Tetum is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. Tetum is spoken by about 800,000 people mainly in East Timor (Timór Lorosa'e / Timor-Leste), where is has been an official language, along with Portuguese, since 2002 when East Timor became independant. It is also spoken in West Timor, which is part of Indonesia.