Skill: tenzdelek/tibetan-translation (version 1.0.0)

--- name: tibetan-translation description: Expert translation methodology and best practices for English-Tibetan bilingual translation. Use when translating any content between English and Tibetan (Classical or Colloquial), including handling honorifics, Buddhist/religious terminology, cultural nuances, and script conventions. Provides translation workflows and quality assurance methods. --- # Tibetan Translation Expertise ## Overview This skill provides comprehensive translation expertise for English and Tibetan. It covers translation methodologies, script conventions, honorific systems, cultural and religious considerations, and best practices for producing high-quality translations between English and Tibetan (both Classical and Colloquial registers). ## Translation Philosophy ### Core Principles 1. **Meaning over Literalness**: Convey the intended meaning rather than word-for-word translation 2. **Register Awareness**: Tibetan has sharply distinct registers (Classical, Colloquial, Honorific) — choose the correct one 3. **Cultural Adaptation**: Adapt content for Tibetan cultural and religious context while preserving original intent 4. **Natural Flow**: Translations should read naturally in the target language 5. **Contextual Accuracy**: Consider the broader context, especially doctrinal or ritual context in religious texts 6. **Tone Preservation**: Maintain the original tone (formal, casual, technical, devotional) --- ## Language Overview ### Script and Writing System **Tibetan script (དབུ་ཅན་ — Uchen)**: - The standard printed form, derived from an Indic script (adapted from Gupta/Brahmi via 7th century) - Alphasyllabic: each unit is a consonant cluster with inherent or written vowel - Written left to right, syllables separated by the **tsheg (་)** — a small raised dot - Sentences end with a **shad (།)** — a vertical stroke; double shad (༎) marks larger section breaks - No spaces between words; syllable boundaries marked by tsheg **Tibetan script (དབུ་མེད་ — Ume)**: - Cursive script used in handwriting; same orthography, different letterforms - Not typically used for published or formal documents **Unicode**: - Tibetan Unicode block: U+0F00–U+0FFF - Always use UTF-8 encoding - Ensure fonts supporting Tibetan Unicode are available (e.g., Tibetan Machine Uni, Jomolhari, Noto Serif Tibetan) ### Structural Features - **Word Order**: Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) — verb always at the end of the clause - **Verb-final**: Main verb, including copulas and auxiliaries, comes last - **No grammatical gender** - **No definite/indefinite articles** - **Agglutinative**: Case and grammatical relations marked by postpositional particles suffixed to nouns - **Topic-prominent**: Topic is often fronted and marked - **Evidentiality**: Tibetan grammatically marks the source of information (direct experience, inference, hearsay) - **Aspect over Tense**: Tibetan grammar encodes aspect (completive, progressive, prospective) more than absolute tense ### Key Grammatical Features **Particles (case markers)**: - **གི་/ཀྱི་/གྱི་/ཡི་ (gi/kyi/gyi/yi)**: Genitive ("of", possessive) - **ལ་ (la)**: Dative/Locative ("to", "at", "for") - **ནས་ (nas)**: Ablative ("from", "since", by means of) - **སུ་/ར་/དུ་/ཏུ་ (su/ra/du/tu)**: Locative/Directional - **ས་/གིས་/ཀྱིས་/གྱིས་ (s/gis/kyis/gyis)**: Instrumental/Ergative (marks agent of transitive verb) - **དང་ (dang)**: Coordinative ("and", "with", "together with") - **ཡང་ (yang)**: Additive / contrastive ("also", "even", "but") - **ནི་ (ni)**: Topic marker **Verb System**: - Verbs conjugate for **person/evidentiality** not tense - **Volitional vs. non-volitional** distinction (ego-centric verbs vs. non-ego-centric) - **Copulas**: ཡིན་ (yin) — personal assertion; རེད་ (red) — factual/evidential; འདུག་ (dug) — evidential present; ཡོད་ (yod) — existential/possessive - Verb stems: some verbs have up to