| 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 (FÄrsÄ«-ye DarÄ«) 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 is spoken by more than 95% of the population (the Khmer language is influenced by spoken and written Thai) |
Some French is still spoken, and English is increasingly popular as a second language. |
| China |
Standard Chinese is also called Putonghua (普通è¯) or Mandarin. |
Wu å´è¯ - spoken in Shanghai and in Zhejiang province and Jiangsu province. Yue 粤 - Cantonese, the 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. Abkhaz is the official language in Abkhazia. |
| India |
Hindi, Urdu, and English (the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication).
|
Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, and Telugu. |
| Indonesia |
Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay) |
English, Dutch, and 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 is widely understood among the 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 is widely taught in junior high and high school. |
| Kuwait |
Arabic (Arabiyya) |
English is widely spoken. |
| Kyrgyzstan |
Kyrgyz, Russian |
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), and English is used as a "working language". |
| Malaysia |
Bahasa Melayu |
English, Chinese dialects, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, and Thai. In addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and Kadazan. |
| Maldives |
Maldivian Dhivehi (a dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic) |
English is 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. Some English is spoken in tourist destinations. |
| Nepal |
Nepali (official and lingua franca of the country) 90% |
Sixty ethnic groups, speak seventy different dialects and eleven major languages like Tibeto-Burman, Lhotsamkha, Nepalbhasa, Tamang languages; minorities Bhutanese (Dzongkha), Tibetan languages, and possibly Chinese dialects. Many in government and business also speak English.
|
| Oman |
Arabic (Arabiyya) |
English, Baluchi, Urdu, and Indian dialects. |
| Palestine |
Arabic (Arabiyya), Hebrew (Ivrit, spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians) |
English is 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 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 is 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% |
English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population. |
| Syria |
Arabic (Arabiyya) |
Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian are widely understood; French, English somewhat understood. |
| Taiwan |
Chinese Mandarin (PuTongHua) |
Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects. |
| Tajikistan |
Tajik |
Russian is widely used in government and business. |
| Thailand |
Thai |
English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects. |
| Timor-Leste |
Tetum, Portuguese |
Indonesian, English. In addition, there are 16 indigenous languages; Tetum, Galole, Mambae, and Kemak 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) |