Dzongkha, besides being a woody fragrance that transports you to Buddhist monasteries, is also the official language of Bhutan.
It means language (kh) within dzong. The dzong are fortified monasteries that in the past protected what is today Bhutan. They were built roughly in the seventeenth century by the Tibetan military leader Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in order to defend what were at that time fiefs of the frequent invasions by Tibetans. The amazing architecture of these dzong can still be seen today.
We therefore need to go back to those times of Tibetan wars to understand where Dzongkha comes from.
It is the official language of Bhutan, but is also spoken in the surrounding areas of India and Nepal.
Linguistically
- Dzongkha is a language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family, and more specifically, the Tibeto-Burman branch, which includes Nepalese and Burmese.
- It is usually written using the Tibetan alphabet, although the romanization of Dzongkha also exists. Romanization, for those who do not know, is the phonetic transcription of a language; it is written as it sounds. However, the predominant written form in Bhutan uses the classic Tibetan alphabet.
- The writing direction is from left to right, as is the case with other languages of the family.
- Most of Tibeto-Burman languages usually follow a basic subject – object – verb order.
If you have any material you need translated into Dzongkha or any other Tibetan language, send your inquiry to Translation Services and one of our representatives will be happy to assist you.
