Tibetan language dictionaries just keep getting thicker with the creation of more words to help define a changing world.

"New words are being created one after another. I have to rely on Tibetan language dictionaries instead of my memory now," said Qamba, a professional translator from the Lhasa Translation Bureau.

And that costs a lot of time and money, Qamba pointed out.

In his 26 years as a translator, Qamba has regarded the Tibetan dictionary as an indispensable tool in his work. But a Tibetan dictionary was rare in 1972, when he learned Tibetan-Han (Putonghua, or standard Chinese) translation in the Central Nationality Institute.

Puncog Zhaxi, a translator who worked on the translation of the "Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on the Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" signed in 1951, said that at that time, due to the lack of a Tibetan dictionary, the true meaning of many modern words such as "imperialism" could only be guessed at.

The Tibetan language is one of the oldest languages in the world, with a history of more than 1,300 years. The first Tibetan language dictionary came out in 1949, engraved on wood. A lama scholar named Gexi Qughizaba spent 10 years compiling it with assistance of a peer in Lhasa.

In 1957, this dictionary was published by the Nationality Pressusing modern printing technology. However, the 900-page dictionary was mostly used for help in reading sutras and Tibetan ancient books. That volume is now sorely outdated.

Since the Tibet democratic reform in 1959 and along with the progress of the Tibetan ethic group, Tibetan and Han scholars have compiled and published a series of dictionaries including the "Han-Tibetan Glossary Dictionary", the "Tibetan Language Dictionary" and the "Tibetan-Han-English Dictionary." And there are dictionaries specially filled with terms on politics, economy, history and literature in Tibetan.

The first Tibetan dictionaries were the size of a normal book; now, the thickest dictionary is in three volumes, more than 3,000 pages in total, and is too heavy to carry around in a rucksack or briefcase, scholars note.

The latest publication is the "Han-Tibetan Dictionary", which came out in 1991, containing more than 80,000 terms. It includes not only Tibetan words, but also a lot of idioms, adages and scientific expressions. It contains a chemical element glossary, which has never before been translated into Tibetan language.

With the development of the Tibetan economy and society, the ancient Tibetan language has been enriched with many modern and new words and phrases, such as "environmental protection." Many are used frequently by modern Tibetans, such as "market economy" and "reform and opening up to the outside world."

With the frequent addition of Tibetan words, the standardization of the language became a new issue for scholars to tackle.

The Tibetan Language Advisory Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region has recently called on professional translators from different fields to discuss ways to advance the standardization of the new words in the ancient tongue.

( December 3, 2001)