List of Multilingual Countries and Regions - Asia

Asia

• In Afghanistan Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian) are the official languages of Afghanistan. Other minor languages include Uzbek and Turkmen, Balochi and Pashayi, Nuristani (Ashkunu, Kamkata-viri, Vasi-vari, Tregami and Kalasha-ala), Pamiri (Shughni, Munji, Ishkashimi and Wakhi), Brahui, Hindko, Kyrgyz.
• Cambodia: Khmer is the official language, but French is spoken by a minority and sometimes used in government and education.
• Philippines: The Philippine constitution. designates Filipino as the national language and, along with English, as official languages. Regional languages are designated as auxiliary official languages in the regions which shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. Spanish and Arabic are designated to be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis. Some people in native Tagalog areas are bilingual, while in non-Tagalog areas it is common to be multilingual in Filipino, English, and in one or more of the regional language/s, or as in other cases in languages such as Spanish, Min Nan (Hokkien), and Arabic due to factors such as ancestry and religion. Eleven regional languages are recognised by the government as auxiliary official languages in their respective regions, while 90+ other languages and dialects are spoken by various groups.
• In Iraq, Arabic is the official language of the state, Kurdish is the official language of the north where 4 million native speakers live. Other languages also exist among Christian communities north of and around Baghdad, such as Aramaic.
• In Lebanon, Arabic is the official and national language, French and English are spoken alongside Arabic as foreign languages. Many young Lebanese are fluent in English, whereas the older Lebanese are more fluent in French. Armenian is also a language mainly used in the Armenian community.
• In China, Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) is the official language and is spoken in all regions. It is used for official and formal purposes, by the media and in education as the language of instruction. However in every locality and region, local dialects of spoken variants of Chinese are spoken in daily life. These dialects range from being quite similar to Putonghua, such as Tianjin dialect, to varieties that are mutually unintelligible with Putonghua such as Shanghai dialect (Wu) or Guangzhou dialect (Cantonese). In the autonomous regions, minority languages are used (such as Tibetan in Tibet or Mongolian in Inner Mongolia).
• In Hong Kong, English and Chinese are official languages. All road signs are written in both languages. English is the dominant language in the judiciary and in higher education. Hong Kong Cantonese is the first language of the majority of the population, and is the dominant language in many aspects of everyday life. While Cantonese is the widely spoken form of the Chinese language in Hong Kong, Standard Mandarin is also taught in schools. The degrees of proficiency in English and Mandarin vary from person to person.
• Laos: Lao is the official language, but French is spoken by a significant number of the population and used in the government.
• In Macau, both Chinese and Portuguese are official languages. While Cantonese is the dominant Chinese language, Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) is also spoken. Chinese is taught in all schools, while Portuguese is mainly taught in government schools. In addition, English is also taught in many schools.
• India. There are 23 official languages in India (Including Hindi and English). The largest, Hindi, is spoken natively by 40% of the population. English is also widely used, although mainly in urban parts of the country. An Indian with a high-school education would generally be bilingual — speaking his or her own native language, in addition to English, with varying fluency, possibly Hindi as well, the languages being compulsorily (in select states) taught in most schools and colleges. French is one of the official languages in the territory of Pondicherry. For more information, see Languages of India.
• Pakistan. There are two official languages (English and Urdu) and many regional languages and dialects (the latter are often unintelligible from other dialects of the "same language"). Many high-school and college educated Pakistanis are trilingual, being able to speak English and Urdu as well as their own regional language with varying fluency.

• In Iran Persian language is the official language; but turkish(and other dialects of turkish language branch Like Qashqa'i and Kalaj) is the language of the about 30 million Iranian speakers. Other minor languages include kurdish and Turkmen, Balochi. Other languages such as Asuri also exist among northwest of Iran's Christian people (around Urmia).

In the South-western Iranian province of Khuzestan, most people speak native Khuzestani Persian, Khuzestani Arabic and Standard Persian, sometimes in addition to their own community languages such as Lur, Qashqa'i, Domari or Mandaic where applicable.

• Many people in Indonesia are bilingual at an early age. They speak a local native language with their families whereas the official Indonesian language is used to communicate with people from other regions and is taught in schools as a compulsory subject. Indonesia has 746 native languages.

• In Israel, Hebrew and Arabic both have official status. The Jewish population largely speaks Hebrew, though many Jewish immigrants to Israel (especially from Europe) have a different mother tongue, such as Arabic, Amharic, Yiddish, Ladino, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Ukrainian, English, or French and many Jewish immigrants from Latin America speak Spanish and Portuguese. The Arab population of Israel speaks Arabic, which is also the language of instruction in Arab Israeli schools. Functionally, almost all Arabs in Israel also speak Hebrew. English is widely spoken and understood as a second language by both Jews and Arabs. Officially, road signs must be in Hebrew, Arabic, and a romanized Hebrew transliteration.
• In Malaysia, nearly all people have a working knowledge of Malay and English. Malay, the official language of the country, and English are compulsory subjects taught in all public schools, and English is the language of instruction for Science and Maths. Chinese (Mandarin) and Tamil are spoken by the Chinese and Indian communities respectively, and are the languages of instruction in Chinese and Tamil primary schools respectively. Among the Chinese community, apart from Mandarin, several Chinese dialects especially Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew are spoken by the respective communities. The indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak speak their ancestral languages (Dayak, Iban etc.). However, it is not uncommon for the locals to be fluent in several of the above languages.
• Singapore: English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil are all official languages. While Malay is the national language, English is the main language used in Singapore. As English links the different races, a group with diverse races communicate using English. Most of the population can speak, read and write in English. In addition to English, many Singaporeans can speak their respective ethnic language fairly well, as it is a compulsory subject in school. In Chinese communities, the older generation usually speak their own dialects besides Mandarin and/or English. Learning another language is becoming popular in many schools and Japanese, French or German are usually the choices.
• Sri Lanka. Sinhala and Tamil are official languages.
• Taiwan: Mandarin Chinese is the "official" language, but Taiwanese is commonly used in most people (especially adults and elders). In the Hakka community, some people are trilingual in Hakka, Mandarin and Taiwanese. Some 10 Aboriginal languages are also spoken in the mountain and eastern portion of the island.
• Tajikistan: Tajik and Russian are widely spoken.
• Kazakhstan: Kazakh and Russian both have official status—Kazakh as the "state" language and Russian as the "official" language of commerce.
• Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyz and Russian both have official status.
• In Uzbekistan, Uzbek, Tajik, and Russian are all widely spoken.
• Vietnam: Vietnamese is the official language, and English is the most commonly used and studied second language, especially in education, international relations, and the media. In addition, French is spoken by a small minority of people and elders as it used to be the most common second language.