Language in Bangladesh

Bangla is used in its standard form and in the Bangla script in schools, public authorities, courts, national media, and cultural production. According to the available BBS surveys, 99.17 percent of the population speaks Bangla as a first language; 6.10 percent identify English as a second language. The surveys show language distribution and language use, but they do not replace a complete assessment of language vitality or a full language census. Regional Bangla varieties such as Sylheti, Chittagonian, Noakhali, and Rangpuri are used mainly in families, everyday local life, and culture. Sylheti also has a historical writing and literary tradition. These varieties are not documented as separate state languages. Bangladesh's Constitution protects the national language as well as local cultures and traditions. Equality and the prohibition of discrimination also apply to linguistic access. However, a nationwide system of equally recognized co-official minority languages is not documented. Communities speaking languages such as Chakma, Marma, Kokborok or Tripura, Garo, Khasi, Manipuri, Santali, Kurukh, Mundari, Rakhine, and other local languages live especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and in regions such as Mymensingh, Sylhet, Rajshahi, and the coastal areas. The Bangla Language Act of 1987 provides that government offices, semi-government institutions, courts, and autonomous bodies must generally conduct their records, correspondence, court arguments, and other legal acts in Bangla. Correspondence with foreign states is exempt. Under the law, applications or appeals in another language may be invalid. English translations can help with understanding, but where there is a conflict with the Constitution, the authentic Bengali constitutional text is authoritative. In education, the Ministry of Education, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, and the Directorate of Primary Education work with Bangla as the regular medium; English versions exist in parallel. Multilingual teaching materials are available, among others, for Chakma, Marma, Garo, Tripura, and Sadri. Such offerings were expanded for primary and preschool education; in 2022, the primary education administration distributed 219,364 books for ethnic children in five languages. Access depends on the school, region, teachers, and available materials and does not cover all languages and school levels. BTV broadcasts nine news bulletins daily in Bangla and English. Bangladesh Betar also uses Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, and Arabic for its External Service. Equal nationwide provision for minority languages in national media is not documented; local and community-based services can partly fill this gap. The International Mother Language Institute researches and supports the preservation and development of ethnolinguistic languages. Multiling Cloud serves as a state digital archive for ethnic languages, transcription, and community documentation. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs, together with the Small Ethnic Groups Cultural Institutions, and the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs promote culture and identity but do not automatically grant a language state status. No special language fee is charged for formal use of Bangla; private translation and interpreting services may incur costs depending on the provider and situation.