LANGUAGES OF NEPAL

Language is the spoken medium of exchange among people, but they are different with groups and races of people. Though small a country, many languages and dialects are spoken in different parts of the Kingdom of Nepal. According to census reports there are 30 major languages and dialects in Nepal which are based upon three main traditions of linguistic groups namely 1. Tibeto-Burmese 2. Indo-European and 3. Austro-Asiatic.Actually the total number of languages listed in Nepal are 121.  Out of all those languages, 120 are still considered living languages. Only 1 language owned by Kusunda tribe has been lost inspite of the fact that the tribe is still surviving. Some important languages are as follows: Awadi, Bengali,Bhojpuri, Bodo, Chepang, Darai,  Danuwar, Dhimal, Dolpeli, Dzongkha, Gurung, Helambu Sherpa, Hindi, Jirel, Kumhali, Kyerung, Lepcha, Limbu, Linkham,  Magar, Maithili,  Majhi, Marwari, Nepali, Newari,  Rajbanshi, Santhali, Sherpa, Tamang, Thakali, Thami, Tharu, Thulung and Tibetan. 

The National language Nepali is spoken throughout the Kingdom, but it is the native language of and , thus, mainly spoken by the people of middle belts of Nepal like Bramhin, Chhetri, Khas and so on. This important language of Nepal is from Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European language traditions. Other languages from this tradition are Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magadhi and Avadhi all of which are spoken in the terai belt lying in the southern side of Nepal. Newari, the language of Kathmandu valley is scattered throughout the Kingdom wherever Newar communities are found settled. This language is also regarded as emerged from Tibeto-Burmese group. Out of all these languages Nepali, Newari and Maithaili have richer stocks of literature.