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

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

Abkhazian:

  • Abkhazia (with Russian according to the Abkhazian constitution,[1] with Georgian according to the Georgian constitution[2])

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:

  • Burma (called Myanmar in the constitution)[18]

[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:

Dari:

  • Afghanistan (a local variant of Persian, but defined as "Dari" in the Afghan constitution)[22]

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 ("official language of the Union"; with English; 22 other regional languages)

[35]

  • Fiji (with English and Bau Fijian; known constitutionally as Hindustani as an umbrella term to cover Urdu, as well as Hindi)[25]

Hiri Motu:

Hungarian:

[edit] I

Icelandic:

Indonesian:

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:

Maltese:

Manx Gaelic:

Māori:

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

Moldovan

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:

  • Romania
  • Moldova (officially called Moldovan, although identical to Romanian according to the law of Moldova)[42]


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

Tajik:

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 10 7 1 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)[50]

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)[50]

Azeri:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[50]

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)[57]

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)[50]

Dolgan:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Dolgan population)[57]

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)[57]

Evenki:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Evenki population)[57]

Faroese:

Finnish:

  • Karelia (authorized language; with Karelian and Veps)[60]

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)[60]

Kashmiri:

Kazakh:

Khakas:

Khanty:

Komi:

  • Komi (state language; with Russian)[67]

Komi-Permyak:

Korean:

Kumyk:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[50]

Kyrgyz:

Lak:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[50]

Lezgian

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[50]

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)[50]

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)[50]

Tahitian:

Tamil:

Tat:

  • Dagestan (as one of the Dagestan peoples languages; with Russian)[50]

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)[50]

Tswana:

Turkish:

Tuvan:

  • Tyva (state language; with Russian)[74]

Udmurt:

Urdu:

Uyghur:

Veps:

  • Karelia (authorized language; with Finnish and Karelian)[60]

Vietnamese:

Welsh:

Yiddish:

Yukaghir:

  • Sakha (local official language; in localities with Yukaghir population)[57]

Zhuang:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b (Russian) Статья 6. Конституция Республики Абхазия
  2. ^ a b Article 8. Constitution of Georgia
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Section 6. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
  4. ^ Article 14. Albanian Constitution
  5. ^ Article 5. Kosovo Constitution
  6. ^ Article 5. Ethiopian Constitution
  7. ^ a b Article 4. Constitution of Iraq
  8. ^ a b Article 5. Constitution du Maroc
  9. ^ Article 12. Constitution of Armenia
  10. ^ Article 15. Constitution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
  11. ^ a b c d Artículo 5. Constitución Política del Estado
  12. ^ a b c Artículo 48. Constitución Política del Perú
  13. ^ Article 21. Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  14. ^ a b Article 17. Constitution of the Republic of Belarus
  15. ^ 3. The state language. Constitution of Bangladesh
  16. ^ a b c Article 3. Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu
  17. ^ Article 3. Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria
  18. ^ Article 450. Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar
  19. ^ Article 2. La Constitució del Principat d’Andorra
  20. ^ a b c d Articles 44, 53, 123. Constitution of the Republic of Singapore
  21. ^ Article 12. Constitution of the Republic of Croatia
  22. ^ a b c Article 16. Constitution of Afghanistan
  23. ^ Article 11. Constitution of the Republic of Maldives
  24. ^ Article 1. Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan
  25. ^ a b c Section 4. Fiji Constitution
  26. ^ a b Article 8. Constitution of Ireland 1937
  27. ^ http://pkukmweb.ukm.my/~ppbl/Gema/pp.pdf
  28. ^ a b Article 49. Constitution of Mauritius
  29. ^ 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)
  30. ^ a b Article 5. La Constitution de la République d’Haïti
  31. ^ a b c d Article 4. Constitution fédérale de la Confédération Suisse
  32. ^ a b c (Russian) Статья 4. Конституция Республики Южная Осетия
  33. ^ a b App. D., Part 1, Art. 3. Constitution of Cyprus
  34. ^ a b Artículo 140. Constituciones de la República del Paraguay
  35. ^ Part XVII. Constitution of India
  36. ^ Article H. Fundamental Law of Hungary
  37. ^ a b Article 36. Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia
  38. ^ a b Article 7. Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan
  39. ^ Article 5. Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia
  40. ^ Article 165. North Korean Constitution
  41. ^ a b (Russian) Статья 10. Конституция Кыргызской Республики
  42. ^ a b Article 13. Constitution of the Republic of Moldova
  43. ^ a b c Article 12. Constitution of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica
  44. ^ a b c Article 2. Constitution of Tajikistan
  45. ^ Article 68. Constitution of the Russian Federation
  46. ^ 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
  47. ^ Section 3. Spanish Constitution
  48. ^ a b c d e Article 11 of the Constitution of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic
  49. ^ a b Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Adygea
  50. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan
  51. ^ a b Article 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of Altay
  52. ^ a b c Article 76 of the Constitution of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic
  53. ^ a b Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan
  54. ^ a b Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of Buryatia
  55. ^ Article 108 of the Statute of the Zabaykalsky Krai
  56. ^ a b Article 10 of the Constitution of the Chechen Republic
  57. ^ a b c d e Article 6 of the Law of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) On languages in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
  58. ^ a b Article 8 of the Constitution of the Chuvash Republic
  59. ^ a b c Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mordovia
  60. ^ a b c Law of the Republic of Karelia On state support of Karelian, Veps and Finnish languages in the Republic of Karelia
  61. ^ a b Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ingushetia
  62. ^ a b Article 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kalmykia
  63. ^ Article 4 of the Law of the Republic of Altay On languages
  64. ^ a b Article 69 of the Constitution of the Republic of Khakassia
  65. ^ 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
  66. ^ 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
  67. ^ a b Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of Komi
  68. ^ Article 42 of the Statute of the Perm Krai
  69. ^ a b Article 15 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mari El
  70. ^ a b Article 15 of the Constitution of the Republic of North Ossetia—Alania
  71. ^ Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Karelia
  72. ^ a b Article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
  73. ^ a b Article 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan
  74. ^ a b Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Tyva
  75. ^ a b Article 8 of the Constitution of the Udmurt Republic
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