This talk provides a general overview and basic introduction to the recently published collective volume The Oxford Handbook of Ethiopian Languages (OHEL) (https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198728542.001.0001). Ethiopia has a population of over one hundred million people who speak around eighty languages from the Cushitic, Omotic, and Semitic sub-branches of Afroasiatic or Nilo-Saharan languages. These languages have been in contact for centuries, resulting in widespread bilingualism and multilingualism. As a result, regional and national linguae francae have emerged, and the Ethiopian Linguistic Area was created. Despite the linguistic diversity and ongoing social changes, general reference works on Ethiopian languages and linguistics are outdated, dating back to the 1970s. Recent works mainly focus on the Semitic languages, resulting in a lack of information on Cushitic, Omotic, and Nilo-Saharan languages. The Encyclopedia Aethiopica (2003-2014) is the most recent general reference work on Ethiopia. However, it often provides only brief and incomplete information on Ethiopian languages, neglecting significant aspects of their morphology and syntax. Handbooks on African languages, such as Heine et al. (1987), Heine/Nurse (1997), and Vossen/Dimmendaal (2020), also cover some Ethiopian languages, but only offer general information. Most of these works do not address the sociolinguistic aspects of languages and language groups. Therefore, there was a need for an updated and comprehensive reference work. The Oxford Handbook of Ethiopian Languages offers a thorough analysis of the languages spoken in Ethiopia, covering their structures, linguistic features, and their function and use in society. The book includes general information on Ethiopian languages, such as their demographic distribution and classification, language policy, scripts and writing, and language endangerment. Additionally, it provides an up-to-date overview of the four major language families in Ethiopia. Both major and less documented languages are included. It also examines the languages that fall outside these four families, namely Ethiopian Sign Language, Ethiopian English, and Arabic in Ethiopia.