Languages in Indonesia

222 Views Sat, 17 Feb 2007 at 06:24 pm

From Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International, online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.

Republic of Indonesia, Republik Indonesia. 238,452,952. National or official language: Indonesian. Literacy rate: 78% to 85%. … … … The number of languages listed for Indonesia is 742. Of those, 737 are living languages, 2 are second language without mother-tongue speakers, and 3 are extinct.

Wow I know that there are many local languages in Indonesia, but never expect the number to be over 700. The next time somebody asked me what kind of language Indonesian people speak with, I can confidently provide them with this astonishing statistic .

Phew, lucky that we have Bahasa Indonesia then .

PS. The site also provides interesting maps in where the languages are mainly used. There are 20 languages alone in Java and Bali. Ckckck, so many things I have not known even from my own region where I grew up .