New fonts give Tibetans texting options

The fonts project leader Tashi Tsering at his office at the China Tibetology Research Center. CHINA DAILY

In the past few weeks, Tashi Tsering has received good feedback from users, including phone producers seeking authorization to pre-install a certain font on their products and publishing houses soliciting help in processing complicated Tibetan words.

Free downloads of the Tibetan fonts have pleased many smartphone sellers in Lhasa because they have helped their business.

"This is a good thing for Tibetan people as the Tibetan language is widely used in Tibet, and it has brought great conveniences for them," said Yan Baichuan, 39, a mobile phone shop owner in Lhasa.

With the emergence of Tibetan for smartphones, iPhones no longer dominate the mobile phone market in Tibetan areas. They are too expensive for many Tibetans in pastoral and farming areas.

"Now the situation is different. People can buy less expensive cellphones and install Tibetan fonts themselves. More Tibetans can benefit from digital technology," said Dordram, vice-president of Gansu Normal University of Nationalities in Hezuo, Gansu.

Drolma, 26, a Tibetan mobile phone seller in Lhasa, said it's easy to download Tibetan to the Android smartphones. "It has become a trend that Tibetan customers always ask the seller if a phone can download the Tibetan language before they decide to buy one," he said.

To download the fonts for free, users can log on to yalasoo.com. A copybook of the Qomolangma fonts has also been published by the China Tibetology Publishing House.

Cheng Yunjie and Palden Nyima contributed to this story.