Tichrong is an independent indigenous community having its own existence in society. They have a complicated linguistic and social economic structure they do not look down on other dialects, they all claim to be brothers.
Population in the Project Area :
3700
The People
Dolpa
Tichrong, also known as Tichurongke is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Magar people in the Tichurong valley of Karnali Province specifically in the Dolpa district in western Nepal. It is spoken in the villages of Gumbatara, Gufa, Rukha, Kola, Tachin, Khani, Khani Gumba, Namdel, Baijibara, Syala, Vyas, Banthada, Chilpara, Dharapani, and Lawan. TICHRONG people practice ethnic religions. There are also a significant number of Buddhists also Hindus; They also follow other traditional religions.
Most Tichrong people have settled down to permanent villages, but some still continue to lead a nomadic life, traveling with their herds.
Traditionally, Tichrong people are migrating with their large groups of cows and goats, they have also started to plant potatoes, millet, maize, etc. There are very less employment opportunities in the Region. Agriculture and herbs are the main sources of household income. The main employment sources are wage labor, agricultural labor, and self-employment. In the Tichrong people group some who own their own land have become farmers. Others work as basket weavers. They are very simple people at the same time hard working. Now a day they have started small hotels at their home itself to earn money from travelers as there is no transportation between Donai to Dolpa. For transportation, they use mules to carry a heavy load on mountains as well as traveller. Tichrong people are simple hardworking people group. Majority of Tichrong lives in rural villages and difficult topographical areas. They have unique way of dressing and other cultural practices. The literacy rate of the region is comparatively low in the district.
The Project
Mother-Tongue literacy.
TICHRONG language is a Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Western Tibeto-Burman, Bodish, Central Bodish, Central, and Tsang and it comes in the group of a Tibetan family. Tichrong is actually a dialect of the Gurung language spoken in different parts of Nepal and India.
Our team has conducted a sociolinguistic survey in the Tichrong village to identify the attitude of people toward their mother tongue, Their multilingual abilities and to identify the sociocultural features of the region.
The results were pretty satisfying. People have a positive attitude towards their language. They use their mother tongue in all possible situations. Even the young generation uses it in social media. The primary level of schooling is done in Tichrong itself. The teachers use Nepali. But, the students have a special cult of using the mother tongue. Most of people have bilingual abilities. For communicating with the outside world, they use Nepali. People gaining outside education have English knowledge as well.
The language community is actively participating in all sorts of literacy activities. Orthography development has attempted and reached significant progress. Workshops are planned to conduct for preparing the materials for training purposes. Mother tongue speakers with the assistance of linguistic experts are going to prepare study materials such as spelling guides, written materials, and other literature-related writings. People are encouraged to participate in the literacy program. this will be a stepping stone for improving their life skills. Literacy classes will take place when the materials have been developed.
Progress
As of March 2023
The Tichrong literacy team, in collaboration with native speakers, has successfully completed the first phase of their literacy campaign. They conducted a sociolinguistic survey to determine the community’s attitude towards their mother tongue, their multilingual abilities, and the vitality and strength of their ethnic group. They also delved into the nuances of the language and culture, including dialects and language-related challenges. In the second phase, alphabet charts and spelling guides were introduced in the community villages, allowing the Tichrong people to learn their language in a fresh and innovative way. Literacy teams have been assembled, trained, and are started to conduct literacy workshops. Preparations for the development of literacy materials, which will be written and illustrated by community members, are nearing completion. The testing process of literacy materials has begun. Through this program, individuals will come to realize the correlation between reading, writing, thinking, and understanding. The process of cognitive learning comes naturally and with ease, since it all takes place in the language that they are most familiar with and think in.