Languages in Bhutan

There are 19 languages spoken in Bhutan. The national language is Dzongkha. Dzongkha is written in the same script as Tibetan, but the orthography has been made more Bhutanese.

English is the medium of instruction in schools, and most educated people speak it fluently. There are English signboards, books and menus through out the country. Road signs and government documents are written in both English and Dzongkha. The national newspaper; kuensel, is published in both the languages. In the monastic schools, Choekey, the classical Tibetan language is taught.

In eastern Bhutan, most people speak sharchop which means the language of the east which is totally different from Dzongkha. In the south, most people speak Nepali. Because many parts of the country are isolated, there are a number of languages other than Dzongkha and Sharchop. Some are so different that people from different parts of the country can't understand each other. Bumthangkha is a language of the Bumthang region, and most regional minorities have their own language. Among the languages in Bhutan's tower of Babel are khengkha from Zhemgang, Mangdep from Trongsa, Kurtoep from Lhuntse and Dzala from Trashhiyangtse.