Austronesian · ISO 639-3 bew
Betawi Language
Betawi is an Austronesian language spoken by about 5.6 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Betawi is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Betawi
Language family
- Austronesian
- Malayo-Polynesian
- Malayo-Chamic
- Malayic
- Nuclear Malayic
- Betawic
- Betawi
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Betawi language
Betawi is spoken by about 5.6 million people, which makes it the 169th most spoken language in the world — just behind Libyan Arabic (5.6 million) and ahead of Ganda (5.6 million). It belongs to the Austronesian language family and, more precisely, to the Betawic group within the Malayo-Chamic branch.
Where is Betawi spoken?
Betawi is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Indonesia (5.9 million).
Betawi is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Betawi is written in the Latin script. Glottolog classifies it as threatened, meaning fewer children learn it than in the past.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Indonesian, Minangkabau, Bukit Malay, Banjar, Pattani Malay, Musi and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 bew.
Frequently asked questions about Betawi
How many people speak Betawi?
Where is Betawi spoken?
What language family does Betawi belong to?
Is Betawi an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.