CONFERENCE OF TRANSLATORS 2008

Midterms at Naropa

Troy Omafray — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:10:01 +0000

Things are rather busy right now due to midterms, but I will add more content next week. Thanks for staying tuned in to the blog!

Notes on the discussion(s) of difficult terms

Troy Omafray — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:17:04 +0000

I’m compiling my notes on this section of the conference and trying to make sense of them. This weekend l’ll post all the terms we discussed and some preliminary notes I gathered from the breakout sessions.

Conference Photos

Troy Omafray — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:37:45 +0000

I linked a new Flickr account to the blog for posting some conference photos, see column 2.

Recordings

Troy Omafray — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:03:27 +0000

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.

The conference is over and NOW I can write my blog.

Troy Omafray — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:31:00 +0000

The translator conference is finished, and I’m totally wiped out. Between running up and down the three floors at Shambhala Hall, trying to listen carefully to the discourse on how to translate “blo”, “nam par she pa”, and the like, and just generally trying to stay sharp for 12 hours a day wiped me out. The original plan was to blog DURING the conference, provide a more timely view into the happenings, but I was simply too busy to get to my computer and provide a narrative. However, as some of you know, I dropped online every hour or so on my mobile to see if anyone was live chatting on Meebo. I spoke with a few of you, and I was happy to answer your questions and, in at least one case, point you to the Buddhist Geeks live video stream of Jeffrey Hopkins. This was an amazing conference unlike any I’ve been to (I’ll get into how the conference was arranged in a different post later). In any case, I will report my observations over the course of the next few weeks instead of trying to cram all my notes in at one time. Besides, it’s just too much to do all at once. I’ll also comment on post-conference developments as I hear about them.

The Eve of the First Day

Troy Omafray — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:39:27 +0000

As Jose Cabezon’s vist to Naropa fades and the film Milarepa plays to an end, the conference is about to begin. Tomorrow, Shambhala Hall will be set, many will attend Donald Lopez’s talk at the University of Colorado, and the reception to all the participants will take place….

Film Festival at Naropa University 2008

Troy Omafray — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:35:38 +0000

Click on the following link for an informational flyer for the upcoming film festival: lob-films

Reporting on the conference events…

Troy Omafray — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:10:33 +0000

During the week of events at the LoB translators conference I will journal about the events I encounter. As part of that, if you have any questions or comments, want to know more, or have something to share, please email me, or if I’m online, live chat them to me.

email: troy@berotsana.org

phone: 651-343-4288

Thank you,

Troy P. Omafray