List of official languages by state
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
This is a complete list of the official languages designated in the sovereign states of the world. It includes all languages that have official language status either statewide or in a part of the state, or that have status as a national language, regional language, or minority language.
Only states, which are defined as sovereign, internationally recognised, independent political entities, are listed. This is not a list of countries or nations, although many states listed are simultaneously also countries and/or nations.
For dependent territories, refer to the corresponding sovereign states.
Definitions
- Official language: one designated as having a unique legal status in the state, typically, the language used in a nation's legislative bodies, and often, official government business
- Regional language: one designated as having official status limited to a specific area, administrative division, or territory of the state (on this page a regional language will have parentheses next to it that contain a region, province, etc. where the language has regional status)
- Minority language: (as used here) one spoken by a minority population within the state and officially designated as such; typically afforded protection and designated an officially permissible language for legal and government business in a specific area or territory of the state (on this page a minority language will be followed by parentheses that identify its minority status)
- National language: one that uniquely represents the national identity of a state, nation, and/or country and so designated by a country's government; some are technically minority languages (on this page a national language will be followed by parentheses that identify it as a national language status). Some countries have more than one language with this status
A |
|
 Afghanistan[1] |
|
 Albania[2] |
|
 Algeria |
|
 Andorra |
|
 Angola[5] |
|
 Antigua and Barbuda |
|
 Argentina |
|
 Armenia |
|
 Australia |
|
 Austria |
|
 Azerbaijan |
|
B |
|
 Bahamas |
|
 Bahrain |
|
 Bangladesh |
|
 Barbados |
|
 Belarus |
|
 Belgium |
|
 Belize |
|
 Benin |
|
 Bhutan |
|
 Bolivia |
|
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
|
 Botswana |
|
 Brazil |
|
 Brunei |
|
 Bulgaria |
|
 Burkina Faso |
|
 Burundi |
|
C |
|
 Cambodia |
|
 Cameroon |
|
 Canada |
|
 Cape Verde |
|
 Central African Republic |
|
 Chad |
|
 Chile |
|
 China |
|
 Colombia |
|
 Comoros |
|
 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
|
 Republic of the Congo |
|
 Costa Rica |
|
 Croatia |
|
 Cuba |
|
 Cyprus |
|
 Czech Republic |
|
D |
|
 Denmark |
|
 Djibouti |
|
 Dominica |
|
 Dominican Republic |
|
E |
|
 East Timor |
|
 Ecuador |
|
 Egypt |
|
 El Salvador |
|
 Equatorial Guinea |
|
 Eritrea |
|
 Estonia |
|
 Ethiopia |
|
F |
|
 Fiji |
|
 Finland |
|
 France |
And overseas departments and territories (Languages of France and language policy in France)[31]
|
G |
|
 Gabon |
|
 Gambia |
|
 Georgia |
|
 Germany |
|
 Ghana |
|
 Greece |
|
 Grenada |
|
 Guatemala |
|
 Guinea |
|
 Guinea-Bissau |
|
 Guyana |
|
H |
|
 Haiti |
|
 Honduras |
|
 Hungary |
|
I |
|
 Iceland |
|
 India |
