This textbook is designed to teach modern literary Tibetan and to serve as a grammar and handbook of standard Tibetan. The development of modern written Tibetan has been so influenced by printed materials from many surrounding countries that it is vastly different from classical Tibetan. Borrowings of vocabulary, style, and grammar have created a new written form of the language. This volume is designed to be used as a year's course in learning modern literary Tibetan, and may be used as a self-taught course. In Part 1, the basic features of the grammar are introduced, and the ability to apply these to reading passages is developed. Part 1 will give the student a command of the basic morphological and syntactic features of the modern written language and a basic vocabulary of 1-2,000 items. Part 2 consists of a series of reading selections from Tibetan, Chinese, Sikkimese, and Bhutanese materials, with translation, vocabulary, and explanatory notes. Aspects of Tibetan grammar and style are explained through these writings, which are taken from recent publications on politics, science, arts, news, and history. Interlinear translation is used throughout, along with a fluent English translation. (CHK)