List of languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 27 June 2023 with a consensus to merge. Its contents were merged into List of official languages by country and territory. The original page is now a redirect to this page. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history; for its talk page, see here. |
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The list for Italy is ridiculous. Italian is the only official language nationwide. Then there is French co-official in Val d'Aosta and German co-official in Bolzano province. Stop. The other are ALL minorities'languages, not official ones, even at local level. And what about Emiliano,Piemontese etc listed in a list of Italy's official languages!OMG! (Easyboy82)
It's ridiculous to list both de facto and official. If it has not official language, then list none. Some countries have official languages, but another local language that is more common than the offficial language. How is this indicated here?
Also, the languages should be wikified. -- Jia ng 08:38, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC)
This list is ridculous, and I'm going to put it on VfD tomorrow. How can you have "de facto" languages on a list of official languages?? If they're de facto, they're not necessarily official. Period. Change the title or it goes on VfD. Moncrief 28 Feb 2004 (UTC) And FRENCH is listed as an official language of the UK?? What! Not even de facto... oy vey. Moncrief
--Either way, it should be Scottish Gaelic, not French. Perhaps using the World Factbook to get languages? Nick04
I guess I'm not clear why "de facto" languages are still being included on a list of Official Languages. Does someone think they are the same thing or similar enough to fudge it? It's not the case, if so. De facto and official languages are two very distinct categories. Moncrief
Matt, do you want to do the honor of moving to a new title? I think you or someone should. Moncrief, 20:50, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I removed the list of local dialects of Italy, because this is a list of "official" languages: Italian is the one official language statewide. A 1999 Law (I'm sorry, but I don't remember its number) recognizes 12 minority languages, locally considered as official: French, Occitan, French-Provençal, Catalan, Sardinian, German, Slovenian, Ladin, Friulian,Albanese, Serbian-Croatian, Greek. The difference between a language and a dialect, of course, is not defined, but no other local way has official recognition. By the way,calling "Neapolitans" all local dialects of south is simply ridiculous, because they belong to many different linguistic groups.More, Abruzzo, in central Italy, has two different linguistic families, whose one is related to Roman and other central dialects(called: Osco-Umbrian) and the other related to the dialects of Apulia (called: Iapigian). Mirko
The Italian language isn't an official language in Libya, so i removed it.
The language of Norway is Norweigan, "Bokmål" and "Nynorsk" are only two different ways of writing it. As this is a list of languages, and not of written languages, the terms "bokmål" and "nynorsk" should not be included here. Therefore I have removed them.
I've found the following information on the official site of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina:
I believe this proves that there are six official languages of Vojvodina. Boraczek 12:01, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
I will rephrase it in article.-- Avala 12:29, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
Huaiwei wrote People's Republic of China and removed the words mainland China with brackets. The reality is laws only govern the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to use Mandarin Chinese as the official language. The brackets in fact made the issue clearer. - Privacy 16:24, Jan 5, 2005 (UTC)
As far as I remember it used to be romanised as Kuo-Yü rather than Guoyu. - Privacy 16:26, Jan 5, 2005 (UTC)
The local name of Mandarin is Kuo-Yü rather than Guo Yu. ROC doesn't use Pinyin. - Privacy 18:23, Jan 28 2005 (UTC)
In the article there are 15 official languages, used in “formal” or “non-formal” education. The following website: [1] lists 9 “government sponsored languages” and the areas were they are spoken. Dose anyone know anything about this? Zntrip 18:34, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
In addition to Ghana the following countries may have additional official language:
