Prof. Fabian Sanders
Many aching brains got through the first weekend of a beginners course in Tibetan language led by the more than able Dr Fabian Sanders. He, of course, made the unintelligible jungle of funny shapes and sounds appear to have an easy logic. Not that the poor students were lacking languages with participants from half of the countries in Europe as conversations switched from Italian to Russian depending on participants.
What is difficult about an alphabet you would think, but three days later when you are still putting twiddly bits before, after, on top and below of a letter and most of the variations twisting the pronunciations that you couldn’t pronounce in the first case… How hard can it be to memorise all the hundreds of variations, we will see.
We might make it look a bit difficult but Fabian is proof of how easy Tibetan is and I am sure we will get up to speed by the time the fourth weekend is upon us. I hope the happy skypers in unknown places in the ether did well as we may never know or meet them.
This is the first such course in our newly almost finished Lekdanling in wonderful Hackney, sounds like acne, trendy East London. Shang Shung (now we know how to pronounce it properly) UK organised the course in the spacious modern centre that some months ago was a dark concrete box. The relaxed atmosphere bodes well, the broadband is connected and we are ready to go.
Colin Ellar
