The official language of Myanmar is:

Burmese (also called Myanmar language) is the official language of Myanmar.

About the Burmese language:

It is the language of the Bamar people, the largest ethnic group, and is spoken as a first language by about two-thirds of the population. Most others speak it as a second language.

It belongs to the Lolo-Burmese group of the Sino-Tibetan language family, the same family that includes Chinese and Tibetan.

It is a tonal language, in which the meaning of a word can change with its pitch.

It uses the Burmese script, which developed from the Mon script, and ultimately from the Brahmi script of ancient India. The letters are mostly rounded in shape, which is said to be because they were traditionally written on palm leaves, where straight lines could tear the leaf.

Much of its religious and scholarly vocabulary comes from Pali, the language of Theravada Buddhist scriptures.

The Constitution of Myanmar (2008) declares Myanmar language to be the official language.

Other languages of Myanmar:

• Many minority languages are spoken, such as Shan, Karen, Kachin, Chin, Mon and Rakhine (Arakanese).
• English is widely used in education and business, a legacy of British rule.

Languages of India's other neighbours:

• Bangladesh: Bengali (Bangla).
• Nepal: Nepali.
• Pakistan: Urdu (national language) and English.
• Afghanistan: Dari and Pashto.
• Maldives: Dhivehi.
• China: Mandarin (Standard Chinese).
• Thailand: Thai.

Cultural links between India and Myanmar:

• Theravada Buddhism and the Pali language came to Myanmar from India and Sri Lanka.
• The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is believed to hold relics of the Buddha.
• Bagan, an ancient city with thousands of Buddhist temples, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2019); India's ASI helped restore the Ananda Temple there.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Thai is the official language of Thailand.
• ✗Shan is a minority language spoken in Myanmar's Shan State.
• ✗Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh.