List of official languages - All About All

List of official languages

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

Afrikaans:

• South Africa (with English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Albanian:

• Albania
• Macedonia
• Part of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Kosovo

Arabic:

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Chad (with French)
• Comoros (with French and Shikomor)
• Djibouti (with French)
• Egypt
• Eritrea (with Tigrignan)
• Iraq (with Kurdish)
• Israel (with Hebrew)
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Syria
• The United Arab Emirates
• Tunisia
• Western Sahara (with Spanish)
• Yemen

Armenian:

• Armenia

Assamese:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Assam

Aymara:

• Bolivia (with Spanish and Quechua)
• Peru (with Spanish and Quechua)

Azeri:

• Azerbaijan

Bahasa Indonesia:

• Indonesia

Belarusian:

• Belarus

Bengali:

• Bangladesh
• India (with English, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Assamese, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Sanskrit, Sindhi)
  • Tripura
  • West Bengal

Bosnian:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina (with Croatian, Serbian)

Bulgarian:

• Bulgaria

Catalan:

• Andorra

Chinese:

• the People's Republic of China
  • People's Republic of China except Hong Kong and Macau (Mandarin)
  • Hong Kong (de facto Cantonese and Mandarin, with English)
  • Macau (de facto Cantonese and Mandarin, with Portuguese)
• the Republic of China (Taiwan) (Mandarin)
• Malaysia (with English, Tamil and Malay)
• Singapore (Mandarin, with Malay, English and Tamil)

Croatian

• some municipalities in Austria (with German)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (with Bosnian, Serbian)
• Croatia
• part of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Vojvodina (with Serbian, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak and Ruthenian)

Czech:

• Czech Republic

Danish

• Denmark
  • Faroe Islands (with Faroese)
  • Greenland (with Inuktitut)

Dari:

• Afghanistan (with Pashtu)

Dhivehi:

• Maldives

Dutch:

• Belgium (with French and German)
• The Netherlands (with Frisian)
• Suriname
• The Netherlands Antilles
• Aruba

Dzongkha:

• Bhutan

English:

• Australia
• Bahamas
• Belize
• Botswana (but the national language is Setswana)
• Canada (federally, with French)
  • New Brunswick (with French)
  • Nova Scotia (with French)
  • Nunavut (with French, Inuktitut, and Inuvialuktun)
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)
  • Yukon (with French)
• Fiji (with Bau Fijian and Hindustani)
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Hong Kong (with Chinese)
• Guyana
• India (with Hindi and 14 other languages)
• Kenya (with Kiswahili)
• Kiribati
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea (with Tok Pisin and Motu)
• Republic of Ireland (with Irish)
• South Africa (with Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)
• New Zealand (an official language by custom; the other by law is Māori)
• Malaysia (with Malay, Tamil and Chinese)
• Singapore (with Malay, Tamil and Chinese)
• Philippines (but the national language is Filipino)
• The Gambia
• Zambia
• Namibia
• Trinidad and Tobago

Estonian:

• Estonia

Fijian

• Fiji (with English and Hindustani)

Filipino:

• Philippines (with English)

Finnish:

• Finland (with Swedish)

French:

• Belgium (with Dutch and German)
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi (with Kirundi and Swahili)
• Cameroon (with English)
• Canada (federally, with English)
  • New Brunswick (with English)
  • Quebec
  • Nunavut (with English, Inuktitut, and Inuvialuktun)
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)
  • Yukon (with English)
• Central African Republic
• Chad (with Arabic)
• Comoros (with Arabic and Comorian)
• Congo-Brazzaville
• Congo-Kinshasa
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Djibouti (with Arabic)
• Equatorial Guinea (with Spanish)
• France
• Gabon
• Guinea
• Haiti (with Haitian Creole)
• part of Italy
  • the Aosta Valley (with Italian)
• Luxembourg (with German and Luxembourgish)
• Madagascar (with Malagasy)
• Mali
• Mauritius (with English)
• Monaco
• Rwanda (with English and Kinyarwanda)
• Senegal
• Seychelles (with English)
• Switzerland (with German, Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansch)
  • Geneva
  • Vaud
  • Valais
  • Jura
  • Neuchâtel
  • Fribourg, Bern (with German)
• Togo
• Vanuatu (with Bislama and English)

Frisian:

• The Netherlands (with Dutch)