The term "constituent country" is used to describe the major subdivisions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (except for Northern Ireland). None of the constituent countries claim to be independent from the United Kingdom and are not recognized by any foreign state. To list Wales, Scotland, or England on this page would not be proper because they are not real countries, nor do they claim to be. – Zntrip 22:39, 8 September 2005 (UTC) But Wales has its own Government and passes its own legislation. Welsh is currently an official language in Wales via Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011/Mesur y Gymraeg (Cymru) 2011 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/mwa/2011/1/section/1/enacted/welsh or http://www.legislation.gov.uk/mwa/2011/1/section/1/enacted — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.121.124.132 ( talk) 11:52, 18 July 2012 (UTC)
Oh dear. I see that zntrip has not bothered to do his homework. Here are the links he will need if he wants to avoid future boo-boos: State, Country, Nation. You see, all three words do not mean the same thing. If they did, there would be no need for three different words. The UK is not a country, but a state, however , because I am not a fundamwentalist like zntrip, I am willing to have a double entry under both UK and Wales. If only he could be that reasonable. I am forthwith reinstating Wales. Here is the deposit he left at my talk page: " == Wales == Please stop this nonsense. Wales is part of the United Kingdom, which is a country. How can Wales be its own country when it is part of the United Kingdom? It can’t. French Polynesia is called a country, but that’s right — its part of France. The article, list of official languages by country, only includes countries that have international recognition and claim to be independent. Please do not put Wales on this page again. – Zntrip 23:00, 9 September 2005 (UTC)." Sad, but true.-- Mais oui! 23:18, 9 September 2005 (UTC) -- Mais oui! 23:18, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
I just made a few revisions that I wanted to justify to everyone: (1) reworded the first paragraph and added a definitions section (partly in conformity with
Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists) and (2) for a few languages, added frequent alternate names.
I also had a few questions to ask:
(1) Within each country's listing, should the dominant official language(s) (e.g. English and French for Canada) be set apart from the rest of the listing (typically consisting of minority languages)?
I mean, it's a bit confusing to get lost in half a dozen minority languages with the internationally-known state-wide language buried half-invisible in the middle.
(2) (Tosk is the official dialect): is there a more technically concise way to phrase this? Such as, (official dialect: Tosk). I'm concerned some may object to the adequacy of the term
dialect, even if scientifically correct.
(3) At the risk of stirring up a can of worms (see above), I wanted to talk about China (PRC).
Chinese (statewide) (pointing to Vernacular Chinese) is listed. (Standard) Mandarin is also listed. Does China makes a distinction between these two and offically recognizes both? I could be wrong but my hunch is that it does not. Putting Vernacular Chinese in there is redundant, as it is not officially recognized. Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) is the premier official, state-wide language and the only Chinese language recognized with the exception of regional use for Cantonese. Can we remove Chinese (statewide)?
Unless--is someone putting it there to draw a distinction between Putonghua (technically Standard Mandarin) as the universal written language and Mandarin as a spoken language? (see: Chinese spoken language) But even then, one out of the two almost certainly should go as I suspect only one is officially recognized. Thanks -- Dpr 08:05, 11 September 2005 (UTC)
Instantnood added this item back into the entry for China. However, does anyone else support this? Wasn't this resolved above? Instantnood, are you asserting that there are two state-wide official languages in China, (1) Putonghua (Standard Chinese or Standard Mandarin) and (2) Vernacular Chinese? -- Dpr 04:29, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
Actually, linguistic articles show that there is not just, in fact, "one written language" of Chinese. There are, actually, many Chinese dialects and many written Chinese languages based on those dialects, though none are nearly as prevalent as Standard Mandarin/Guoyu/Putonghua.
The "Chinese as the written language" you speak of is, in fact, the written version of Standard Mandarin/Guoyu/Putonghua. Therefore the spoken language and written language are the same. Had Classical Chinese been retained as a written standard, it would be a separate language from spoken Putonghua/Standard Mandarin. Written documents, in a province today are written in Putonghua, even if the people speak a different dialect. This is because the written language is based on Standard Mandarin which is not the native language of the place. I don't think the two can be separated.
