List of official languages

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Contents

[edit] Official languages of supra-national institutions

See List of official languages by institution.

[edit] Official languages of sovereign countries

There are 116 languages in this category.

Contents: Top · 0–9 · A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[edit] A

Afrikaans:

Albanian:

Amharic:

Arabic (see also List of countries where Arabic is an official language):

Armenian:

Aymara:

Azerbaijani:

[edit] B

Belarusian:

Bengali:

Berber:

Bislama:

Bosnian:

Bulgarian:

Burmese:

[edit] C

Catalan:

Chinese, Mandarin:

Chichewa

Croatian:

Czech:

  • Czech Republic
  • Slovakia (legislation states that a person using Czech language at a Slovak institution must be treated as if using Slovak language)

[edit] D

Danish:

Dhivehi:

Dutch:

Dzongkha:

[edit] E

English (see also List of countries where English is an official language):

Estonian:

[edit] F

Fijian:

Filipino:

Finnish:

French (see also List of countries where French is an official language):

[edit] G

Georgian:

German:

Greek:

Guaraní:

[edit] H

Haitian Creole:

Hebrew:

Hindi:

  • India (with 22 other regional languages)
  • Fiji (with English and Bau Fijian; known constitutionally as Hindustani as an umbrella term to cover Urdu, as well as Hindi.)
  • mauritius (with french and english)

Hiri Motu:

Hungarian:

[edit] I

Icelandic:

Indonesian:

  • Indonesia (a standardized dialect of Malay)

Irish:

Italian:

[edit] J

Japanese:

[edit] K

Kazakh:

Khmer:

Kinyarwanda

Kirundi

Korean:

Kurdish:

Kyrgyz:

[edit] L

Lao:

Latin:

Latvian:

Lithuanian:

Luxembourgish:

[edit] M

Macedonian:

Malagasy:

Malay:

  • Malaysia (Called Malaysian Language)
  • Brunei
  • Singapore (with English, Chinese and Tamil)
  • Indonesia (called Indonesian Language, a dialect of the Malay, slightly differs with Malay used in Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore)

Maltese:

Manx Gaelic:

Māori:

  • New Zealand (with English and New Zealand Sign Language)

Moldovan (identical to Romanian according to the law of Moldova[5])

Mongolian:

Montenegrin:

[edit] N

Ndebele:

Nepali:

New Zealand Sign Language:

Northern Sotho:

Norwegian:

  • Norway (two official written forms - Bokmål and Nynorsk)

[edit] O

Ossetian:

[edit] P

Papiamento:

Pashtu:

Persian:

Polish:

Portuguese:

[edit] Q

Quechua:

[edit] R

Romanian:

Romansh:

Russian:

[edit] S

Sango

Serbian:

Seychellois Creole

Shona:

Sinhala:

  • Sri Lanka (with Tamil, and with English as a link language)

Slovak:

Slovene:

Somali:

Sotho:

Spanish:

Sranan Tongo:

  • Suriname (with Dutch, English, Hindi an Javanese)

Swahili:

Swati:

Swedish:

[edit] T

Tagalog:

Tamil:

Tetum:

Thai:

Tigrinya:

Tok Pisin:

Tsonga:

Tswana:

Turkish:

Turkmen:

[edit] U

Ukrainian:

Urdu:

  • Pakistan (with English)
  • Fiji (with English and Bau Fijian; known constitutionally as Hindustani as an umbrella term to cover Urdu, as well as Hindi.)

Uzbek:

[edit] V

Venda:

Vietnamese:

[edit] X

Xhosa:

Yoruba:

[edit] Z

Zulu:

[edit] Number of countries with the same official language

This is a ranking of languages by number of sovereign countries in which they are de jure or de facto official.

