Ten Ways to Promote Tibetan Language

Tibetans in Tibet are taking great risks to fight for their right to study in their mother tongue while China tries to marginalize the Tibetan language. To support the conservation of Tibetan language, we can all contribute by taking some simple actions. Tibetan version of this guide can be found here: http://www.khabdha.org/?p=13517

1. Listen to Tibetan news at RFA (http://rfa.org/), VOA (http://voanews.com/), and VOT (http://vot.org/) weekly. Watch VOA’s incredibly popular Kunleng TV twice a week: http://www.voanews.com/tibetan-english/news/.

2. Read Tibetan news at least once a week at Bodkyi Dusbab (http://tibettimes.net/), Bodkyi Bangchen (http://tibetexpress.net/), http://Khabdha.org/. Read poems and essays by persecuted writers: Tashi Rapten, Kunga Tsangyang (http://freekunga.com/), Shogdung, Kalsang Tsultrim, Dolma Kyab, and Jamyang Kyi at http://wokar.net/.

3. Install Tibetan unicode on your computer so that you can type in Tibetan. Download the software at http://lobsangmonlam.org/. It’s as easy as ཀ་ ཁ་ ག་ ང་། and it’s compatible with Mac as well as Windows.

4. Write Facebook status updates in Tibetan on Wednesdays. “བོད་ ནང་ སློབ་ཕྲུག་ མང་པོས་ སྐད་ཡིག་ རང་དབང་ ཆེད་ སྐད་འབོད་ བྱེད་འདུག” If you don’t have Tibetan installed in your computer, you can use the Tibetan Virtual Keyboard http://apps.facebook.com/tibetankeyboard/?ref=mf

5. Send an occasional email in Tibetan – it will surprise your parents, delight your friends, and confound the hackers!

6. Stop worrying about spelling. One day soon, there will be Tibetan spell-check on your computer. For now, bad spelling is better than no spelling. Besides, you can download Monlam’s online Tibetan dictionary at http://www.4shared.com/get/0o_FOTWt/Monlam_Dictionary.html.

7. Give a Tibetan comic book or picture book to a kid as their holiday gift. If you have a kid, read a Tibetan story to put them to bed. གཟིམས་འཇག་གནང་ངོ་།

8. Listen to contemporary Tibetan music (this is too easy not to). No matter what your taste you will love Rangzen Shonu (http://rangzenshonu.net/), JJI Exile Brothers, Yadong, Kunga, Sherten, Techung, Phurbu T Namgyal, etc.

9. Buy Tibetan books, magazines, CDs (http://semshae.org/) and DVDs. Tibetan writers and artists are churning out works of art and literature, and we must build a global market to consume their products. Let’s vote for Tibetan language with our wallets.

10. Speak in Tibetan whenever possible, not just when sharing secrets on the subway.

This guide is brought to you by the Tibetan staff members of Students for a Free Tibet.
བོད་རང་བཙན་ སློབ་ཕྲུག་ཚོགས་པའི་ བོད་པའི་ ལས་བྱེད་པ་ རྣམས་ ནས་ ཕུལ།།