How many people speak Bengali?

About 234 million people speak Bengali as a first language and about 274 million speak it in total (Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia).

Where is Bengali spoken?

Bengali is an official language in Bangladesh (Unicode CLDR).

Is Bengali hard to learn?

The US Foreign Service Institute places Bengali in Category III, estimating about 44 weeks (1100 class hours) of full-time study for an English speaker to reach professional working proficiency.

What language family is Bengali in?

Bengali belongs to the Indo-European family (Indo-European › Classical Indo-European › Indo-Iranian › Indo-Aryan), according to Glottolog.

Bengali language: map, phrases, dialects, culture & how to learn

Where Bengali is spoken

Tap or hover over a country. Colours show the language's status, based on Unicode CLDR territory data (population estimates mix sources and years).

Official languageOfficial regionallyWidely spokenSpoken by a community

Top countries by speakers

Bangladesh · বাংলাদেশOfficial language · 165M (98%)
India · ভারতOfficial regionally · 114M (8.1%)

Key numbers

Native (L1) speakers: 234 million
Second-language (L2) speakers: 43 million
Total speakers: 274 million
Source: Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia

Bengali at a glance

Bengali, also known by its endonym Bangla, is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken by the Bengali people, native to the Bengal region (Bangladesh and India's West Bengal) as well as in Barak Valley in Assam and Tripura in South Asia. With over 242 million native speakers and another 43 million as second language speakers as of 2025, Bengali is the sixth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world.

From the Wikipedia article Bengali language (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Name in Bengali: বাংলা (Bangla)
Family: Indo-EuropeanClassical Indo-EuropeanIndo-IranianIndo-AryanMiddle-Modern Indo-AryanContinental Indo-AryanIndo-Aryan Eastern zoneOriya-Gauda-KamrupaGauda-KamrupaGauda-Banga
Writing system: Bengali–Assamese script (an abugida)
Direction: Left to right
Official in: Bangladesh
Codes: ISO 639-3 ben · Glottolog beng1280 · Q9610
Writing sample: সমস্ত মানুষ স্বাধীনভাবে সমান মর্যাদা এবং অধিকার নিয়ে জন্মগ্রহণ করে। তাঁদের বিবেক এবং বুদ্ধি আছে; সুতরাং সকলেরই একে অপরের প্রতি ভ্রাতৃত্বসুলভ মনোভাব নিয়ে আচরণ করা উচিত।
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…”

Linguistic profile

How hard is Bengali for English speakers?

The US Foreign Service Institute puts Bengali in Category III: about 44 weeks (1100 class hours) of full-time study to reach professional working proficiency.

Source: FSI language learning timelines. See all languages ranked: hardest · easiest.

IIIIIIIV

Word orderSOVWALS 81A

ToneNo tonesWALS 13A

ConsonantsModerately largeWALS 1A

VowelsLarge (7-14)WALS 2A

Word for “tea”Words derived from Sinitic chaWALS 138A

Feature values from the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS Online, CC BY 4.0).

The Bengali script

Bengali–Assamese script (an abugida). Tap a character to hear it (your device reads the letter name or sound).

Standard letters from Unicode CLDR exemplar characters.

Useful Bengali phrases with pronunciation

Slow audio

helloনমস্কারnomoskar

goodbyeবিদায়bidaẏ

thank youধন্যবাদdhonnobad

pleaseদয়া করেdoẏa kore

yesহ্যাঁhễ

noনাna

good morningশুভ সকালśubho śokal

good nightশুভ রাত্রিśubho ratri

how are youআপনি কেমন আছেন?apni kemon achen

my name isআমার নামamar nam

I love youআমি তোমাকে ভালোবাসিami tōmake bhalōbaśi

Numbers 1–10

এক ek
দুই dui
তিন tin
চার car
পাঁচ pãc
ছয় choẏ
সাত śat
আট aṭ
নয় noẏ
দশ doś

Days of the week

Mon সোমবার
Tue মঙ্গলবার
Wed বুধবার
Thu বৃহস্পতিবার
Fri শুক্রবার
Sat শনিবার
Sun রবিবার

Everyday words

water পানি pani
cat বিড়াল biṛal
dog কুকুর kukur
coffee কফি kophi
beer বিয়ার biẏar
bread রুটি ruṭi
book বই boi

Phrases and words checked against Wiktionary; days and months from Unicode CLDR. Audio uses your browser's built-in Bengali voice when available.

