[Buddha-l] An Encyclopaedic Tibetan-English Dictionary

[Trans Himalaya]

Dear Stephen and Steven,

I am currently in Tibet and have just read with interest your postings
concerning the Encyclopaedic Tibetan-English Dictionary. As Stephen will
recall, Professor Thupten Nyima and I translated 78% of the original Bod
rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, comprising the letters KA to NA and BA to YA
during the years 1992-1996 at SOAS, when our work was funded by the
Leverhulme Trust. We added Sanskrit equivalents and also modified the
Tibetan definitions in an attempt to improve upon the original dictionary.
The other letters (PA and PHA from Volume 2 and RA to A from Volume 3),
amounting to 22%, were translated independently in Denmark and the resulting
translation turned out to be stylistically incompatible with our work.. The
decision to divide the translation in this way was taken without our prior
knowledge and against our advice. As Stephen has rightly suggested, this has
been a major reason for the delays that occurred..
During the four years that I was fully engaged. in this project, we focused
entirely on the translation of the successive alphabetic entries, moving
sequentially from one to the next. There was no time at all to edit the
ongoing translation. It was in 1994 or 1995, I believe, that I proposed you,
Stephen, to the Project Administrator to help with general editing, 
In 1996 sympathetic organizations in the United States offered funding to
support the continuing involvement of Professor Nyima and myself in the
editorial phase of the project, but this was declined by the Project
Administrator. I should emphasize that over many years of working with
Tibetan texts, this is the only occasion on which I have never had an
opportunity to review or edit my own writing!  
It should be known that the Ethnic Publishing House in Beijing who hold the
copyright of the original Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo have been consistent
and sincere in their efforts to have this dictionary published, jointly with
SOAS. Volume One has already appeared (without my editorial input) but,
despite repeated enquiries from our side and from respected colleagues or
concerned individuals, neither we, the translators, nor the publishers in
Beijing have the faintest idea when the second and third volumes will be
ready for publication. Nonetheless I have always been committed to the
project and I am still willing to participate in final editorial work should
the occasion arise. It would have been relatively easy for us to integrate
the remaining 22% with our work.; and I believe that this is the case even
now.. 

Finally, I note that Stephen has referred to the history of this project's
implementation and management. This is a matter that I would be prepared to
discuss off-list with any well motivated persons who genuinely wish to see
the remaining volumes in print, to complement those excellent online
dictionaries that Stephen has also mentioned. 

best wishes.

Gyurme Dorje 


-----Original Message-----
From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com
[mailto:buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Hodge
Sent: 10 April 2007 03:53
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] An Encyclopaedic Tibetan-English Dictionary

Correction to my last message:  it was the entire third volume and a couple 
of letters from the second volume which were badly translated.  At a later 
date, somebody else was asked to re-do it but I heard there were also major 
difficulties here due to the advanced age of the individual.  FYI, I left 
the project in the mid-90s.

Stephen Hodge

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