four stems (present, past, future, imperative) **Honorific/Humble Verb Pairs** (see Honorific System section): - Ordinary: ཟ་ (za) "eat" → Honorific: མཆོད་ (mchod) - Ordinary: ལབ་ (lab) "say" → Honorific: གསུངས་ (gsungs) --- ## Registers and Honorific System ### 1. Classical Tibetan (ལྷག་དོན་ / ཆོས་སྐད་ — Chöke) **Usage**: Buddhist scriptures (Kangyur, Tengyur), religious texts, traditional literature, formal liturgy, philosophical treatises **Characteristics**: - Based on 7th–9th century Old Tibetan grammar - Extensive use of Classical vocabulary and archaic verb forms - Heavy Sanskrit loanwords (especially in Buddhist terminology): སངས་རྒྱས་ (sangs rgyas = Buddha), ཆོས་ (chos = Dharma), དགེ་འདུན་ (dge 'dun = Sangha) - Complex nominalization and clause-chaining - Requires knowledge of traditional Tibetan grammatical treatises (སུམ་རྟགས་, etc.) **When to use**: - Translating Buddhist texts, liturgy, prayers, philosophical works - Any context requiring adherence to traditional scholarly register - Official religious proclamations **Translation challenge**: Classical Tibetan syntax is highly compact; a single Classical sentence may require multiple English sentences to render accurately. --- ### 2. Colloquial/Modern Standard Tibetan (ལྷས་སའི་སྐད་ — Lhasa dialect / Spoken Tibetan) **Usage**: Everyday speech, modern prose, journalism, contemporary literature, conversational contexts **Characteristics**: - Significant divergence from Classical written form (Tibetan is strongly diglossic) - Colloquial pronunciation often differs substantially from spelling (e.g., མི་ spelled "mi" but spoken as "mi"; complex consonant clusters reduced in speech) - Modern loanwords from Chinese, English, Hindi - Less formal copula forms, contracted particles - Subject pronouns: ང་ (nga) "I", ཁྱེད་རང་ (khyed rang) "you" (polite), ཁོང་ (khong) "he/she/they" (polite), ང་ཚོ་ (nga tsho) "we" **When to use**: - Casual correspondence, modern fiction, contemporary journalism - Instructional or educational content for general Tibetan audiences - Social media and informal communication --- ### 3. Honorific Register (ཞེ་ས་ — Zhesa) **Usage**: Addressing or referring to lamas, high-ranking religious figures, elders, respected persons **Characteristics**: - Separate honorific vocabulary for body parts, actions, possessions - Honorific pronouns: ཁྱེད་རང་ (khyed rang) "you" (polite/honorific); རྗེ་བཙུན་ (rje btsun) for very high lamas - Parallel honorific verb and noun lexicon: | Ordinary | Honorific | Meaning | | --------------------- | --------------- | ------------------------ | | གཟུགས་ (gzugs) | སྐུ་ (sku) | body | | ངག་ (ngag) | གསུང་ (gsung) | speech/voice | | སེམས་ (sems) | ཐུགས་ (thugs) | mind | | ཟ་ (za) | མཆོད་ (mchod) | eat | | ལབ་ / སྨྲ་ (lab/smra) | གསུངས་ (gsungs) | say/speak | | གཤེགས་ (gshegs) | ཕེབས་ (phebs) | come/go (honorific) | | ཡིན་ (yin) | ལགས་ (lags) | is/am (honorific copula) | **When to use**: - Any text addressing, quoting, or describing a revered religious figure - Correspondence to or about lamas and high lamas (རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ Rinpoche) - Formal petitions or offerings (གསོལ་འདེབས་) --- ### 4. Humble Register (འདམ་སྐད་) **Usage**: Lowering one's own status when speaking to a superior **Characteristics**: - Use of humble first-person vocabulary - Self-deprecating forms for one's own actions - Common in formal petitions and religious vows --- ## Buddhist and Religious Terminology This is critical for Tibetan translation, as a large proportion of Tibetan literature is religious. ### Translation Strategies for Buddhist Terms **Loan and retain (transliteration)**: - Preserve Sanskrit terms with Tibetan phonetic rendering where no equivalent exists: བོདྷི་སཏྭ་ (bodhisattva), སཏྲ (sutra) - Use established Wylie transliteration for academic contexts **Semantic translation**: - Use established English Buddhist equivalents: སངས་རྒྱས་ = Buddha; ཆོས་ = Dharma; སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ = emptiness (śūnyatā); ཐེག་པ་ = vehicle (yāna) **Key terminological conventions**: - Do not invent new translations for established Buddhist technical terms — consult standard glossaries (Rangjung Yeshe Wiki, THDL, BDRC resources) - Note that Classical Tibetan translators (the Lotsawas) created highly systematic term-for-term equivalences from Sanskrit; respect these conventions - For philosophical texts, the **Mahāvyutpatti** (མཐར་འོངས་ཀྱི་བཀའ་ཆེམས་) is the classical term-standardization text ### Essential Buddhist Term Reference | Tibetan | Wylie | English | | ----------------- | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | སངས་རྒྱས་ | sangs rgyas | Buddha | | ཆོས་ | chos | Dharma | | དགེ་འདུན་ | dge 'dun | Sangha | | བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ | byang chub sems dpa' | Bodhisattva | | སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ | stong pa nyid | Emptiness (Śūnyatā) | | སྙིང་རྗེ་ | snying rje | Compassion | | བྱམས་པ་ | byams pa | Loving-kindness (Mettā) | | ཤེས་རབ་ | shes rab | Wisdom (Prajñā) | | ཐབས་ | thabs | Skillful means (Upāya) | | ལམ་ | lam | Path | | ས་བོན་ | sa bon | Seed syllable / Gotra | | རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ | rten 'brel | Dependent origination (Pratītyasamutpāda) | | བར་དོ་ | bar do | Intermediate state (Bardo) | | རྒྱུད་ | rgyud | Tantra / Continuum | | ལུང་ | lung | Scripture / Transmission | | རིགས་ | rigs | Family / Lineage / Gotra | --- ## Transliteration: Wylie System When Tibetan script cannot be rendered, use the **Wylie transliteration system** — the academic standard. ### Key Wylie conventions: - **Superscripts** (prefix stacks): written as stack, e.g., རྒྱལ་ = rgyal - **Apostrophe** marks the letter འ (a-chung): e.g., འབྲི་ = 'bri - **Syllable separator**: space in Wylie corresponds to tsheg in script - Vowels: a (default), i = ི, u = ུ, e = ེ, o = ོ **Example**: - བོད་ = bod (Tibet) - ཆོས་ = chos (Dharma) - རྒྱལ་པོ་ = rgyal po (king) - སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ = stong pa nyid (emptiness) --- ## Punctuation Conventions | Feature | Tibetan | Notes | | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Syllable separator | ་ (tsheg) | Between every syllable; not a space | | Sentence / clause end | ། (shad) | Single vertical stroke | | Section / paragraph end | ༎ (double shad) | Marks larger structural breaks | | Title / text end | ༄༅། | Decorative initial mark used at start of texts | | Lists within text | ། or ༑ | Depends on register | | Numerals | Tibetan numerals (༡༢༣...) or Indo-Arabic | Tibetan numerals in traditional texts; Indo-Arabic common in modern contexts | **Critical**: Do not substitute Western punctuation (. , ? !) for Tibetan text unless in a modern colloquial/digital context where mixed punctuation is common. --- ## Translation Workflow ### Step 1: Initial Translation 1. Read the full source text to understand context, register, and intent 2. Identify the domain: religious, literary, legal, journalistic, conversational 3. Determine appropriate register: Classical, Colloquial, or Honorific 4. Create a terminology glossary for key terms (especially Buddhist/philosophical) 5. Translate section by section, maintaining context 6. Mark uncertain terms or constructions for review ### Step 2: Proofreading & Review **Grammar and Syntax**: - Verify SOV word order throughout - Check verb forms for correct aspect, evidentiality, and volitional/non-volitional agreement - Confirm correct copula choice (yin / red / yod / dug) - Verify particles are correctly attached to nouns - Check tsheg and shad placement **Terminology Consistency**: - Consistent rendering of Buddhist/technical terms - Proper nouns (place names, personal names) handled consistently - Honorifics applied consistently throughout **Register Consistency**: - Honorific vocabulary used throughout when addressing/describing a revered figure - No