If we are talking about languages; languages of Indonesia is the second-highest number of languages that are spoken in the world. 709 living languages are spoken in Indonesia today, though most of the languages have very few speakers.

1. Languages of Indonesia
If we are talking about languages; languages of Indonesia is the
second-highest number of languages that are spoken in the world.
709 living languages are spoken in Indonesia today, though most of
the languages have very few speakers. The majority of these
languages are at the risk of extinction unless urgent steps are taken to
help sustain the heritage of these dying dialects.
We shall be considering some of the major languages of Indonesia
among the 709 that are commonly spoken in the country today to
make our readers have a broad knowledge of the language culture as
it stands today in 2022.
The Official Language
The officially recognized dialect in Indonesia which is used in all official
engagements and schools as well as in legal proceedings is known
as Bahasa Indonesia. This dialect is spoken by about 7% of the
population and it is the second language of about 200 million people.
Efforts are been made by the government to facilitate the spread of
Bahasa Indonesia and hence the use of it in: business and
administrative purposes; education institutions and mass media
throughout the country use this dialect as a medium of instruction.
Bahasa Indonesia is written in the Latin alphabet, and the lexicon is a
borrowed vocabulary from many languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic,
Portuguese, Dutch, and Chinese. Understanding this language opens
doors of opportunities to students to make it far in their chosen field
of study.

2. We shall take a look at 5 of the largest Islands in Indonesia and the
languages that they speak. This will give a broad idea of what the
language culture is in Indonesia.
Major 5 Islands that speak languages of Indonesia
Sumatra Island
This Island has is located in the west of Indonesia and it has about 52
million people living on the Island. Several ethnicities make up the
inhabitants of the Island. Some of them are Aceh, Batak, Minangkabau,
Rejang, Lampung, Nias, etc. They have their dialects and some of the
dialects even have sub-dialects
One of the dialects here is called the Batak dialect. It also has some
sub-divisions which are:
 Batak Toba
 Batak Karo
 Batak Mandailing
 Batak Dairi
 Batak Simalungun, etc.
The variations are due to the variants of the dialect that are spoken in
North Sumatra province.
Java Island
This is where the capital Jakarta is located and the Island is the hub of
political and social affairs. This is the most populated island in
Indonesia because over 60% of the population lives here. The
government policy is, however, encouraging people to move to other
Islands. The Javanese dialect is the predominant language of the
natives here. This is a complex dialect with three differing registers.

3. The varieties of this dialect include Western Javanese, Central
Javanese, and Eastern Javanese.
Another major language that cannot escape our lens is the Sudanese
language which is predominant in West Java and Banten province.
About 15% of the population here speak the dialect.
Kalimantan Island
This Island under reference is made up of three countries Indonesia,
Malaysia, and Brunei. There are 74 living languages on this Island and
they are classified into five major families:
 Greater Barito
 Land Dayak
 Malayic
 North Borneo
 South Sulawesi
Indonesians and visiting foreigners are not aware of most of these
languages of Indonesia. There is also the Chinese Hakka speakers
among the dialects on this Island.
Sulawesi Island
This is the 7th largest Island in the world and boasts of several dialects.
Ethnic Buginese dialect is the most popular here and the majority of
the speakers can be found in Sulawesi. About 2% of the population of
Indonesia speaks this dialect. Makassarese dialect is next and it is
spoken by about 1% of the population. You will also get to hear the
following dialects spoken in this Island:
 Manado Malay in the north
 Toraja in the south and west
 Muna and Tolaki in the southeast
 Tae in the south

4. Papua Island
The last of the five major Islands which we are going to mirror in the
country is Papua Island. This Island consists of two countries:
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The languages that are used on this
Island are rather on the high side. We have about 270 Papuan
languages and 5 Austronesian languages.
However, the languages are in danger of going into total extinction is
urgent actions to reverse the drift are not taken. As at now, at least 10
of the dialects that are spread across 14 provinces are in danger of
going into the dustbin of history.
Read also: Dying languages of the world