Tibetan Language

Tibetan has its own script that it shares with Ladakhi and Dzongkha, which is derived from the ancient Indian Brahmi script. The alphabet is an abugida of Indic origin used to write the Tibetan words. The language is generally clarified as a Tibet-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan language family, although the boundaries between ‘Tibetan’ and other Himalayan languages are often unclear.

The language is spoken in regional dialects, which although they’re mutually legible, generally cannot be understood by speakers of different oral forms of Tibetan.

It is employed throughout the Tibetan plateau and Bhutan and is also spoken in parts of Nepal and northern India, including the Sikkim.

In general, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa), Kham, Amdo and some smaller nearby areas are considered Tibetan dialects. Other forms, particularly Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa, and Ladakhi, are considered by their speakers, largely for political reasons, to be separate languages.

Although spoken Tibetan varies according to Tibet region, the written language, based on Classical Tibetan, is consistent throughout. This is probably due to the long-standing influence of the Tibetan empire, whose rule embraced (and extended at times far beyond) the present Tibetan linguistic area, which runs from northern Pakistan in the west to Yunnan and Sichuan in the east.It also goes from the northern part of Kokonor lake (Qinghai) south to as far as Bhutan.

Frequently used English and Tibetan Language