What language is used in East Timor?
Portuguese
Tetun
Timor-Leste/Official languages
The lingua franca and national language of East Timor is Tetum, an Austronesian language influenced by Portuguese, with which it has equal status as an official language.
Do they speak Bahasa in East Timor?
There was some debate over which language would be official: Tetum, the local Timorese language, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesian, or even English. Bahasa Indonesian is spoken by as much as 90 percent of East Timorese under 25 but is tainted by it association with the Suharto regime and is not spoken by many older people.
Is Timor-Leste near Australia?
Australia and Timor-Leste are close neighbours, with a shared history and strong people-to-people links. Australia has been at the forefront of international support for Timor-Leste since its independence in 2002, and remains Timor-Leste’s largest partner in development.
Is Portuguese still spoken in East Timor?
DILI (Reuters) – Portuguese is one of the two official languages in East Timor, but you can hardly hear it spoken in the streets of the young nation. The tiny country was a Portuguese colony for more than three centuries, but only an estimated 5 percent of its one million people now speak the European language.
Why do they speak Portuguese in East Timor?
Timorese Portuguese is a legacy of Portuguese rule of Timor-Leste (called Portuguese Timor) from the 16th century. It had its first contact during the Portuguese discoveries of the East, but it was largely exposed to Portuguese Timor in the 18th century after its division from the rest of the island by the Netherlands.
Does East Timor speak Portuguese?
How many dialects are in East Timor?
Linguistically, East Timor is a complex multilingual mosaic. There are twelve mutually unintelligible indigenous languages, four Austronesian and eight non-Austronesian, which can be further subdivided into 35 dialects and sub-dialects.
Why is East Timor not Asean?
A general meeting is expected to conclude in 17 November, however, foreign reports in 4 November have said that ASEAN would bypass Timor-Leste’s membership in 2017, mostly because of its lack of human resources which was pointed out by Singapore.
Is English spoken in Timor-Leste?
Timor-Leste’s two official languages are Portuguese and Tetum, and its two working languages are English and Indonesian.
Why does East Timor speak Portuguese?
Is the Portuguese language spoken in East Timor?
East Timor is a full member state of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth, an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language.
Where is East Timor located in Southeast Asia?
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia, on the western part.
What are the names of the rivers in East Timor?
Rivers on the island include the Southern and Northern Laclo Rivers in East Timor. The largest towns on the island are the provincial capital of Kupang in West Timor, Indonesia and the Portuguese colonial towns of Dili the capital, and Baucau in East Timor.
When did the Portuguese take over East Timor?
The Portuguese established outposts in Timor and Maluku. Effective European occupation of a small part of the territory began in 1769, when the city of Dili was founded and the colony of Portuguese Timor declared.