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Languages of Asia
Official and Spoken Languages of Countries in Asia and the Middle East
List of official, national and spoken languages of Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Asian Countries | ||
Country | Official and national Languages | Other spoken Languages |
Afghanistan | Pashtu (Pushtu), Dari Persian | Other Turkic and minor languages. |
Armenia | Armenian (Hayeren) is an independent, one-language subgroup within the Indo-European language family. The unique Armenian alphabet, which consists of 39 characters, was created in 405 AD by a monk named Mesrop Mashtots. | Russian widely used |
Azerbaijan | (Azeri; a Turkic language of the Altaic family) 89% | Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% |
Bahrain | Arabic (Arabiyya) | English, Farsi, Urdu |
Bangladesh | Bengali (Bangla) | English |
Bhutan | Bhutanese (Dzongkha) | The Bhotes (the principal ethnic majority 50%) speak various Tibetan dialects like Tshanglakha and Khenkha, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects like Lhotsamkha. |
Brunei Darussalam | Malay, English | Chinese |
Cambodia | Khmer spoken by more than 95% of the population (Khmer language is influenced by spoken and written Thai) | Some French still spoken, English increasingly popular as a second language. |
China | Putonghua (Mandarin) | Wu (spoken in Shanghai), Yue (Cantonese) and other Chinese dialects like Min, Hakka (Kejia), Gan and Xiang. |
Cyprus | Greek, Turkish | English |
Georgia | Georgian | Russian, Armenian, Azeri and other. note: Abkhaz is the official language in Abkhazia. |
India | Hindi, English (the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication) | Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu |
Indonesia | Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay) | English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese. |
Iran | Persian and Persian dialects 58% (Farsi) | Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic |
Iraq | Arabic (Arabiyya), Kurdish (official since 8 March 2004) | Assyrian (Syriac-Aramaic), Armenian, Turcoman |
Israel | Hebrew (Ivrit), Arabic | Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Tat, Judeo-Berber, English – is the major foreign language. |
Japan | Japanese (Nihongo) | Ryukyuan Languages |
Jordan | Arabic (Arabiyya) | English widely understood among upper and middle classes. |
Kazakhstan | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the “language of interethnic communication”) 95% | |
Korea (North) | Korean (Choso’nmal or Choson’o) | |
Korea (South) | Korean (Hangungmal); Korean is written in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet. | English widely taught in junior high and high school. |
Kuwait | Arabic (Arabiyya) | English widely spoken. |
Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz, Russian | note: in December 2001, the Kyrgyzstani legislature made Russian an official language, equal in status to Kyrgyz. |
Laos | Lao | French, English, and various ethnic languages |
Lebanon | Arabic (Arabiyya) | French, English, Armenian |
Macau | Putonghua (Mandarin), Portuguese | Everyone speaks Yue Chinese (Cantonese), English is used as a “working language”. |
Malaysia | Bahasa Melayu | English, Chinese dialects, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note: in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and Kadazan. |
Maldives | Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic) | English spoken by most government officials. |
Mongolia | Khalkha Mongol (a branch of the Altaic family) | Turkic, Russian |
Myanmar (Burma) | Burmese | 135 minority ethnic groups have their own languages. |
Nepal | Nepali (official and lingua franca of the country) 90% | Sixty ethnic groups, who speak seventy different dialects and eleven major languages like Tibeto-Burman, Lhotsamkha, Nepalbhasa, Tamang languages; minorities Bhutanese (Dzongkha), Tibetan languages, possibly Chinese dialects. note: many in government and business also speak English |
Oman | Arabic (Arabiyya) | English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects. |
Palestine | Arabic (Arabiyya), Hebrew (Ivrit, spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians) | English (widely understood) |
Pakistan | Urdu 8%, English (official and “lingua franca” of Pakistani elite and most government ministries) | Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, Burushaski, and other 8% |
Philippines | Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English. Filipino is the national language. English is also widely used and is the medium of instruction in higher education. | Major dialects: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinense. |
Qatar | Arabic (Arabiyya) | English commonly used as a second language. |
Saudi Arabia | Arabic (Arabiyya) | |
Singapore | Chinese, Malay, Tamil, English | |
Sri Lanka | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18% | Other 8% note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population. |
Syria | Arabic (Arabiyya) | Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood. |
Taiwan | Chinese Mandarin (PuTongHua) | Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects. |
Tajikistan | Tajik | Russian widely used in government and business. |
Thailand | Thai | English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
Timor-Leste | Tetum, Portuguese | Indonesian, English; note: there are about 16 indigenous languages; Tetum, Galole, Mambae, and Kemak are spoken by significant numbers of people. |
Turkey | Turkish (türkçe) | Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
Turkmenistan | Turkmen 72% | Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
United Arab Emirates | Arabic (Arabiyya) | Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu |
Uzbekistan | Uzbek 74.3% | Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
Viet Nam | Vietnamese | English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
Yemen | Arabic (Arabiyya) |