Tenpa, the friendly monk from Amdo, at Triten Norbutsé in Kathmandu

Tibetan small talk is a little different from American small talk. Overall, they don’t do it nearly as much, being content to get right into whatever they need to talk about or otherwise just sit in silence. Here is a key for those situations where they actually do engage in such idle chat, usually with foreigners:

USA - Good morning!

Menri – Until recently there was no such expression. Now there are two: Ngadro delek, which literally means “blissful happy morning” and is said prior to 10am, and shokpa delek, which means the same thing and is said between 10am and 12pm. You can also say tashi delek at any time, but this is supposed to be said only around New Year’s and means “blissful happy auspiciousness!” These days it is a fairly standard greeting all year round.

USA – How are you?

Menri – Kuzuk daypo yin pé, which literally means “Is your body healthy?” But most people don’t say this unless you say it first. It’s much more common to hear kapar pep ki yin, which means “Where are you going?”

USA – I’m fine.

Menri – Daypo day kyang, which means “I am totally fine.”

USA - What have you been up to? What’s going on? What’s up?

Menri – A ni, which means “And?” Very economical. Around meal times they always say kalak sé tsar yin pé, which literally means “Did you finish eating?” This is not as much a matter of actual curiosity as it is a type of small talk similar to “What’s up?”

USA – See you later.

Menri – Jela jé yong, which literally means “Our meeting will come later.”

USA – Goodbye!

Menri – If you are the person leaving and the other person is staying, you say kalé shu ah, which means “Stay gently.” If you are the one staying and the other person is leaving, you say kalé pé ah, which means “Go gently.”

On occasion a monk will ask me how my work is going. When I ask them what they’re doing, they very often say dakahss, which is hard to translate but sort of means “whatever” or “who knows?”

At first I thought this meant that monks are never doing anything, but it doesn’t mean this. If you ask them in the present tense they will give the answer in the present tense — meaning this very moment. They could just as easily say “Talking to you,” which would be the same answer but kind of jerkish so they don’t say it. They may have something important to do in 3 minutes but they will usually only tell you this if you ask in the future tense or if they’re trying to get rid of you.