Nepali (नेपाली) is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar (Burma). In India, it is one of the country’s 23 official languages: Nepali has official language status in the formerly independent state of Sikkim and in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.