Burmese is spoken as a first language by about 22 million people in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) as well as by about 32 million speakers in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and the United States. Burmese is a member of the Tibeto-Burman family. The most important languages within the Tibeto-Burman group are Tibetan, the principal language of Tibet, and Burmese. Burmese is a closet relative of the Sino-Tibetan family of which Chinese (also know as Sinitic) is a member. Related languages and dialects spoken in China, as well as many hundreds of languages from the Tibeto-Burman group, can be found as far east as Vietnam and as far west as Pakistan. Burmese is written in the Burmese script, a member of the Brahmic family that exhibits an unusual circular-looking appearance.