Asian Language Books: Tibetan, Nepali, Japanese & More
Older language courses and dictionaries for less-taught Asian languages are some of the most sought-after second-hand books, because many were produced in small runs for missionaries, aid workers, soldiers and scholars and were never reprinted.
For classical Tibetan in particular, learners usually combine a grammar written for translators of Buddhist texts with one of the large Tibetan-English dictionaries.
Where to start
Translating Buddhism from Tibetan — Joe B. Wilson, 1992. A complete course in classical Tibetan for readers of Buddhist texts.
A Tibetan-English Dictionary — Sarat Chandra Das, 1902. The classic dictionary, still reprinted.
The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan — Melvyn C. Goldstein, 2001. The reference for the modern spoken and written language.
Japanese: The Spoken Language — Eleanor Harz Jorden and Mari Noda, 1987. Jorden's later course, successor to the wartime Spoken Japanese.
Asian Language Books: Tibetan, Nepali, Japanese & More in stock (11)
Persisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch by H. Junker and B. Alavi — $28.49 A Persian-German dictionary (Persisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch) by H. Junker and B. Alavi, published by Max Hueber Verlag in 1968.
Lonely Planet Nepali Phrasebook by Mary Jo O'Rourke, Bimal Man Shrestha — $6.10 A pocket phrasebook for travellers in Nepal, the Lonely Planet Nepali Phrasebook by Mary Jo O'Rourke and Bimal Man Shrestha (Lonely Planet, 2002, 256 pages), with phrases in English and Nepali.
Soviet Dungan: The Chinese Language of Central Asia by Svetlana Rimsky-Korsakoff — $28.49 Soviet Dungan: The Chinese Language of Central Asia by Svetlana Rimsky-Korsakoff, published in 1967 by the Indiana University Asian Studies Research Institute.
Yi Han jian ming ci dian by Yunnan shen Lunan Yizu Zizhixian wen shi yan jiu shi — $69.35 Yi Han jian ming ci dian, a concise Yi-Chinese dictionary published in Kunming by the Yunnan Nationalities Publishing House (1984), 450 pages.
Русско — лаосский - Разговорник by Соболева В.С., Плам Ю.А, В.Чантхависук и др. — $10.80 A Russian-Lao and Lao-Russian phrasebook (Russko-laosskii, laossko-russkii razgovornik), published in Moscow by Russkii Yazyk in 1988.
English-Laos Dictionary by D. G. Collins — $28.50 An English-Lao dictionary prepared by D. G. Collins and published by Gregg Homme International in 1972, with entries in English and Lao, the national language of Laos.
Spoken Japanese: Book One by Bernard Bloch and Eleanor Harz Jorden — $28.49 A language course in spoken Japanese, Book One, by Bernard Bloch and Eleanor Harz Jorden, published by Henry Holt in 1945.
Speak Tibetan Like a Tibetan by Dhondup Tsering — $15.20 Speak Tibetan Like a Tibetan by Dhondup Tsering, published by Pilgrims Publishing, India, in 2005.