(Languages with official status in India)
|
 Indonesia |
|
 Iran |
|
 Iraq |
|
 Ireland |
|
 Israel |
|
 Italy |
|
 Ivory Coast |
|
J |
|
 Jamaica |
|
 Japan |
|
 Jordan |
|
K |
|
 Kazakhstan |
|
 Kenya |
|
 Kiribati |
|
 North Korea |
|
 South Korea |
|
 Kuwait |
|
 Kyrgyzstan |
|
L |
|
 Laos |
|
 Latvia |
|
 Lebanon |
|
 Lesotho |
|
 Liberia |
|
 Libya |
|
 Liechtenstein |
|
 Lithuania |
|
 Luxembourg |
|
M |
|
 Macedonia |
|
 Madagascar |
|
 Malawi |
|
 Malaysia |
|
 Maldives |
|
 Mali |
|
 Malta |
|
 Marshall Islands |
|
 Mauritania |
|
 Mauritius |
|
 Mexico |
|
 Federated States of Micronesia |
|
 Moldova |
|
 Monaco[43] |
|
 Mongolia |
|
 Montenegro |
|
 Morocco |
|
 Mozambique |
|
 Myanmar (Burma) |
|
N |
|
 Namibia[44] |
|
 Nauru |
|
 Nepal |
|
 Netherlands |
|
 New Zealand |
|
 Nicaragua |
|
 Niger |
|
 Nigeria |
|
 Norway |
|
O |
|
 Oman |
|
P |
|
 Pakistan |
|
 Palau |
|
 Panama |
|
 Papua New Guinea |
|
 Paraguay |
|
 Peru |
|
 Philippines |
(Languages of the Philippines , Philippine languages)
|
 Poland |
|
 Portugal |
|
Q |
|
 Qatar |
|
R |
|
 Romania |
|
 Russia |
|
 Rwanda |
|
S |
|
 Saint Kitts and Nevis |
|
 Saint Lucia |
|
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
|
 Samoa |
|
 San Marino |
|
 São Tomé and Príncipe |
|
 Saudi Arabia |
|
 Senegal |
|
 Serbia |
|
 Seychelles |
|
 Sierra Leone |
|
 Singapore |
|
 Slovakia |
|
 Slovenia |
|
 Solomon Islands |
|
 Somalia |
|
 South Africa |
|
 South Sudan |
|
 Spain |
|
 Sri Lanka |
|
 Sudan |
|
 Suriname |
|
 Swaziland |
|
 Sweden |
|
 Switzerland |
|
 Syria |
|
T |
|
 Tajikistan |
|
 Tanzania |
|
 Thailand |
|
 Togo |
|
 Tonga |
|
 Trinidad and Tobago |
|
 Tunisia |
|
 Turkey |
|
 Turkmenistan |
|
 Tuvalu |
|
U |
|
 Uganda |
|
 Ukraine |
|
 United Arab Emirates |
|
 United Kingdom |
British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies
|
 United States |
|
 Uruguay |
|
 Uzbekistan |
|
V |
|
 Vanuatu |
|
 Vatican City |
|
 Venezuela |
|
 Vietnam |
|
Y |
|
 Yemen |
|
Z |
|
 Zambia |
|
 Zimbabwe |
|
Partially recognised states or Impartial Sovereign |
|
 Abkhazia |
|
 Hong Kong |
|
 Kosovo |
|
 Macau |
|
 Sovereign Military Order of Malta |
|
 Nagorno-Karabakh |
|
 Northern Cyprus |
|
 Palestine |
|
 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic |
|
 Somaliland |
|
 South Ossetia |
|
 Republic of China |
|
 Transnistria |
|
See also
References and footnotes
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- ↑ Constitution of Afghanistan (Chapter 1, Article 16)
- ↑ Constitution of Albania (Article 14)
- ↑ Constitution of Algeria (Article 3) (MS Word format)
- ↑ Constitution of Andorra (Article 2)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda, 1981 (Article 29)
- ↑ Provincial Law Nº5598
- ↑ Constitution of Armenia (Article 12)
- ↑ Constitution of Austria (Article 8)
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Constitution of Austria, Article 8 & State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria (Article 7, Page 188)
- ↑ Constitution of Azerbaijan, Constitution of Azerbaijan (English translation) (Article 21)
- ↑ Constitution of Belgium, in Dutch, French and German (Article 4)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Pomerode institui língua alemã como co-oficial no Município.
