Languages of Asia

Asian Countries

Country

Official and national Languages

Other spoken Languages

Afghanistan

Pashto (Pashtu, Pushtu) an Eastern Iranian language, it is the native language of the Pashtun people.

Dari Persian (Fārsī-ye Darī) also known as Afghan 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

Azerbaijani (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

Standard Chinese called also Putonghua (普通话) or Mandarin.

Wu 吴语 - spoken in Shanghai and in Zhejiang province and Jiangsu province.

Yue 粤 - Cantonese, official in Hong Kong and Macau.

Uyghur (Xinjiang)

English (Hong Kong), Portuguese (Macau), Tibetan (Tibet), Mongolian (Inner Mongolia).

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, Urdu

English (the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication)

Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu.

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, and 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

Thai, 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, and 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

Some English is spoken in tourist destinations,

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, 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.