inadvertent mixing of Classical and Colloquial forms unless stylistically appropriate **Cultural Accuracy**: - Idioms and culturally specific expressions handled appropriately - Religious references correct for the tradition (Gelug, Kagyu, Nyingma, Sakya, Bön — terminology can differ) ### Step 3: Refinement 1. Review all flagged uncertain terms 2. Polish awkward phrasings for naturalness 3. Final consistency check against glossary 4. Verify script encoding is correct UTF-8 --- ## Common Translation Challenges ### Challenge 1: Diglossic Gap (Classical vs. Colloquial) **Problem**: Written Classical Tibetan and spoken Colloquial Tibetan are substantially different. A text written for reading differs from one meant to be spoken. **Strategy**: Determine medium and audience first. Use Classical orthography and vocabulary for written/religious texts; use Colloquial forms for spoken scripts, contemporary prose, and informal communication. ### Challenge 2: Evidentiality **Problem**: Tibetan grammatically distinguishes whether the speaker directly witnessed something, inferred it, or heard it secondhand. English does not encode this grammatically. **Strategy**: When translating TO English, convey evidentiality lexically where important ("reportedly", "it is said that", "I saw that..."). When translating TO Tibetan, select the correct copula/auxiliary based on the evidential status of the English statement. ### Challenge 3: Buddhist Technical Vocabulary **Problem**: Tibetan philosophical and tantric terminology has precise meanings developed over centuries. Mistranslation can have doctrinal consequences. **Strategy**: Always consult authoritative glossaries (Rangjung Yeshe, THDL, Rigpa Wiki) before coining a translation. Prefer established equivalents. For untranslated texts, note departures from convention. ### Challenge 4: Honorific Vocabulary **Problem**: Failing to use honorifics when describing a lama or Buddha is considered disrespectful and marks the translator as inexperienced. **Strategy**: Identify the referent first. If the subject is a revered figure, apply the honorific lexicon throughout (sku for body, gsung for speech, thugs for mind, etc.). ### Challenge 5: Clause Chaining **Problem**: Classical Tibetan uses long clause chains with converbal endings rather than full sentences. English uses shorter sentences with explicit conjunctions. **Strategy**: Break Tibetan clause chains into multiple English sentences. Add explicit conjunctions (however, therefore, because) to convey the logical relationship that Tibetan expresses through converb endings. ### Challenge 6: No Articles or Plurality Marking **Problem**: Tibetan does not mark definiteness (a/the) or number (singular/plural). English requires these. **Strategy**: Use context and discourse structure to determine definiteness and plurality when translating to English. When translating to Tibetan, simply omit articles and plurality markers — they are not needed. --- ## Quality Assurance Checklist Before finalizing any translation: **Accuracy**: - [ ] Meaning accurately conveyed - [ ] No omissions or additions - [ ] Buddhist/technical terms accurate and conventional - [ ] Numbers, dates, names correct **Register & Honorifics**: - [ ] Correct register selected (Classical / Colloquial / Honorific) - [ ] Honorific vocabulary applied consistently where required - [ ] No inadvertent mixing of registers **Grammar**: - [ ] SOV word order maintained in Tibetan output - [ ] Correct copulas used (yin/red/yod/dug) - [ ] Particles correctly attached - [ ] Verb aspect and evidentiality correct **Script & Encoding**: - [ ] Tibetan Unicode (UTF-8) used throughout - [ ] Tsheg (་) between syllables - [ ] Shad (།) at sentence/clause ends - [ ] No Western punctuation substituted inappropriately **Naturalness**: - [ ] Reads fluently in target language - [ ] No awkward calqued phrasing - [ ] Appropriate word choice for the domain **Cultural Appropriateness**: - [ ] Culturally and religiously sensitive content handled correctly - [ ] Idioms adapted appropriately - [ ] Religious tradition (Gelug/Kagyu/Nyingma/Sakya/Bön) correctly reflected in terminology choices --- ## Best Practices 1. **Determine Register First**: Classical vs. Colloquial vs. Honorific must be decided before beginning — it affects every word choice 2. **Use Standard Glossaries**: Never coin new Buddhist term translations without consulting authoritative resources 3. **Preserve Clause Logic**: When breaking Classical clause chains, explicitly mark logical relationships 4. **Transliterate Unfamiliar Terms**: When uncertain of script rendering, provide Wylie alongside 5. **Verify Encoding**: Always check Tibetan Unicode renders correctly before delivery 6. **Consult Tradition**: Terminology varies across Buddhist schools — confirm which tradition the text belongs to 7. **Document Decisions**: Note any non-standard term choices or departures from established equivalents 8. **Native Speaker Review**: Have a qualified Tibetan scholar or native speaker review religious translations when possible 9. **Preserve Intent**: When in doubt, prioritize the author's intended meaning and doctrinal intent 10. **Respect the Lineage**: Tibetan translation carries centuries of tradition — treat it accordingly --- ## Tools and Resources ### Dictionaries and References - **Rangjung Yeshe Wiki** (rywiki.tsadra.org): Extensive Tibetan-English Buddhist dictionary - **THDL Tibetan-English Dictionary** (thlib.org): Tibet and Himalayan Library - **BDRC (Buddhist Digital Resource Center)** (library.bdrc.io): Full-text Tibetan canonical texts - **Mahāvyutpatti**: Classical Sanskrit-Tibetan-Chinese terminology dictionary (available on BDRC) - **Goldstein's Tibetan-English Dictionary**: Standard reference for Classical Tibetan - **Jäschke's Tibetan-English Dictionary**: Classic 19th-century reference, still useful for Classical terms ### Online Resources - **Rigpa Wiki** (rigpawiki.org): Nyingma-tradition Buddhist terminology - **84000 Project** (84000.co): Published English translations of Kangyur with original Tibetan — excellent parallel corpus - **ACIP (Asian Classics Input Project)**: Digitized Tibetan texts ### Transliteration Tools - **Wylie Converter**: Various online tools convert Tibetan Unicode ↔ Wylie - **TibetDoc / Tibetan Calligraphy**: Software for Tibetan script input ### Fonts - **Tibetan Machine Uni**: Standard Unicode font - **Jomolhari**: High-quality OpenType Tibetan font - **Noto Serif Tibetan**: Google's Noto family Tibetan font --- ## Quick Reference **When translating, remember**: 1. Identify domain and register before starting 2. Build a Buddhist/technical term glossary early 3. Apply honorific vocabulary consistently when required 4. Maintain SOV structure in Tibetan output 5. Use tsheg and shad correctly — not Western punctuation 6. Verify UTF-8 encoding and font rendering 7. Consult authoritative glossaries for Buddhist terms 8. Document non-standard choices **Default choices when uncertain**: - **Register**: Polite colloquial (ཁྱེད་རང་ / khyed rang for "you"; ཡིན་ / yin as standard copula) unless context clearly specifies Classical or Honorific - **Buddhist terms**: Follow 84000 Project or Rangjung Yeshe Wiki conventions - **Punctuation**: Use tsheg and shad for Tibetan; reserve Western punctuation for mixed modern/digital contexts only - **Transliteration**: Use Wylie when Tibetan script cannot be rendered or for academic audiences --- **Note**: For the broader multilingual translation methodology (workflow, quality assurance philosophy, cross-language comparison), see the `translation-expertise` skill. For writing conventions specific to Tibetan document formats (prayer texts, petitions, formal letters), extend this skill with a `tibetan-document-formats` companion file.


Security scan verdicts — ClawScan: clean | static analysis: clean | VirusTotal: clean | SkillSpector: clean (LOW)