Kham Tibetan Language Materials
by Renchin-Jashe and Kevin Stuart
Introduction
The reader is undoubtedly aware that written Tibetan radically differs from what is spoken and that there are also many differences in, for example, written Tibetan in Amdo regions and that of Lhasa. The value of this material is that it presents one of the most widely used Tibetan dialects as it is actually spoken.
Renchin-Jashe, a native of Yulshul (Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province where Kham is spoken, wrote these sentences using a system that he devised. I then edited the sentences. The text "English 900" was of some use in this preparation. We have tried throughout to present sentences that reflect Tibetan culture.
Kevin Stuart
Institute of Foreign Languages
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
1993
consonants
- q -- similar to 'k' in sky
- t -- similar to 't' in study
- b -- similar to 'p' in speak
- k -- similar to 'c' in country
- kh -- voiced deeper than k
- gh -- similar to 'gh' in ghost
- g -- voiced clearer than gh
- gh -- voiced thicker than gh
- ch -- similar to 'ch' in change
- ch -- voiced thicker than ch
- jh -- smiliar to 'j' in just
- jh -- voiced thicker than jh
- j -- voiced clearer than jh
- j -- voiced clearer and harder than j
- ny -- similar to 'ny' in canyon
- nyh -- voiced clearer and harder than ny
- t -- similar to 't' in town
- th -- voiced thicker and harder than t
- p -- similar to 'p' in plan
- ph -- voiced thicker and harder than p
- dh -- similar to 'd' in day
- d -- voiced clearer than dh
- dh -- voiced thicker than dh
- bh -- similar to 'b' in bone
- bh -- voiced thicker than bh
- b -- voiced clearer than bh
- m -- similar to 'm' in modern
- m -- voiced cleared and harder than m
- mh -- similiar to 'm' but with a slight 'h' sound
- tsh -- similar to the 'ts' in patsy
- tsh -- voiced harder and thicker than tsh
- n -- similar to the 'n' in nice
- n -- voiced harder and clearer than n
- nh -- similar to 'n' but with a slight 'h' sound
- ng -- similar to the 'g' in gun with an 'n' in front
- ng -- harder and clearer than ng
- ngh -- similar to placing an 'h' sound after ng
- z -- similar to the 'z' in zoo
- z -- voiced clearer than z
- tr -- similar to the 'tr' in try
- trh -- voiced thicker than tr
- dz -- similar to 'ds' in words
- dz -- voiced clearer and sharper than z
- dzh -- voiced thicker than z
- ts -- voiced clearer and sharper than z
- sh -- similar to the 'sh' in shine
- sh -- voiced lighter and lower than sh
- shh -- voiced sharper than sh
- shh -- voiced deeper and thicker than sh
- w -- similar to the 'w' in worker
- v -- voiced higher and lower than the 'v' in very
- y -- similar to the 'y' in year
- y -- voiced sharper and harder than y
- r -- similar to the 'r' in rose
- l -- similar to the 'l' in life
- lh -- voiced harder than l
- lh -- voiced harder and sharper than lh
- h -- similar to the 'h' in house
- dhr -- similar to the 'dr' in driver
- dhr -- voiced thicker and lower than dhr
- dr -- voiced clearer and lighter than dhr
- s -- similar to the 's' in sit
- s -- voiced harder and thicker than s
Vowels
- a -- voiced shorter than the 'a' in father
- i -- similar to the 'i' in mill
- u -- similar to the 'u' in tune
- e -- similar to the 'e' in get
- o -- shorter than the 'o' in offer
Vowels with Suffixes
ie, uo, ue, ai, ei, ie, aa, ee, ou, oi, uu, ii, oo, uoe, am, im, um, em, om, al, il, ul, el, ol, an, in, un, en, on, ar, ir, ur, er, or, ang, ing, ung, eng, ong
The above vowels with suffixes are each comprised of two parts and each part has a sound. When voiced, the initial vowel is sounded, shifting quickly into the suffix sound.
Suffixes include the ten consonants: g, ng, d, n, b, m, v, r, l, and s. The suffixes m, n, l, and r are voiced the same as the consonants. The suffixes g, d, v, and s are voiced differently than when voiced as consonants. The suffix 'ng' is similar to the 'ng' in morning.
The hyphen "-" indicates syllables in words with more than one syllable.
900 Basic Sentences
- Qa e tel. Hello
- Chou ghale-jiele en? Is your life well?
- Nga Norbu Sangbho yin. I'm Norbu Sangbho.
- Chou Doje e rei? Are you Doje?
- Nga yin. Yes, I am.
- Chou dhemo yin nam? How are you?
- Nga dhemo yin, tujeche. Fine, thanks.
- Droma dhele ghale e ree? How is Droma?
- Mo ni dhele ghale ree tujeche. She is very well, thank you.
- Chou dhehi eyou, Avo Qalsang? How are you, Mr. Qalsang?
- Ghongmo zang, Ashe Yudron. Good evening, Ms. Yudron.
- Ghong mo chou dhemo en? How are you this evening?
- Da do nub dhe mo jie Tshering. Good night Tshering.
- Ghashou, Dondrub. Good-bye, Dondrub.
- Sang nyin tutree zei. See you tomorrow....