Tibetan language

The Tibetan language or Standard Tibetan is a Tibetic language spoken in Tibet, a region of China. It is one of the many Han–Tibetan languages. It has been spoken for many centuries (since at least the 6th century, possibly earlier).

Standard Tibetan
ལྷ་སའི་སྐད་ lha-sa'i skad
Native to	China
Native speakers	(1.3 million cited 1990 census) ca. 5 million of broader Tibetan
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Tibeto-Kanauri Bodish Tibetic Central Tibetan Standard Tibetan
Early forms	Old Tibetan Classical Tibetan
Writing system	Tibetan alphabet Tibetan Braille
Official status
Official language in	China Tibet Autonomous Region
Regulated by	Committee for the Standardisation of the Tibetan Language
Language codes
ISO 639-1	bo
ISO 639-2	tib (B) bod (T)
ISO 639-3	bod

Tibetian speaking world

Tibetan has many dialects and Standard Tibetan is one of them. People who speak different dialects often cannot easily communicate with each other orally.

The Tibetan written language is not known by most Tibetans and is not taught in many Tibetan areas.