Language World Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Countries
English 59 24 16 4 3 12 India, United States, Nigeria, United Kingdom. See the full list
French 29 21 2 - 5 1 France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Canada, Madagascar. See the full list
Arabic 26 14 - 12 - - Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco. See the full list
Spanish 20 1 19 - 1 - Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Argentina. See the full list
Portuguese 9 7 1 1 1 - Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola. See full list
Russian 8 - - 3 5 - Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Abkhazia*, South Ossetia*, Transnistria*. See also the full list
German 6 - - - 6 - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg
Italian 4 - - - 4 - Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City
Malay - - 4 - - Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei
Chinese 3 - - 3 - - China, Taiwan, Singapore
Dutch - 1 - 2 - Netherlands, Belgium, Surinam
Persian - 3 - 6 - Iran, Afghanistan (known as Dari), Tajikistan (known as Tajik)
Romanian - - - 3 - Romania, Moldova, Transnistria* (uses Cyrillic script there)
Serbian - - - 3 - Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*
Swahili 3 - - - - Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda

Several languages are officially used in two countries, these are:

Note
Asterisk shows the countries which independence is disputed

[edit] Official regional and minority languages

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Abaza:

Adyghe:

Aghul:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Albanian:

  • Serbia (in Kosovo and several municipalities in Central-Serbia)
  • Macedonia (in some municipalities)

Albanian:

Altay:

Aranese see Occitan

Armenian:

Assamese:

Avar:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Azeri:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Balkar:

Bashkir:

Basque:

Bengali:

Bosnian:

Buryat:

Cantonese Chinese:

  • Hong Kong (for Chinese language, both Cantonese and Mandarin are spoken de facto; co-official with English)
  • Macau (for Chinese language, both Cantonese and Mandarin are spoken de facto; co-official with Portuguese)

Catalan:

Chechen:

Cherkess:

Chipewyan:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, Innuinaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Chukchi:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Chukchi population)[18]

Chuvash

Cree:

  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Innuinaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Croatian:

Dargwa:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Dolgan:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Dolgan population)[18]

Dutch:

English:

  • parts of Canada:
See also: Official language by province and [[:l1=Official language by province]]
  • The United Kingdom:

Erzya:

Even:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Even population)[18]

Evenki:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Evenki population)[18]

Faroese:

Finnish:

  • Karelia (authorized language; with Karelian and Veps)[21]

French:

  • parts of Canada

Frisian (West):

Gagauz:

Galician:

  • part of Spain

German:

Greek:

Guaraní:

Gujarati:

Gwich'in:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Innuinaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Hawaiian:

Hungarian:

Ingush:

Inuinnaqtun:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))
  • Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuktitut)

Inuktitut:

  • Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuinnaqtun)
  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Inuvialuktun:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Innuinaqtun, Inuktitut, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Irish:

Italian:

Japanese:

Kabardian

Kalaallisut:

Kalmyk:

Kannada:

Karachay:

Karelian:

  • Karelia (authorized language; with Finnish and Veps)[21]

Kashmiri:

Kazakh:

Khakas:

Khanty:

Komi:

  • Komi (state language; with Russian)[28]

Komi-Permyak:

Korean:

Kumyk:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Kyrgyz:

Lak:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Lezgian

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Macedonian:*part of Albania

Malayalam:

Mansi:

Marathi:

Mari (Hill and Meadow):

Mayan:

Moksha:

Mongolian:

Náhuatl:

Nenets:

Nepali:

  • India (with 22 other regional languages)

Nogai:

Occitan (Aranese):

Oriya:

Ossetic (Digor and Iron dialects):

Portuguese:*part of the People's Republic of China

Punjabi:

Romanian:

  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak and Ruthenian)

Russian. Russian is fixed as a state language in the Constitutions of the republics of the Russian Federation:

Rusyn:

  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, Hungarian, Slovak)

Rutul:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Sakha:

Sanskrit:

  • India (with 22 other regional languages)

Sami:

  • Finland (in four municipalities)
  • Norway (in six municipalities in two provinces)
  • Sweden (in four municipalities and surrounding municipalities)

Sarikoli:

Scottish Gaelic:

Scots:

Selkup:

Sindhi:

North and South Slavey:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Innuinaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, and Tłįchǫ (Dogrib))

Slovak:

  • part of Serbia
  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Romanian and Ruthenian)

Slovene:

Spanish:

Tabasaran:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Tahitian:

Tamil:

Tat:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Tatar:

Telugu:

Tibetan:

  • Tibet Autonomous Region (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Aba (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Garzê (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Diqing (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Wenshan (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Gannan (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Haibai (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Hainan (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Huangnan (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Golog (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Gyêgu (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Haixi (with Mongolian and Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Muli (with Chinese (Mandarin))
  • Tianzhu (with Chinese (Mandarin))

