Nepali language

James O'Donnell is a senior lecturer and demographer at the Australian National University School of Demography.

We've had big increases in the number of Nepali speakers in the last 20 years, lots of people coming from Australia, different Indian languages, so not just Hindi, but Gujarati and Punjabi.

But then at the other end of the spectrum, we're also seeing some sort of interesting declines in some of the, particularly some of the European languages of some of our older migrants now.

SBS conducts a language services review every five years, which coincides with and uses data from the national census.

[laughs]

'Cause I learned a few words, but I'm not fluent in Nepali or Vietnamese.

I c- I, I'm not, and I love to travel, so I don't shame people when they don't know Spanish.

Yeah.

But then whenever he's at home, he's hitting the books.

He's getting permission from different authors and publishers to translate different works into Nepali.

He's writing his own material.

All these great, great resources so that whenever he is meeting with some of these pastors that are kind of out in the middle of nowhere, he's able to leave them really helpful material that will hopefully keep them going, um, in between visits from himself.

We're very blessed English speakers.

We have one of the best languages in the world for, for resources, and not only the scripture, but those who have commented on them and, and helpful books in, in that language.

And, uh, there is a real need for that, this translation work, again, in Nepali, but also in lots of other of the sorts of languages and the sorts of countries that we're involved in.

Big, big need.

There are three choices.

Ravi, a Nepali name meaning son.

Tashi, a Tibetan name meaning fortunate or lucky.

And then there is Pabu, a Tibetan word meaning fluffball.

And while you're at it, go to www.biblebar.org to download the transcript, listen to another episode from the archive, or get links to other materials and information.

Remember, the Bible Barred English podcast is translated into other languages, including Spanish, Hindi, Nepali.

Ernest Wahili, Chigua Bengali, and newly translated Punjabi.

We're looking for more local translators, so if you know someone, send them our way.

Owing to their being subjects of Nepal, the official language, that is Nepalese, is the one they are obliged to employ in dealing with the authorities.

Also, nearly every one of the Tibetans we employed and who came with us from Darjeeling spoke Nepali as their second language.

In consequence of this, nearly the whole of the work usually done by a sardar of coolies in Darjeeling was carried out by the officers of the expedition, who dealt directly both with the men and with the people of the country.

End of chapter 1, section 1.

Fodder did not exist.

When we sent off the previous party, they traveled as lightly as possible, but even then the small number of animals which was required for their transport had not been obtained with any great ease.

Fortunately, John MacDonald was with us and was free, and it was owing to his help, for he speaks Tibetan as well as Nepali and is thoroughly accustomed to deal with the people, that the two parties of Strutt and Norton were able to proceed with such little delay.

It had required a full fifteen days to collect enough animals to move the main body.

It's still a pale imitation, your attempt to conceptualize it.

And, um, so ignorance, avijja in Nepali, is a fundamental aspect of the Buddha's teaching.

Essentially, when the Buddha became enlightened, he realized that life is actually perfect as it is.

It's perfect now.

Go to www.biblebar.org to download a transcript, listen to another episode from the archive, or get links to other materials and information we provide.

Remember, the Bible Bard English podcast is translated into other languages, including Spanish, Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, Swahili, Chigua, Bengali, and Punjabi.

We're looking for more local translators, so if you know someone... put them in touch with us.

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