As one of the people who’s life has been transformed by the teachings of Tibetan lamas, I have to acknowledge one thing that is rarely spoken of. Without competent translators from Tibetan to English, I wouldn’t have experienced that transformation.
I often refer to myself as a translator fan-girl. Language acquisition is not my forte. So I dote on translators every chance I get like I’m a trekkie at a Start Trek convention. I can read a little Tibetan now, from shear repetition, but I am still as dependent as a little baby on translators for understanding philosophical works.
They are an unusual bunch of people who almost invariably ended up going to Nepal or India to live at some point and learned to translate at the urging of their Tibetan spiritual mentor. Some learned because they wanted to do a traditional three year retreat in the 70’s before there were written translations of the core practice texts of their traditions, much less a friendly neighborhood oral translator to be available whenever the retreatants needed the next set of teachings in the sequential retreat process. Whomever understood the most oral Tibetan in the group was an instant translator by default.
One woman I know learned Tibetan because it was a prerequisite to Tibetan medical school, but when she gained fluency, it became apparent they were never going to let a western woman in the program (this was a long time ago). Another man demanded that his parents take him to a Tibetan monastery and leave him there as a child… and they did. Each translator has a story to tell, and I love listening to them.
Because I love both good English-language writing and certain kinds of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, I love listening to translators discuss how they make the difficult choices of translation terms and what their process is like. Tonight I listened to this hour-long lecture to aspiring translators by Ruth Sonam. She was the translator for an exalted Gelugpa Geshe (Dharma Scholar) at the Library of Tibetan Works and archives in Dharamshala India for decades. She co-authored ten books with him while he was alive, and one book of teachings posthumously. Their translation of Aryadeva’s middle way philosophy took fifteen years and eleven word-by-word run-throughs with her Geshe, followed by work with an editor at the late great Snow Lion Publications office in the States. to complete. She worked as a volunteer, preparing extensively for every class he would teach at the Library.
If you are interested in Tibetan Buddhism, you might be enriched by listening to her 2015 talk on YouTube. But definitely take every translator you meet out to lunch and talk with them about their work.
