The national language of Bhutan is Dzongkha, one of 53 languages in the Tibetan language family. The script, here named Chhokey (Dharma language), is identical to traditional Tibetan. In the schools of Bhutan, English is the medium of instruction and Dzongkha is taught as the national language. Ethnologue lists 24 languages currently spoken in Bhutan, all of them in the Tibeto-Burman family, excluding Nepali, an Indo-Aryan language.

Until the 1980s, the government funded the teaching of Nepali in schools in southern Bhutan. Through the adoption of Driglam Namzhag and its expansion into the idea of strengthening the role of Dzongkha, Nepali was let go from the syllabus. The languages of Bhutan are still not well characterized, and several have yet to be recorded in a detailed academic grammar. Earlier than 1980s, the Lhotshampa (Nepali-speaking community), chiefly based in southern Bhutan, constituted approximately 30% of the population. However, after an eradication of Lhotshaampas from 1990–1992 this number might not precisely reflect the current population.

Dzongkha is somewhat understandable with Sikkimese and spoken natively by 25% of the population. Tshangla, the language of the Sharchop and the principal pre-Tibetan language of Bhutan, is spoken by a majority of people. It cannot be easily classified and may constitute an independent branch of Tibeto-Burman. Nepali speakers constituted some 40% of the population as of 2006. The larger minority languages are Dzala (11%), Limbu (10%), Kheng (8%), and Rai (8%). There are no trustworthy sources for the ethnic or linguistic composition of Bhutan, so these numbers do not add up to 100%.