Georgian:

• Georgia

German:

• Austria
• Belgium (with Dutch and French)
• Germany
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg (with French and Luxembourgish)
• part of Italy
  • South Tyrol (with Italian)
• Switzerland (with French, Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansch)
  • 17 of the 26 cantons (unilingually German)
  • Graubünden (with Italian and Romansh)
  • Bern, Fribourg (with French)

Greek:

• Greece
• Cyprus (with Turkish)

Guaraní

• Paraguay (with Spanish)

Gujarati:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
  • Daman and Diu
  • Gujarat

Haitian Creole:

• Haiti (with French)

Hebrew:

• Israel (with Arabic)

Hindi

• India (with English and 14 other languages)
• Fiji (with English and Bau Fijian; known constitutionally as Hindustani as an umbrella term to cover Urdu, as well as Hindi.)

Hiri Motu:

• Papua New Guinea (with English and Tok Pisin)

Hungarian:

• Hungary
• part of Slovenia
• part of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, Slovak and Ruthenian)

Irish Gaelic is the national and first official language of:

• Ireland (with English)

Italian:

• Italy (with German, French, Ladin and Sardinian in some provinces)
• Switzerland (with German, French, and Rhaeto-Romansh)
  • Ticino
  • Graubünden (with German and Rhaeto-Romansh)
• San Marino
• part of Croatia
  • Istria county (with Croatian)
• part of Slovenia
  • Izola, Koper and Piran municipalities (with Slovene)

Japanese:

• Japan
• Palau (with Palauan and English)

Kannada:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Karnataka

Kashmiri:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Sindhi, Sanskrit)

Kazakh:

• Kazakhstan (with Russian)
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Ili, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Barkol, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Mori, with Chinese (Mandarin)

Khmer:

• Cambodia

Korean:

• North Korea
• South Korea
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Changbai and Yanbian, with Chinese (Mandarin)

Kurdish:

• Iraq (with Arabic)

Kyrgyz:

• Kyrgyzstan (with Russian)
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Kizilsu (with Chinese (Mandarin))

Lao:

• Laos

Latin:

• Holy See (Vatican City)

Latvian:

• Latvia

Lithuanian:

• Lithuania

Macedonian:

• Macedonia

Malay:

• Malaysia (also known as Bahasa Melayu, with English, Tamil and Chinese)
• Brunei
• Singapore (with English, Tamil and Chinese)

Malayalam:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Kerala
  • Lakshadweep

Māori:

• New Zealand (with English)

Marathi:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Maharashtra

Moldovan (asserted by nationalists to be distinct from Romanian; most linguists remain skeptical):

• Moldova

Mongolian

• Mongolia
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Inner Mongolia, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Haixi, with Tibetan and Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Bortala, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Bayin'gholin, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Dorbod, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Qian Gorlos, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Harqin Left, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Fuxin, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Weichang, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Subei, with Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Henan, with Chinese (Mandarin)

Ndebele:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Nepali:

• Nepal

Northern Sotho:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Norwegian:

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

Oriya:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Orissa

Pashtu:

• Afghanistan (with Dari-Persian)

Persian:

• Iran
• Afghanistan (called Dari-Persian in Afghanistan) (with Pashtu)
• Tajikistan (called Tajiki-Persian in Tajikistan)

Polish:

• Poland

Portuguese:

• Angola
• Brazil
• Cape Verde (with Tetum)
• East Timor
• Guinea-Bissau
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Macau (with Chinese)
• Mozambique
• Portugal
• São Tomé and Príncipe
• part of Spain
  • Galicia, using the name Galician [See: Galician, above.] (with Spanish)

Punjabi:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Punjab

Guechua

• Bolivia (with Spanish and Aymara)
• Peru (with Spanish and Aymara)

Romanian:

• Moldova (known locally as Moldovan, and asserted by nationalists to be a separate language, an assertion disputed by most professional linguists)
• Romania
• part of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Vojvodina (with Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak and Ruthenian)

Rhaeto-Romansh:

• Switzerland (with German, French, and Italian)
  • Graubünden (with German and Italian)

Russian:

• Belarus (with Belarusian)
• Kazakhstan (with Kazakh)
• Kyrgyzstan (with Kyrgyz)
• Russia

Sanskrit:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi)

Serbian:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina (with Bosnian, Croatian)
• Serbia and Montenegro

