Tibetan Language Widely Used in TibetThe Tibet Autonomous Regional Government gave awards to 17 work units recently for their great contributions in promoting the use and development of the Tibetan language.These units include education departments, the press and publishing organizations, administrative departments and those involved in Tibetan medicine. Legqog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said that the regional committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the regional government has always attached great importance to the work done in regards to the Tibetan language, and progress has been made in the use and development of the language. "The right of local people to freely use and develop the Tibetan language is fully respected and guaranteed," he said. Tibet is an autonomous region of minorities with Tibetans accounting for more than 96 percent of the local inhabitants. According to the regional guiding committee for Tibetan language, currently, Tibet has established a bilingual education system which combines teaching the Tibetan and Chinese languages. The majority of local primary schools use the Tibetan language in teaching and there are 102 Tibetan language classes in local junior middle schools. A total of 181 kinds of textbooks, 122 kinds of teaching reference books and 16 kinds of teaching programs are edited in Tibetan language, according to the committee. Sources from the local government said that all the documents and materials of the regional committee of the CPC and the regional government are printed in Tibetan language and are sent to grassroots authorities under the county level. The doorplates of government departments, commercial facilities like department stores and restaurants are written in both Tibetan and Chinese. Science and technology, legal, posts and telecommunications, cultural and recreational units all provide services in both languages as well. Tibetan is also widely used by local media. Everyday there are 16,000 copies of the Tibetan language edition of "Tibet Daily" published, the Tibet People's Broadcasting Station offers 14 and-a-half hours of Tibetan language programs and the Tibet Television Station broadcasts 12 hours of Tibetan language programs through its satellite channel. Since 1993, Tibet has completed the coding of the Tibetan language for domestic and international standards, and the development of a computer application system in Tibetan is underway. |
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