Nepali is an Indo-Aryan language, and the official language of the states of Sikkim and Darjeeling in India, and of Nepal alongside 122 other languages spoken in Nepal. It is also spoken by about one third of Bhutanese people as their first language.
Whilst Nepali is greatly influenced by Tibeto-Burman languages, it retains circa 40% lexical similarity with Bengali, the language of India and Bangladesh.
Previously the language was referred to as Gorkhali (language of Gurkha) and Khaskura.