Episode 7: Mother Tongue

For Tibetans in their native country and around the world, preserving the Tibetan language means preserving their culture. Since the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959, these vital parts of Tibetan identity have been under grave threat. 

For the past six decades, Tibetan refugees have managed to keep their culture alive in India, where they formed a democratic exile government once headed by the Dalai Lama. Since the US Immigration Act of 1990 provided immigration visas to 1000 of these refugees, exiled Tibetans have made homes away from home in America as well. 

In this episode, we’ll hear how the sizable Tibetan community in Queens has managed to preserve their mother tongue.

This episode is also available in Tibetan. You can find it in our podcast feed.