Tibetan language seen hurt by China's neglect

[Harold Schiffman]

Tibetan language seen hurt by China's neglect
Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:05am EST
By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese government is neglecting and actively
undermining the Tibetan language as part of continuing efforts to
dilute the region's unique culture, a human rights group said on
Thursday. Schools are forcing Tibetan children to learn China's
national language, Mandarin, at a younger and younger age and are
failing to support use of Tibetan in official fields, the Free Tibet
Campaign said in a new report. "China's insistence on Chinese language
in Tibetan schools has failed a generation of Tibetans who now lag
behind the rest of China in terms of basic literacy," the group's Matt
Whitticase said in an emailed statement. "But the one-language policy
in Tibet goes beyond education; it is part of a more general assault
on Tibetan culture and identity," he added.

"The growing prevalence of the Chinese language in all spheres of
Tibetan public life automatically advantages Chinese settlers over
Tibetans ..." The government in Tibetan capital Lhasa did not answer
calls seeking comment. China has ruled Tibet with an iron fist since
People's Liberation Army troops occupied the region in 1950 and has
vowed to bring economic prosperity to the poor Himalayan region.
Tibetan activists have warned that tourism and migration by Han
Chinese could swamp Buddhist Tibet's distinctive culture.
Tibet is supposed to enjoy a high level of autonomy, which includes
protection of and support for its language. But the Free Tibet
Campaign said this was not happening, and quoted an exiled Tibetan
teacher, Tsering Dorje, calling for the Tibetan language to be made
the region's official language.

Letters with addresses in Tibetan fail to get delivered, and parents
are increasingly speaking to their children in Chinese, hoping to give
them an edge in a society where their mother tongue is being
marginalized, the report said. "Certainly there are few lucrative job
prospects for Tibetans who have not been educated in Chinese," it
quoted Tsering Dorje as saying. "Nor is it possible for a student
educated in Tibetan to acquire professional qualifications at college
or university." Tibetan is not the only minority language in China
rights groups say is threatened. The exiled Southern Mongolian Human
Rights Information Centre says Mongolian usage in Inner Mongolia has
also withered, and that many signs written in Mongolian are poorly
translated, or just plain wrong.

In Mongolian's case, even the government has weighed in, admitting in
an unusually frank report late last year that the language's use had
declined, including a huge drop in the number of primary school
students being taught Mongolian. "The government must pay greater
attention to these problems, and come up with specific measures as
soon as possible," official government Web site www.nmgnews.com.cn
reported.

(Editing by Mathew Veedon and Jerry Norton)


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