During the 40 minute “pedagogy, mentoring relationships, and nurturing aspiring translators” discussion (in the community room, 1st floor) there were a many interesting points made. Craig Preston started by explaining his course of action and materials used when teaching beginners, which was essentially what you’ll find in his book How to Read Classical Tibetan, a text I find to be excellent. At some point I spoke; I requested more tapes, more recordings, more ways to listen to native speakers. During my studies with Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen at Naropa University I recorded him reading many sections of texts and several useful phrases to supplement recordings I already had: Fluent Tibetan tapes, Tournadre’s recordings, Joe Wilson’s Translating Buddhism from Tibetan, and Goldstein’s Essentials of Modern Literary Tibetan tapes. These materials (though mainly my own recordings) greatly aided my training to hear Tibetan and to get it into my mouth by verbal repetition. As Jeffrey Hopkins said at one point, “you gotta learn with your ears not your eyes.” So as it were, I mentioned this during the discussion session, that I’d like to have more recordings, and one woman, I forget who, said from across the room that she could help; however, I never got a chance to talk with her. If you’re that person please let me know. But anyway, Andreas Doctor did a great job reporting what our group discussed, if you recall.
CONFERENCE OF TRANSLATORS 2008
Hosted by Light of Berotsana. Boulder, Colorado. September 26, 27, 282 Comments »
Troy Omafray wrote @
Cool. Thanks Craig. Looking forward to your new book. And say hi to your son from me, a fellow metal head shredder.
Bows,
Troy
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Hi Troy,
I guess this is the proper place for a comment I put elsewhere, so sorry for the duplication.
It’s good to get out, meet new folks, make new connections. I’m entering a phase where my students are younger than my three kids (a metal guitarist, a hairdresser in Hollywood, and a new mom-ethnomusicologist). As you know, I had the good fortune to train under Jeffrey Hopkins at UVa from 1978-1982. We worked incredibly hard (thanks, Jeffrey!), but we played hard too. Hey, we are Wahoos. The day at my desk today is not that different from then. As I type this I’m listening to a Darkstar from Feb 2, 1969. I’m just as happy to talk about life in the Phil Zone on a good night as I am to talk about where the verb is. Epistemologists come in all cultural flavors, and I’m an old Deadhead.
Students and teaching methods come in all flavors too. I’m the right guy to study with for some students, but certainly not all students. As Alex Berzin and Hopkins emphasized again and again, the development of memory is key. We memorized philosophical definitions in Tibetan daily, debated their meaning within our limitations, and thus carried around with us lots to think about specifically. My teaching methods are a logical extension of where I came from. My students memorize short paradigm sentences as keys to unlock the large units found within the sorts of sentences found in commentarial texts. In this way pedagogically I am the opposite pole from the “intuitive” camp. Just as I’m a Deadhead rather than (fill in whatever here, maybe anything from the 80s), I naturally gravitate to a rule-based system to decode Tibetan sentences.
I think it was implicit in our collective conversation that this is not a substitute for long work with native speakers. It is merely one developmental stage that is useful for some translators in training. As Hopkins said at his retirement speech, “Do what you can do.” This is what I do. If anyone finds it appealing, get up with me.
Now, as a point of shameless self-promotion, Volume Two of my box-laden approach to exploring the marvels of Tibetan sentences will be published by Snow Lion real soon now. I’ve presented Jay-dzun-ba’s short (maybe 20 sides) Presentation of Tenets for students interested in getting a foothold in the tenets genre. Its more of the same, so if you liked volume one, this will appeal to you. It is a better book in man y ways, proof positive that this old dog can learn new tricks.
–Stay cool, Craig