Why dual-language texts?

As Tibetan Buddhism comes to the West we are experiencing various obstacles in the transmission of the teachings. One of these is in the different approaches in the way Tibetan and Western education is offered to students. The Tibetan mode was primarily oral. The texts are often like outlines, very terse, that the teacher would then give commentary on throughout the course of the class. Students were expected in many cases to have memorized the text, thus as the class went along they knew where they were in relation to the whole book. We in the West have not been trained like this and are used to studying texts directly. We need to have the book in front of us as we learn because we have not memorized its contents. It is doubtful that this procedure of memorization of entire texts will be taken up by Westerners ever. For us, having the book in English that the teacher is teaching greatly facilitates our ability to digest the material. Below, I have enumerated reasons from various perspectives as to the benefit of these dual-language texts.

For Tibetan teachers: As Tibetan teachers come to America and other Western countries they are faced with the difficulty of teaching in a foreign language. Most need to have a translator with them to teach. Often the translators are skilled at colloquial translation but may not themselves have gone through the rigorous philosophic training and struggle to find the right words to use during a teaching. Many Geshes or Tibetan lamas have learned some English but almost none have been taught technical philosophic English. Philosophic (classical) Tibetan is very precise in meaning and the scope of the study is extremely detailed. These dual-language documents  allow the Tibetan teachers to learn the philosophic English using texts that they have already memorized in many cases. It helps them do their job well. I have been told by Tibetan teachers over the years how happy they are at seeing and using these dual language documents.

For translators: I have seen translators, both Tibetan and Western use these dual-language documents to help make their translations clearer. The vocabulary is standardized  so they can coherently present the material over a class. It allows them to study the material before a teaching and feel a greater confidence in their translation.

For Western students: For those students who are learning classical Tibetan they are wonderful tools for advanced language study. Because the material is broken up into small meaning units, sentences or paragraphs, it helps the student make the jump in translation ability from word and sentence recognition into larger meaning units. It is wonderful to use the actual texts of the curriculum as a tool and thus furthers both their philosophic understanding as well as their vocabulary development and grammatical scope.

For the classroom: In this situation it helps the group to literally be on the same page. I read classical Tibetan (to a small degree) and notice that often the teacher will be reading from a text but the translator is either only able to translate part of it for lack of philosophic English training or Philosophic Tibetan training. If the students are using an available English translation on the topic it is sometimes not a literal translation or may have a commentary added to it and so the students have to spend time trying to find where the teacher is in the text, thus wasting precious time. These dual-language texts allow both teacher and student to read together and thus facilitates a clearer and more expedient transmission of the material.

For scholars: These texts allow for comparative translation. With the original Tibetan on the page they do not have to wonder what the original word was that was translated. It bridges in one text the original and the modern translation.

For aesthetes: The books are aesthetically pleasing. I have heard the comments from people who do not read Tibetan that they simply like to see the script on the page. They feel closer to the root materials through this and like the way it looks.

Some time ago I was attending a teaching at a well known and respected Dharma center. I sat in class and listened to how the material was being translated to the students and could see how because of the difficulty of the task the students had not gotten the materials clearly. After the class was over and we were leaving, one of the students turned to me and laughingly said, "I come here to get confused." I thought it was a sad statement. These precious teachings should not be a source of confusion but clarity. I want to do what I can to help facilitate a better transmission of Buddhism to the West and I believe that these dual-language texts is one way that it can be done.