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Tibetan Language Assumes Larger Role
Lhasa is unique. With Tibetan characteristics, it differs from other provincial or autonomous region capitals. One thing that strikes visitors is the bilingual name plates and billboards.
The Second Working Conference on the Tibetan Language, which closed yesterday, issued an ultimatum that Tibetan must be added to the remaining public signs that have only Han characters on them.
This is a restatement of past orders instead of a current expediency.
The use of both Tibetan and Han, the two official languages in the Tibet Autonomous Region, are mandatory in public places.
As early as in 1988, a local legislation on the learning, application and development of the Tibetan language stipulated that all public signs must be bilingual.
Name plates and billboards are only the tip of the iceberg of the authorities' endeavours to promote the use of the Tibetan language.
According to the 1988 rule, all documents issued by public institutions at or above the county level for implementation within the region must be in Tibetan and Han. Documents at the township and village levels can be Tibetan-only.
Beginning in January 1991, lower-level institutions are entitled to refuse to implement documents without a Tibetan version. Issuers of the documents assume full responsibility for all subsequent losses.
A living language spoken and written daily by more than 4.59 million users in the country is surely no endangered species and will, without a doubt, develop with an effective legal shield and commitments made by all sides of the social fabrics.
Despite the increasing use of Han in the region, Tibetan remains the more popular, or sole, language in communication among ethnic Tibetans. Putonghua, the standard spoken Chinese, is more often than not reserved for official occasions.
The country's Constitution gives ethnic groups the right to give priority to their own language in education and daily use.
In line with that, the regional authorities placed emphasis on Tibetan in primary school teaching. The Han language is not taught until the third or fourth year in primary schools.
Even officials and State employees of the Han and other ethnic groups working in Tibet should learn Tibetan, the 1988 regional rule stipulates.
More intensive efforts are being made to introduce advanced technologies and new knowledge using the Tibetan language.
There is a desperate need for new technologies in Tibet to upgrade backward local agriculture and animal husbandry. Only the Tibetan language can guarantee the information reaches the needy.
As a result, translation of applicable technological materials from Han to Tibetan is a major undertaking in the region.
That is exactly why Laiqoi, chairman of the Tibetan regional government, made the appeal for substantial financial backup and talent cultivation to overcome the language barrier.
By constantly updating the interface between the Tibetan language and contemporary ideas and technologies, such attempts will surely inject new life into the Tibetan language and culture.
If the Dalai Lama and his followers want to solicit evidence for their allegation of "cultural genocide" in Tibet, they will have to look elsewhere.
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