File photo taken on June 9, 2018, China's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day shows some Tibetan calligraphic works on display at the Xining Art Festival in Xining City, capital of northwest China's Qinghai Province. (Photo: VCG)

A series of new Tibetan-Chinese translation apps and software programs were launched in northwest China's Qinghai Province to better promote communication between different ethnic groups and boost economic and cultural development in ethnic Tibetan inhabited areas.

The 12 apps and software programs, developed by the China Ethnic Languages Translation Bureau, include audio-to-audio translation, audio-to-text translation, audio-to-text typing, online proof-reading software and an e-dictionary.

"The audio-to-audio translation software will not only make it more convenient for ethnic Tibetan and Han people to communicate with each other, but also play an important role in promoting the use and protection of the Tibetan language, passing on and spreading the Tibetan culture, as well as pushing forward poverty relief, education, and economic and political development in ethnic Tibetan inhabited areas," said Kewa, director with Qinghai Provincial Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee.

Audio-to-audio translation software for some other ethnic languages has been used for procuratorial work, poverty relief, and production and life in agricultural and pastoral areas.

The China Ethnic Languages Translation Bureau is a national-level ethnic language translation institute. So far, it has developed 40 translation apps and programs for seven ethnic languages including the Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Kazakh, Korean, Yi, and Zhuang languages.