The most accessible way to learn any language is through dialogues, and the most effective way to learn any language is through immersion.
Please see my article on Immersion for how to progress through the Tibetan-only materials for second-language learners. Many of the dialogues are also available as audio files on SoundCloud.
The most accessible way to learn any language is through dialogues.Â
Some of these bilingual dialogue books are pinned on a Pinterest board: pinterest.ca/howtolearntibetan.Â
Beginner conversation: The Heart of Tibetan Language
Beginner conversation: The Heart of Tibetan Language by Franziska Oertle- I'm moving this book up in my list now that it has an exercise book companion, and to my surprise, there is also a Volume II and exercise book for that as well (I'm seeing it for the first time at the end of June 2025). They help to clarify many Tibetan constructions and particularities that are not intuitively obvious to speakers of Indo-European languages. Note that each audio file is linked in the book pages by a QR code. The codes are unnumbered, so it may take a bit of work to figure out which file goes with which page if you aren’t using the QR codes directly to open the files. You can peruse the various companion lists and files available at her website resources menu at https://franziska.in/#portfoliop  Personally, I don't use this one so much because I prefer texts that are much more dialogue-heavy and not giving so much explanation and vocabulary as lists. I feel that dialogues with interpretation-guide interlinears are the closest to learning in immersion.
Ebook Volume I: https://books.google.ca/books?id=NW32DwAAQBAJ
Exercise Book for Volume I: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=d232DwAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PA74&hl=en Â
Ebook Volume II: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=6VfgEAAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PP1&hl=en
Exercise Book for Volume II: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=VJDhEAAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PP1&hl=en Â
Anki decks, audio, flashcards, as well as international online sellers of ebook and paperback versions: http://franziska.in/#portfoliop
Beginner to advanced phrases: Colloquial Tibetan Grammar Book
Beginner to advanced phrases: Colloquial Tibetan Grammar Book by Dawa Tsering, Vols. 1, 2 and 3 (paperback) this is a precious resource by a second-language teacher who has decades of experience teaching colloquial Tibetan as a foreign language. He has helpful explanations and tips and a well-organized approach to building toward sentence structure complexity. https://vajrabookshop.com/product/colloquial-tibetan-grammar-book-volume-1-and-2/ It is full of sample sentences and clear explanations for them. No companion audio that I am aware of. Volume 3 is also available online now at https://vajrabookshop.com/product/colloquial-tibetan-grammar-book-literay-tibetan-grammar-seven-cases-idioms-volume-3/ I love learning from this one but again I don't use it as intensively as the dialogue-heavy books, because I find it more natural to learn through authentic dialogues. This book has many useful constructions that are well organized, but doesn't feel as natural for learning practice.
Beginner phrases and conversation: Speak Fluent Tibetan
Beginner phrases and conversation: Speak Fluent Tibetan by Dr. Chok Tenzin Monlam (eBook, paperback) Â This is a well-organized book based on 148 key sentence models with vocabulary-building modules, appendices, verb tables, and a glossary. This will allow you to build fluency for A1/A2 once you are able to read the Tibetan script. It apparently also has an audio cd available, but I haven't been able to find a source for it. If you are in Dharamshala you can visit LTWA and see if you can find the audio and paperback version. I have used this in the past and the small dialogues are a good place to start. Again the key phrases are useful, but I always prefer longer natural dialogues when available.
Ebook: https://books.google.ca/books?id=6m72DwAAQBAJÂ Â
Beginner to intermediate conversation: Colloquial Tibetan
Beginner to intermediate conversation: Colloquial Tibetan by Jonathan Samuels (eBook, paperback, audio) very helpful for learning conversational Tibetan, levels A1, A2, B1 and B2, with audio and pronunciation guide. The audio dialogues are very typical of natural conversations in everyday life, with a variety of voices and good voice acting. I devoured this text and learned the dialogues, making my own interlinear guides for them. Very helpful.
Book: https://www.amazon.ca/Colloquial-Tibetan-Complete-Course-Beginners/dp/113895019X A second book is planned, so please do support them by buying the first one.
Audio (free): Colloquial Language Series Website - Colloquial Tibetan (routledgetextbooks.com) Â
Vocabulary notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rX7BUJyrcGxjimj0GCNFMAA1yhUv0KNA/view?usp=sharing - you can add comments to these notes if you see room for improvement or corrections. I have kept སོང་ as "happening" instead of "happened", but I may change my mind on that later.
Intermediate conversation: Textbook of Modern Colloquial Tibetan Conversation
Intermediate to advanced conversation: Speak Tibetan the Tibetan Way
Intermediate to advanced conversation: Speak Tibetan the Tibetan Way  by Nyima Dekyi (eBook, paperback, exercise book, audio)  These A2-B1 dialogues are clearly influenced by the Esukhia school's dialogues, and you will notice some crossover topics and material. Plus it has a handy glossary for each dialogue. I have started reading it aloud and recording myself reading it, and I'm finding it a helpful exercise in increasing my reading speed and slowly learning native-fluent syntax. This is the book that I am working through currently (August 2025) for myself and have started it with my in-person students. Extremely useful and dialogue-heavy. One dialogue is on a dharma topic. The vocabulary lists are incomplete in my opinion, and somewhat cursory, so as usual I am building my own interpretive guide.
Book: https://www.bibliaimpex.com/index.php?p=sr&format=fullpage&Field=bookcode&String=9789380359861 this book in paperback is a bit of a challenge to find, but if you can get your hands on one it is very helpful. Might take some poking around on Google to find a current supplier.
