1

I am making a document using a Tibetan unicode font with XeLaTeX and fontspec. However, the text is not appearing properly. The super– and subscripted letters appear next to the base letter instead of above or below them, and the tsheg has a strange appearance. I have a suspicion it is due to using the wrong font but I don't know which font to change to. Thank you.

\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}

\begin{document}

\setmainfont{Arial Unicode MS}

བོད་ཡིག་འདི་ལ་དག་པར་ཡོང་གི་མ་རེད།

\end{document}

UPDATE: Below is an excerpt from the transcript from compiling this code:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}

\begin{document}

\setmainfont{Kailasa}

བོད་ཡིག་འདི་ལ་དག་པར་ཡོང་གི་མ་རེད།

\end{document}

"Kailasa" is a Tibetan font installed on my system; the result is the same no matter which Tibetan font I use. Here is the end of the transcript:

.................................................
. fontspec info: "no-scripts"
. 
. Font Kailasa does not contain any OpenType `Script' information.
.................................................
\g__fontspec_family_Kailasa_int=\count121
.................................................
. fontspec info: "no-font-shape"
. 
. Could not resolve font Kailasa/BI (it probably doesn't exist).
.................................................
.................................................
. fontspec info: "no-font-shape"
. 
. Could not resolve font Kailasa/B (it probably doesn't exist).
.................................................
.................................................
. fontspec info: "no-font-shape"
. 
. Could not resolve font Kailasa/I (it probably doesn't exist).
.................................................
................................................. 
. fontspec info: "defining-font"
. 
. Font family 'Kailasa(0)' created for font 'Kailasa' with options
. [Ligatures=TeX].
. 
. This font family consists of the following shapes:
. 
. * 'normal' with NFSS spec.:
. <->"Kailasa/OT:mapping=tex-text;"
. 
. * 'small caps' with NFSS spec.:
. 
. and font adjustment code:
. 
.................................................
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!   
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no ? in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
Missing character: There is no 1 in font Kailasa Regular/OT:mapping=tex-text;!
 [1

]
(./tibetan test.aux) ) 
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
13186 strings out of 493734
278852 string characters out of 6146348
 296946 words of memory out of 5000000
 16499 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
 3704 words of font info for 22 fonts, out of 8000000 for 9000
 1328 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
 46i,4n,59p,10365b,183s stack positions out of 5000i,500n,10000p,200000b,80000s

Output written on tibetan test.pdf (1 page).

For some reason it is not able to recognize the characters entered in the code of the document or it cannot find the font, although I am certain it is installed on my system.

Paul
  • 417
  • I tried with two other fonts covering Tibetan and the result seems good. On the contrary, Arial Unicode MS (on Mac OS X) prints the wrong results both with XeTeX and Pages. – egreg Feb 22 '15 at 10:20
  • When I run using Times or Helvetica I get question marks for the Tibetan characters; with Arial Unicode MS at least there was some semblance of Tibetan. Maybe you know a better font that covers Tibetan? – Paul Feb 22 '15 at 12:46
  • Since this is a question about finding a non-TeX font that supports Tibetan characters, it doesn't fall within the scope of this site. Voting to close. – Sverre Feb 22 '15 at 15:33

1 Answers1

2

I've found two free fonts for typesetting Tibetan here: http://digitaltibetan.org/index.php/Tibetan_Fonts#Freely_available_Unicode_fonts.

Here's an example using those fonts:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}

\begin{document}

\setmainfont{DDC Uchen}

བོད་ཡིག་འདི་ལ་དག་པར་ཡོང་གི་མ་རེད།

\setmainfont{Jomolhari}

བོད་ཡིག་འདི་ལ་དག་པར་ཡོང་གི་མ་རེད།

\end{document}

Output:

enter image description here

karlkoeller
  • 124,410
  • Thank you for this, although for some reason I still get question marks in place of the Tibetan. It is loading the font properly, but somehow it either doesn't recognize the Tibetan script in the code or isn't set to output the Tibetan script. There is some problem whereby I can't output any non-roman script, even if fontspec and the appropriate font is loaded. – Paul Mar 09 '15 at 02:07
  • @Paul Try updating your TeX distribution. – karlkoeller Mar 09 '15 at 05:53
  • I have the 2015 distribution, is there a newer one than this? – Paul Mar 09 '15 at 11:25
  • @Paul No. But you can update the packages. – karlkoeller Mar 09 '15 at 13:12
  • I have updated my packages, but the problem persists; I either get question marks or boxes in place of the Tibetan script, depending on the font I load. I am also trying Devanagari script, with the same results. – Paul Mar 12 '15 at 02:18
  • I have added a new part to my post above with an excerpt from the transcript when I compile. – Paul Mar 12 '15 at 10:00
  • Perhaps you know why it could be that the font is not loading properly? – Paul Mar 13 '15 at 10:28
  • @Paul I'm sorry, but I have no idea... – karlkoeller Mar 13 '15 at 11:35
  • I just noticed something that may offer a clue. I tried compiling the second answer to this question, which sets a feature to display the counter digits in Devanagari. Now, when I compile this, the Devanagari digits come out, but the rest of the text still comes out as question marks. Somehow since the numerical digits are explicitly assigned Xelatex is able to find them, but it still can't find the characters for the rest of the text. – Paul Mar 13 '15 at 15:07