Traditional Tibetan remains a common language in Tibetan Autonomous Region, said Wu Jilie, vice chairman of the autonomous regional government Monday.

He made the remarks at an on-going national academic seminar on ethnic language translation. Wu said that the Tibetan language plays an important role of information carrier and is the major communication instrument for Tibetans.

Sources with the regional edition and translation bureau said that Tibetan regional government has issued a series of regulations to guarantee Tibetan's right to use Tibetan language.

Cewang, director of the regional edition and translation bureau said that there are nearly 1,000 professional Tibetan language translators, who translate 50 million Chinese characters into Tibetan language annually. Professional translators have played key roles in broadcast, TV, education, publication and jurisdiction in Tibetan language.

In the political and jurisdiction field, all major documents of the regional government are published in two versions: Tibetan and Han language (Chinese character). The regional teaching materials editing center has completed the translation work of 181 kinds of textbooks, 122 types of teaching reference books and 16 teaching outlines.

The Tibetan language can be traced back to nearly 1,400 years ago.

Source: Xinhua