Tłįchǫ:

  • Northwest Territories (with Cree, Chipewyan, English, French, Gwich'in, Innuinaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, and South Slavey)

Tsakhur:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[11]

Tswana:

Turkish:

Tuvan:

  • Tyva (state language; with Russian)[35]

Udmurt:

Urdu:

Uyghur:

Veps:

  • Karelia (authorized language; with Finnish and Karelian)[21]

Vietnamese:

Welsh:

Yiddish:

Yukaghir:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Yukaghir population)[18]

Zhuang:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Constitution of Vanuatu
  3. ^ http://pkukmweb.ukm.my/~ppbl/Gema/pp.pdf
  4. ^ Namibia - Constitution, servat.unibe.ch/icl (International Constitutional Law collection), 1990, http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/wa00000_.html, retrieved 2008-05-02  (Article 3)
  5. ^ a b The 1989 Language Law of the Moldovan SSR, which is still in force in Moldova (according to the Constitution [2]) asserts the existence of a "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity".[3]
    "The law of 1 September 1989 regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova remains valid, excepting the points where it contradicts this constitution."
    —Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, Title 7, Article 7
    "Moldovan SSR supports the desire of the Moldovans that live across the borders of the Republic, and considering the really existing linguistical Moldo-Romanian identity - of the Romanians that live on the territory of the USSR, of doing their studies and satisfying their cultural needs in their maternal language."
    —Law regarding the usage of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova
  6. ^ a b (Russian) "Конституции Республики Южная Осетия". The State Committee on Information and Press of the Republic of South Ossetia. http://cominf.org/2004/10/15/1127818105.html. Retrieved 2009-03-17. [dead link]
  7. ^ (Russian) "Конституция Республики Абхазия". President of Abkhazia. http://www.abkhaziagov.org/ru/state/sovereignty/. Retrieved 2009-03-17. 
  8. ^ Slovak language is defined as official language together with Czech language by several laws - e.g. law 500/2004, 337/1992. Source: http://portal.gov.cz. Cited: "Například Správní řád (zákon č. 500/2004 Sb.) stanovuje: "V řízení se jedná a písemnosti se vyhotovují v českém jazyce. Účastníci řízení mohou jednat a písemnosti mohou být předkládány i v jazyce slovenském..." (§16, odstavec 1). Zákon o správě daní a poplatků (337/1992 Sb.) „Úřední jazyk: Před správcem daně se jedná v jazyce českém nebo slovenském. Veškerá písemná podání se předkládají v češtině nebo slovenštině..." (§ 3, odstavec 1). http://portal.gov.cz
  9. ^ a b c d e Article 11 of the Constitution of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic
  10. ^ a b Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Adygea
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan
  12. ^ a b Article 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of Altay
  13. ^ a b c Article 76 of the Constitution of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic
  14. ^ a b Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan
  15. ^ a b Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of Buryatia
  16. ^ Article 108 of the Statute of the Zabaykalsky Krai
  17. ^ a b Article 10 of the Constitution of the Chechen Republic
  18. ^ a b c d e Article 6 of the Law of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) On languages in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
  19. ^ a b Article 8 of the Constitution of the Chuvash Republic
  20. ^ a b c Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mordovia
  21. ^ a b c Law of the Republic of Karelia On state support of Karelian, Veps and Finnish languages in the Republic of Karelia
  22. ^ a b Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ingushetia
  23. ^ a b Article 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kalmykia
  24. ^ Article 4 of the Law of the Republic of Altay On languages
  25. ^ a b Article 69 of the Constitution of the Republic of Khakassia
  26. ^ a b c Law of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug On the languages of the aboriginal minorities of the North living within the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
  27. ^ a b c Law of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug On native languages of the aboriginal minorities of the North within the territory of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
  28. ^ a b Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of Komi
  29. ^ Article 42 of the Statute of the Perm Krai
  30. ^ a b Article 15 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mari El
  31. ^ a b Article 15 of the Constitution of the Republic of North Ossetia—Alania
  32. ^ Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Karelia
  33. ^ a b Article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
  34. ^ a b Article 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan
  35. ^ a b Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Tyva
  36. ^ a b Article 8 of the Constitution of the Udmurt Republic
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