Dialects and varieties

Standard Colloquial Bengali

Kolkata and Dhaka media

Based on the speech of the Nadia/Kolkata region; used in books, TV and schools in both countries.

Dhakaiya and Eastern dialects

Bangladesh

Eastern varieties often turn the standard “ch” into an “s” sound.

Chittagonian

Chittagong, Bangladesh

So different from standard Bengali that many linguists count it as a separate language.

Sylheti

Sylhet and the UK diaspora

Spoken by many British Bangladeshis; it has its own historic script, Sylheti Nagri.

Hear the dialects

Bengali Language in different accentsMarvelous Solution

বাংলার ১২ টি উপভাষা শুনতে কেমন ? How does the Bengali dialect sound ?বাংলা ও বাঙালী

Fun words, untranslatables

অভিমান

obhiman

Hurt feelings and wounded pride directed at someone you love, expecting them to make up.

আড্ডা

adda

Long, relaxed, wide-ranging conversation with friends, a Bengali institution.

Curious facts

21 February is International Mother Language Day (UNESCO). It commemorates students killed in Dhaka in 1952 while demanding recognition of Bengali.
Rabindranath Tagore wrote the national anthems of both India (“Jana Gana Mana”) and Bangladesh (“Amar Shonar Bangla”) in Bengali.
Bengali has no grammatical gender, unlike Hindi.
Bengali is one of the most-spoken languages in the world by native speakers, according to Ethnologue.

Famous Bengali-speaking voices

Singers & musicians

**Hemanta Mukhopadhyay**Indian singer (1920–1989)India Post, Government of India · GODL-India

Writers & poets

**Kazi Nazrul Islam**National poet of BangladeshUnknown photographer · Public domain

Film & TV

**Satyajit Ray**Indian filmmaker and writer (1921–1992)Dinu Alam Newyork · CC BY-SA 4.0

**Ritwik Ghatak**Indian Bengali filmmaker and script writer (1925–1976)Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

Other famous figures

Descriptions from Wikidata; photos from Wikimedia Commons under the licences shown.

Bengali culture now

Film · 1955

Pather Panchali

1955 film by Satyajit Ray

Music

Rabindra Sangeet

Songs composed by Rabindranath Tagore

Detective stories

Feluda

Bengali fictional detective by Satyajit Ray

Music tradition

Baul

Group of mystic, syncretic minstrels of Bengal

Film · 2022

Hawa (2022 Bangladeshi film)

2022 Bangladeshi film

Festival

Pohela Boishakh

Bengali new year

Learn Bengali on YouTube

Free lessons from teachers and channels with Bengali courses. Videos load only when you press play.

Learn Bengali for Beginners in 100 Easy LessonsLearn 50 languages

11 MUST KNOW absolute beginner words in Bengali! #bengaliBengali By Rupkatha

Bangla Alphabet Lesson 1 - VOWELS (SHOROBORNO)Learn Bengali

Bengali alphabet sounds - Bangla letters sound mat for kids - learn Bengali - Totcards (4K)Totcards

The story of the language

The Bengali (Bangla) language is is Awesome, Here's Why!LingoLizard

Quick quiz: how well do you know Bengali?

Where to learn Bengali

LangMagic

Languages similar to Bengali

Hindi हिन्दी

Indo-European › Indo-Iranian › Indo-Aryan

Compare Bengali and Hindi →

Persian فارسی (Fārsi)

Indo-European › Indo-Iranian › Iranian

Compare Bengali and Persian →

English

Indo-European › Germanic › West Germanic

Compare Bengali and English →

Open the comparison tool Explore all languages

Sources

Speaker numbers: Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia.
Countries, populations, alphabets, days and months: Unicode CLDR 46.
Classification: Glottolog 5.3. Grammar features: WALS Online.
Introduction: Wikipedia, Bengali language (CC BY-SA 4.0). People and culture: Wikipedia and Wikidata. Images: Wikimedia Commons.
Writing sample: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1, from the Unicode UDHR collection. Phrases and words: Wiktionary. Difficulty: US Foreign Service Institute.
Map: Natural Earth via world-atlas (public domain).

Bengali · বাংলা (Bangla)