tibetosophy: Tibetan Proper Name Index by Dan Martin
- Tibeto-logic by Dan Martin
- Mongolian language resources
