Languages of Myanmar

Languages of Myanmar (Burma)
Burmese alphabets in order
OfficialMyanmar
Semi-officialEnglish
RegionalShan, Karen, Kachin, Rakhine, Mon, Karenni, Chin, Kokang
VernacularMyanmar English
MinorityMany Sino-Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, Austroasiatic and Indo-Aryan languages
ForeignEnglish, Mandarin Chinese
SignedBurmese sign language
Keyboard layout
QWERTY/Burmese layout
A map of languages used in Burma

There are approximately a hundred languages spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma).[1] Burmese, spoken by two-thirds of the population, is the official language.[2]

Languages spoken by ethnic minorities represent six language families: Sino-Tibetan, Austro-Asiatic, Tai–Kadai, Indo-European, Austronesian and Hmong–Mien,[3] as well as an incipient national standard for Burmese sign language.[4]

  1. ^ Goddard 2005
  2. ^ Burmese at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  3. ^ Myanmar in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2022). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (25th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  4. ^ Mathur & Napoli, 2010, Deaf around the World: The Impact of Language