Opening of a distance learning language diploma in Tibetan 1

6 May 2025

  • Asia and the Pacific

  • Distance learning

  • Training

Inalco is offering an intensive distance learning course in "common" Tibetan, the language spoken in the diaspora and the language of communication in Tibet and in exile. The course is designed primarily for people who want to acquire a solid grounding in spoken and written Tibetan for everyday communication, but are unable to attend classes in Paris.
Lecture des caractères tibétains
Apprentissage du tibétain, École du dimanche de Paris, Communauté tibétaine de France (2024) © Françoise Robin‎

The student agrees to attend two face-to-face sessions in Paris per semester, with other students following the same course. In the event of major impossibility, please contact the course leader prior to registration.

The DL 1 Tibetan courses are designed for absolute beginners. No prior knowledge of the language is therefore required.

They are structured according to the four major skills: reading comprehension, listening comprehension, written expression and oral expression. The method focuses on everyday communication situations (introductions, meetings, family, spatial orientation, current activities, religion, future prospects, memories), through dialogues or monologues developed with native speakers. Each lesson covers the basic grammar of spoken Tibetan. Each lesson is an opportunity to learn around 40 new words. At the end of a year's course, students will therefore have memorized 800 to 1000 words and learned the basics needed to carry on a conversation on common topics and acquire the fundamentals to write about these topics.

These online courses are an adaptation of the exercises offered in Tibétain parlé 1 (Presses de l'Inalco, 2023) and Tibétain parlé 2 (Presses de l'Inalco, forthcoming). It is advisable to obtain these two volumes as well as the Manuel de tibétain standard by N. Tournadre and Sangda Dorje (L'Asiathèque, 2024) for further explanations.

Knowledge testing will be carried out online as part of the integral continuous testing (weekly checks). This will include online tests and self-administered exercises, as well as interactive Zoom sessions. Provided they pass the exams, students will be able to validate an L1-level Tibetan language diploma.

Organization

  • Duration: 1 year
  • Co-modal teaching
  • Timetable: 8h per week (including 3h to be confirmed with the teacher and a minimum of 5h self-study)
  • Credits: 30 ECTS
  • Fee: see Distance training (table Tarifs)
  • Start of courses: see Calendar

Admission and registration for DL 1 Tibetan

If you are registering for the first time at Inalco, you must follow the eCandidat2 procedure. The registration period runs from the beginning of July to the end of August 2025

If you are already or have been a student at Inalco, please send an e-mail to Click here to show mail address mentioning your surname, first name, student number and specify that you wish to register in DL1 Tibetan co-modal, so that we can give you a pass for web registration.

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More information on the diploma More information on teaching Tibetan at Inalco