Language

The national language of Bhutan is Dzongkha, one of 53 languages in the Tibetan language family. The script, known as Chhokey ('Dharma Language'), is identical with the Tibetan script. The government classifies 19 related Tibetan languages as dialects of Dzongkha. Lepcha is spoken in parts of western Bhutan; Tshangla, a close relative of Dzongkha, is widely spoken in the eastern parts. Khengkha is spoken in central Bhutan. The Nepali language is widely spoken in the south.

Ethnologue lists 24 languages currently spoken in Bhutan, all of them in the Tibeto-Burman family, except Nepali, an Indo-Aryan language. The languages of Bhutan are still not well-characterised, and several have yet to be recorded in an in-depth academic grammar. In the schools, English is the medium of instruction and Dzongkha is taught as the national language.