Sindhi:

• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sanskrit)

Sinhala:

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

Slovak

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

Slovene:

• Slovenia
• Italy
  • Friuli-Venezia Giulia (with Italian)
• Austria
  • Carinthia (with German)

Somali:

• Somalia

Sotho:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Spanish:

• Argentina
• Bolivia (with Aymara and Quechua)
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Equatorial Guinea (with French)
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay (with Guaraní)
• Peru (with Quechua)
• Spain (Aranese, Basque, Catalan and Galician are co-official in some regions)
• Uruguay
• Venezuela
• Western Sahara (with Arabic)

Swahili:

• Kenya (with English)
• Tanzania

Swazi:

• Swaziland (with English)
• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Swedish:

• Finland (with Finnish)
  • Åland (unilingually Swedish) (an autonomous province under Finnish sovereignty)

Tajik:

• Tajikistan
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Taxkorgan (with Chinese (Mandarin))

Tamil:

• Malaysia (with English, Malay and Chinese)
• Singapore (with Malay, English and Chinese)
• India (with English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Pondicherry
  • Tamil Nadu
• Sri Lanka (with Sinhala, and with English as a link language)

Telugu:

• India (with English, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Andhra Pradesh

Tetum:

• East Timor (with Portuguese)

Thai:

• Thailand

Tok Pisin:

• Papua New Guinea (with English and Motu)

Tsonga:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Tswana:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)

Turkish:

• Turkey
• Cyprus (with Greek (Hellenic))

Turkmen:

• Turkmenistan

Ukrainian:

• Ukraine

Urdu:

• India (with Hindi, English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit)
  • Jammu and Kashmir
• Pakistan

Uzbek:

• Uzbekistan

Venda:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Xhosa, Zulu)

Vietnamese:

• Vietnam

Xhosa:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Zulu)

Zulu:

• South Africa (with Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa)

Official languages at the level of state or provincial unit only

Aranese see Occitan

Basque:

• Basque Country (with Spanish)
• Navarre (with Spanish)

Cantonese:

• Hong Kong (spoken de facto, with English and Mandarin)
• Macao (spoken de facto, with English and Mandarin)

Catalan:

• parts of Spain
  • Balearic Islands (with Spanish)
  • Catalonia (with Spanish)
  • Valencia (named as Valencian, with Spanish)

Chipewyan:

• Northwest Territories (with Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Cree:

• Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Dogrib:

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

English:

• parts of the United States. The USA Federal Government can not declare an official language by federal law, since the United States is comprised of sovreign states. The official language is decided by majority of the states whose official languages are declared; English is the first language by custom and majority. See English-only movement. English is official language in the following states and territories:
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii (with Hawaiian language)
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana (with French)
  • Massachusetts
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • New Hampshire
  • New Mexico (with Spanish)
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Puerto Rico (with Spanish)
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Utah
  • Virginia
  • West Virginia
  • Wyoming

French:

• part of the United States
  • Louisiana (with English)

Galician:

• Galicia (with Spanish)

NOTE: Whether Galician is in fact a language, or a dialect of Portuguese, is a matter of debate among linguists.

Gwich'in:

• Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Inuktitut, and Slavey)

Hawaiian:

• Hawaii (with English)

Inuktitut:

• Greenland (with Danish)
• Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuvialuktun)
• Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, and Slavey)

Inuvialuktun:

• Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuktitut)
• Northwest Territories (included in Inuktitut; with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, and Slavey)

Irish Gaelic:

• Northern ireland (with English)

Occitan (Aranese):

• Val d'Aran (with Catalan and Spanish)

Rusyn:

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

Sami:

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

Slavey:

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

Spanish:

• parts of the United States (co-official with English in New Mexico and Puerto Rico)

Scots Gaelic:

• Scotland (with English)

Tibetan:

• Tibet (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))

Uyghur:

• Xinjiang (with Chinese (Mandarin))

Welsh:

• Wales (with English)

Zhuang:

• Guangxi (with Chinese (Mandarin))
• Lianshan (with Chinese (Mandarin))

A map of official languages: (note: source is CIA World Factbook. Countries that include several official languages only use one, often to avoid adding languages to the chart unnecessarily, preventing confusion.) Official Languages Maps (http://bioworld.250free.com/languages.png)

See also

• List of official languages by institution
• List of official languages by state
• List of national languages of India