- ↑ Pomerano!?, acessado em 21 de agosto de 2011
- ↑ No Brasil, pomeranos buscam uma cultura que se perde, acessado em 21 de agosto de 2011
- ↑ Lei dispõe sobre a cooficialização da língua pomerana no município de Santa maria de Jetibá, Estado do Espírito Santo
- ↑ Cooficialização da língua alemã em Antônio Carlos
- ↑ Vereadores aprovam o talian como língua co-oficial do município, acessado em 21 de agosto de 2011
- ↑ Lei municipal oficializa línguas indígenas em São Gabriel da Cachoeira, acessado em 24 de agosto de 2011
- ↑ Na Babel brasileira, português é 2ª língua – FLÁVIA MARTIN e VITOR MORENO, enviados especiais a Sâo Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM), acessado em 24 de agosto de 2011
- ↑ Município do MS adota o guarani como língua oficial, acessado em 24 de agosto de 2011
- ↑ Indigenal Act, art. 28
- ↑ Constitution of Colombia, 1991 (Article 10)
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 28.00 28.01 28.02 28.03 28.04 28.05 28.06 28.07 28.08 28.09 28.10 28.11 28.12 Citizens belonging to minorities, which traditionally and on long-term basis live within the territory of the Czech Republic, enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in front of the courts of law (for the list of recognized minorities see National Minorities Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic). The article 25 of the Czech Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms ensures right of the national and ethnic minorities for education and communication with authorities in their own language. Act No. 500/2004 Coll. (The Administrative Rule) in its paragraph 16 (4) (Procedural Language) ensures, that a citizen of the Czech Republic, who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority, which traditionally and on long-term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic, have right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority. In case that the administrative agency doesn't have an employee with knowledge of the language, the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency's own expense. According to Act No. 273/2001 (About The Rights of Members of Minorities) paragraph 9 (The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in front of the courts of law) the same applies for the members of national minorities also in front of the courts of law.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Constitution of Timor-Leste, section 13
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Constitution of Ecuador 2008, (Article 2)
- ↑ Constitution of France (Article 2)
- ↑ Though not explicitly specified in the constitution, this is regulated in §23 Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz (Administrative Procedures Act)
- ↑ Publication by Ministry of the Interior (in German)
- ↑ Constitution of Hungary, Article H - www.kormany.hu/download/4/c3/30000/THE%20FUNDAMENTAL%20LAW%20OF%20HUNGARY.pdf
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 35.5 Recognized by Hungary as minority language by the Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by the Hungarian Parliament - Resolution 35/1995, April 7, 1995 - http://www.complex.hu/kzldat/o95h0035.htm/o95h0035_0.htm
- ↑ Constitution of Ireland (Article 8)
- ↑ MK Dichter revives Jewish State bill
- ↑ The Constitution of Jamaica section 20(6e) (implicit)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.<quote>In 1992, following further amendments to this directive, Latvian was established as the only official language. It took 410 Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development seven more years before the State language law was adopted in 1999, with further amendments in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.</quote>
- ↑ Jarinovska, Kristine. "Popular Initiatives as Means of Altering the Core of the Republic of Latvia", Juridica International. Vol. 20, 2013. p. 152 ISSN1406-5509
- ↑ Malaysia's Legal System, Eurasia International Legal Network, Malaysia.
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia designated Malay as the national language. Section 2 of that article allowed English to be used officially until otherwise provided by Parliament. In 1967, the Parliament of Malaysia passed the National Language Act, making Malay the official language of Malaysia. The act does, however, allow the use of English for some official purposes. On 11 July 1990, following the amendment of the National Language Act 1963/67 (Act 32) (Revised in 1971), Malay replaced English as the official language of the courts in West Malaysia. The amending Act provided English to be used in the Courts in West Malaysia where it deems necessary in the interest of Justice. East Malaysia continued using English as the official language in their courts.[41] Since 2007, the official policy is to refer to the national language as the Malaysian language (Bahasa Malaysia), although legislation still refers to the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu).
- ↑ Constitution of Monaco (Article 8)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/wa.html 32% Namibians speak German
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