It seems they have now (September 2024) added an exercise book companion also: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=vSL3DwAAQBAJÂ
I have a friend who hooked me up with the audio files that she got in India: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18C3P_X8hN6u9XdAcOR9ufkyPhhHnQYoq?usp=sharingÂ
Nick Prior has also created some slow reading practice audio files for the first thirteen lessons at his Tibetan website here: https://tibetanlanguage.school/practice/listening/slowreading-tibetan/Â
Advanced conversation: Advanced Fluent Tibetan
Advanced conversation: Advanced Fluent Tibetan (pdf eBook, audio) colloquial B1 Dialogues by Thupten Jinpa, and the tenth lesson is a dialogue with a Buddhist monk. Another one that I devoured before I was really ready for it. Will revisit it after completing the previous book and see if I can improve my interpretive guide of it. Lesson 4 is missing from some versions so contact me if you need it.
Book online: https://www.scribd.com/doc/201128173/Advanced-Tibetan-DialoguesÂ
Bilingual audio: Advanced Fluent Tibetan Files I inserted English audio into the files available above to make this bilingual version.
Vocabulary notes for Lesson 1: Â https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rGxn1KaA_KSBm-i13of_hJqIXGYtIz7w/view?usp=sharingÂ
Intermediate conversation, beginner to intermediate dharma teachings: Tibetan Correspondence Course
Intermediate conversation, beginner to intermediate dharma teachings: Tibetan Correspondence Course  (pdf ebook, audio) by Sarah Harding and Jeremy Morelli. This has some introductory A1 and A2 colloquial dialogues also, but it mainly has B1 and B2 dharma dialogues and teachings that are somewhat easier to start with than those in the Geshe Sopa book.  I started to give this a try and venture into some of the dharma language, but I think I will be better placed to give this a go when I have completed the previous texts.
Audio: I do have audio for these, but the sound quality is poor. I will see about making a new version to post sometime.
Intermediate to advanced dharma teachings: Lectures on Tibetan Religious Culture
Intermediate to advanced dharma teachings: Lectures on Tibetan Religious Culture (eBook, paperback, audio) by Geshe Lhundrup Sopa. B2 and C1 Dialogues with monks about (Geluk) monastic life and dharma topics. If your goal is to translate for Buddhist monks, this is the go-to textbook at a lot of translator-training programs. The first lesson I got pretty familiar with and found it helpful. I will start tackling this one again systematically once I have completed the Nyima Dekyi and Thupten Jimpa dialogue books. I hope to have a complete interpretive guide of this one over the next two or three years (2028?)
Ebook: Lectures on Tibetan Religious Culture by Geshe Lhundup Sopa - Books on Google Play
Online version: this version from the 1970s is browsable, with handwritten Tibetan script. Similar to the paper one I have at home which was printed in the 1980s I think: https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AUDTUGVREUOJYE8I/pages/AUQEOJEI6D6GES8N
Audio: the online link seems to be down, but contact me if you need a source. This one may work ok: https://av.mandala.library.virginia.edu/audio/geshe-lhundub-sopa-lectures-tibetan-religious-culture-chapter-01aÂ
Science textbook: Philosophy of Science
Science textbook: Philosophy of Science (pdf ebook) from the Emory Tibet Science Initiative (no audio, but there are other books also on Math, Physics, Biology and Neuroscience, and accompanying videos throughout the site. There is also another primer on Dharma of Science. https://www.emorytibetscienceinitiative.com/primer-reading/philosophy-of-science This one is not as much in my interest wheelhouse just yet, but I am inspired to get into it once I get through the dharma vocabulary books. I would love to be able to engage at this level and also support English learners and diaspora Tibetan learners with this material.
These will supplement your learning and may be more appropriate places to start for some learning styles.Â
Textbook: Introduction to the Tibetan Language - Australian National University - Walks you through from basic spelling to more complex sentences. Will be useful for those with a background in Linguistics and those used to learning language from a grammar book. Another good place to start for such beginners. Somewhat too easy for me so I don't have a lot of patience to review it thoroughly.
Ebook: https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/textbooks/introduction-tibetan-languageÂ
Beginner dialogues: A Beginning Textbook of Lhasa Tibetan - helps you get started with reading and writing, simple dialogues. Also a bit too easy for me.
Book in pdf: Tibetan, a Beginning Textbook of Lhasa - DocsLib
Audio: Audio downloadÂ
Textbook: Tibetan Language Textbook Online (in Russian, use a Google Translate browser extension if needed) -Â https://tibetan.spb.ru/ Same, a bit too easy.
Phrasebook: Useful Tibetan-English Phrases Threshold - a very practical series of lessons framed in a dictionary/phrasebook style with English pronunciation provided
Book in pdf: https://learntibetian.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/useful-tibetan-english-phrases-treshold.pdf This has some great phrases in it, but as usual, I favour dialogue-heavy texts so this is on the back burner for me for now.
Intermediate dialogues: Manual of Standard Tibetan - this is a popular course text with Lhasa-centered dialogues and short folk tales and cultural stories about Tibet. Another one that is also worth digging into and learning the dialogues. I tend to skip the folk stories because I prioritize conversation.
Scanned book: https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/Mega%20linguistics%20pack/Sino-Tibetan/
Audio: https://www.shambhala.com/manualofstandardtibetan/Â
Intermediate dialogues: Handbook of Colloquial Tibetan - this is a book from 1897 with only phonetics, but I am intrigued by it. It seems to have some useful dialogues and cultural notes. It is somewhat archaic and uses a lot of phonetic script instead of Tibetan script, which can be rather limiting. And since it doesn't have a lot of long dialogues, it's a back burner resource for me for now. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.31488/page/n1/mode/2up
