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March 26-27, 2010
Minority Language in Today's Global Society: Perspectives on Language Standardization
Throughout the world minority language communities have looked to language standardization as a means to maintain their languages and strengthen cultural integrity, yet this very process may also contribute to discrimination and social conflict. Together with experts on Hungarian, Kurdish, Tibeto-Burman languages, and the three major dialects of Tibetan, we will explore the implications of language standardization within minority communities.
Children's Program
Next class: February 20, 2010
10:30 am - 12pm
The Children's Program at Trace Foundation's Latse Library is a bi-weekly class where children learn basic Tibetan language skills through games, songs, stories, and activities. The program is for ages 3-6, and all children are welcome. The class is conducted in Tibetan and provides children with immersion in the language in a fun and encouraging learning environment.
The suggested donation of $5/student per class goes directly to the teaching staff. No registration is required.
Saturdays, 11 am –1 pm
February 6 through May 1
Pakéling: Fundamentals of Tibetan Language and Culture
Trace Foundation’s Latse Library is pleased to announce a new Tibetan language class for adult students to learn conversational and written Tibetan. Pakéling: Fundamentals of Tibetan Language and Culture is an elementary level class where individuals can begin to learn, refresh, or improve their Tibetan language skills. Students will be taught the fundamentals of Tibetan, with a focus on conversation and reading skills. The class is intended to provide immersion in the language and will be conducted in Tibetan, Central Tibetan dialect, with little or no English instruction.
What is Pakéling? Pakéling can be loosely translated as "Tibetan Language Corner." "Paké" literally means "father tongue language," referred to in the West as "mother tongue language"." One of the uses of the term ling is to refer to a special place for a certain activity. From as early as Tibetan Imperial times, we can find the term dragyurling for a place where individuals do translation work, or samtenling, an area dedicated to meditation. Pakéling, therefore, is meant to be a special corner devoted to the study and appreciation of the Tibetan language.
Schedule: Saturdays, 11 a.m.–1 p.m., February 6 through May 1.
Location: Trace Foundation’s Latse Library, 132 Perry St. Suite 2B
Fee: a $5 suggested donation per class goes directly to teaching staff. In addition, there will be a minimal fee for class materials.
Teaching Staff: Tenzin Norbu, instructor of Tibetan language at Columbia University has generously volunteered to teach the class.
Registration is required. The class is limited to 20 students, so please register early. Provide your name, email, and phone number to info@latse.org or by calling 212-367-8490.
Interested in a more advanced class? Write and let us know! An intermediate level Tibetan language class is under consideration.
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Report of October lecture:
Vitality and Viability of Minority Languages
October 23 -24, 2009
On Friday and Saturday, October 23rd and 24th 2009, Trace Foundation hosted the third event in its lecture series Minority Language in Today’s Global Society, which was entitled Vitality and Viability of Minority Languages. This event brought together experts from diverse backgrounds to pursue answers to questions surrounding assessment of language vitality, policies to support viability, and practices to ensure a flourishing future for minority languages, with a special focus on the Tibetan language case.
Our keynote event on Friday evening featured Professor Joshua Fishman, a celebrated authority on sociolinguistics, interviewed by Professor Elliot Sperling, a leading Tibetan history expert. Professor Fishman discussed the topic of corpus planning and language maintenance. In combating and reversing language shift, Professor Fishman elaborated on the need of the three essential virtues of patience, prudence and functional specificity. According to him, most weakened languages of the world survive in the homes and communities and therefore, the reversal of language shift should start from there. He also advocated a self-sustained language reversal scheme and cautioned against too much dependency on external infrastructural supports. This informative keynote event was followed by a reception where the audience had the opportunity to engage with the speakers in a lively social atmosphere.
Launch of 2nd lecture series: Date to be announced.
Visions of Development in Minority and Indigenous Societies: Making Viable Peoples’ Ways of Life
Trace Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of its 2nd lecture series, Visions of Development in Minority and Indigenous Societies: Making Viable Peoples’ Ways of Life. Each event will be organized around different topics such as traditional cultures and modernization, biodiversity and local knowledge, microcredit and rural development, participatory process and community self-determination in development, social entrepreneurship and community development, the impact of tourism on local communities, and more. The lecture events in the series will bring together speakers from diverse national and disciplinary backgrounds to examine and share experiences on the selected topics at hand, with a special comparative focus on Tibetan communities in China.
This event will examine themes of traditional cultures in the context of modernization and globalization； biodiversity and the impact of development, and the role of local knowledge in maintaining biodiversity.
Next meeting: To be announced
Tibetan Reading Class
Trace Foundation’s Latse Library is pleased to announce the return of the Tibetan Reading Class. The class focuses on the literature of different historical periods, from Dunhuang / Tibetan Imperial Period to modern-day writings. The classes will be taught by Library Director Pema Bhum and will involve not only critical readings of texts, but also the historical context of different literary genres and background information of the work and author.
Report of last lecture:
Perspectives in Mother Tongue Education,
February 21-22, 2009
On February 21, Trace Foundation marked the tenth annual International Mother Language Day with a two-day lecture event at Latse Library in New York City. This followed up on November’s opening session of the Minority Language in Today’s Global Society lecture series.
In this second session, entitled “Perspectives in Mother Tongue Education,” the focus was on the possibilities and challenges involved in implementing mother tongue education across the world, and particularly in Tibetan communities in China. Trace Foundation was honored to host François Grin, Professor of Economics at the School of Translation and Interpretation (ETI) of the University of Geneva in Switzerland; Shawo Dondrup, Project Manager of Trace Foundation’s Pilot Project Hainan Prefecture Junior Middle School of Qinghai Province in China; Minglang Zhou, Associate Professor and Chair of the East Asian Studies Department at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania; Tenzin Norbu Nangsal, Instructor of Modern Tibetan Language at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute; and Tove Skuttnabb-Kangas, Professor Emerita of both the University of Roskilde’s Department of Languages and Cultures in Denmark and Åbo Akademi University’s Department of Education in Finland.