About the Online Dictionary Site:
This site is an arm of the Padma Karpo Translation Committee.  It has the sole purpose of providing an on-line dictionary resource using the various electronic dictionaries made by PKTC.  At the moment, the site provides access to PKTC’s flagship Tibetan-English Dictionary called The Illuminator, a dictionary widely regarded as the best Tibetan-English dictionary available.  If this proves to be successful, more dictionaries and possibly free online texts will be added.  Access to the site is by yearly subscription at a modest fee.  We do not provide free on-line dictionaries for the simple reason that we aim for the highest quality.  Our offering here is markedly better than free dictionaries both in its mode of use and in the very high quality of the dictionary offered.

How to Subscribe:
First you will need to purchase a subscription.  Subscriptions last for one year from the date of purchase.  Subscription is done through the registration page.

You will be asked to provide information including your own login name and password.  You will then pay for your subscription using credit card any of the several other types of payment, such as Paypal, cheque, and so on supported by our electronic shop.

When you have successfully made the purchase, we will activate your subscription.  This will generally happen within 48 hours.  We will notify you by return e-mail that your subscription has been activated.  If you provide a false or incorrect e-mail, we will not be able to verify your subscription!  Providing a false e-mail address or name on the registration page only creates trouble for all; you will have to provide your correct name and e-mail during the purchase process!

After your subscription has been activated, you will be able to log in to the dictionary area.  For this you will need the login name and password that you provided when making the subscription.

Please be fully warned that we DO NOT provide assistance with lost login names and passwords.  The onus is entirely on you to note them down and keep them safely.  We provide one feature to help you regain lost passwords.

How to use the Dictionary:
The login page is here.  We suggest you bookmark the login page for future convenience.  Once you have logged in using your user name and password, you will have access to the dictionary page.

The controls available for searching are simple but very powerful.  They are also self-explanatory.  Here are few hints:

Tibetan words always end with a punctuation mark.  The words in the dictionary always end with a tsheg, so when you type your search string you must type a tsheg at the end in order to find the text.

The simple search screen allows you to search for an exact match in dictionary headwords.  The advanced search lets you find anything throughout the whole dictionary.  When you log in you start at the simple search screen.

You can type Tibetan text and/or English text in the search box and search according to the settings you have chosen.  A list of entries in the dictionary matching your search will appear and can be read.  To start at the very beginning of the dictionary, search for “TITLE” in the headword.

When a match is found and that item displayed, you can click on the up and down arrows to the right of the search screen in order to scroll up and down through the dictionary one item at a time.

Hyperlinks work.  Click on hyperlinked words and you will go directly to the definition of that term.

Piracy Warning:
Sharing your log in name and passwords with others is highly unethical and strictly against our rules.  If you do it anyway, you will find that we have built certain safety features into the software to prevent this kind of piracy as soon as it happens.  We will know who you are and you will be in danger of losing your subscription without further warning.  You have been warned.