If what I say seems incorrect, we can seek guidance on the Chinese language talk page, or identify official Chinese public sector sources which designate what the official language or languages is/are. Thanks. -- Dpr 07:53, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
Zntrip, do you mean, "I'm for him"? It does seem that Instantnood is right, though the situation is still a bit complex. --
Dpr 06:28, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
No I was just saying I'm a male ;) As I have explained to Zntrip at her/his talk page. – Zntrip 03:53, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
Are languages with geographical scope indicated in parentheses (but without specific annotation as minority languages), be assumed to be so (e.g. Slovenian (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia))? Should they be explicity annotated? Thanks -- Dpr 04:41, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
Forget what I said, I have a better answer. All languages on this list are official languages. If it has (national) next to it, it is also a national language. If it has the name of a province, territory, etc., next to it, it is a regional language in the specified area(s). If it has (minority language) next to it, then and only then, it is a minority language. Of course, some regional languages may be minority languages, but are not followed by (minority language) such as Slovenian in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. – Zntrip 22:43, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
Why do we have to have written Chinese on here could someone please explain why the Chinese are special? Other countries have official languages and official written languages; so why Chinese? – Zntrip 03:48, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
I am not sure if this list is exclusively for spoken languages, or failed to acknowledge the fact that spoken language and written language can be different. If it's the former, this list may have to be renamed accordingly.
The possible analogy to illustrate the differences between the written Chinese language and the spoken Chinese languages would be: Imagine Sweden, Denmark and Norway are one country under one central government, with three major spoken languages. The three spoken languages share one common and unified written language. One of the three spoken languages is designated official language, and the shared written language is designated official.
In the case of the PRC as well as the ROC, Standard Mandarin, a dialect of Mandarin, and Chinese (the written language) are official spoken and written languages respectively. — Insta ntnood 11:49, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
To repeat, nobody is talking about writing script here. Languages are never defined by scripts. A language can be written in different scripts, and it is still one language. Different languages can share the same script, but that doesn't mean they are the same language, or languages of the same language family. The debate on whether Chinese spoken variants are languages or dialects is not a result of a shared writing script, but rather, because of a shared written language. — Insta ntnood 15:28, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
If it were true that modern written Chinese is only the written form of Standard Mandarin as you have claimed [12], then I would be wondering if you are going to tell a speaker of Shanghainese who speaks little Standard Mandarin, for instance, that she/he has been speaking one language (Shanghainese being a dialect of Wu), and yet writing in another language for her/his whole life. This is a question you have not yet answered directly [13].
In fact written Chinese is a written language shared by several spoken languages. (And as a matter of fact, I have already quoted the interesting quote before [14] [15], just that you might have missed it.)
If only spoken languages can be official languages, then are governments printing their documents in their official languages? — Insta ntnood 17:20, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
From what you said [17], you have effectively implied and asserted that written Chinese is just the written form of Standard Mandarin, official languages can only be the spoken languages, and the languages on government documents are the written form of the official (spoken) languages. Please substantiate this claim. For what I know, the real side of the fact is that written Chinese is a writtern language shared by several Chinese spoken languages. If your claim that Standard Mandarin and written Chinese are the same is not substantiated, then both Chinese and Standard Mandarin (Putonghua for the PRC, Kuo-yü for the ROC) shall be included in the list. — Insta ntnood 19:18, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
From the naming conventions for Chinese-related topics: " In general, one should avoid using the term "Chinese" to be synonymous with the spoken Mandarin Chinese. ". — Insta ntnood 18:12, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Why are we debating semantics, rather than looking at the actual laws?
Article 19 of the Constitution:
……国家推广全国通用的普通话。
... The state will promote the national common [language] Putonghua.
Article 2 of the Law on National Common Language and Script (中华人民共和国国家通用语言文字法):
本法所称的国家通用语言文字是普通话和规范汉字。
The common language and script referred to in this law are Putonghua and standard Chinese characters [i.e. Simplified Chinese]).
As such, it can be seen that China does not have an "official language", only a common language, which is Putonghua. China also has a common script that is used with the common language and appears to have the same "official" status, i.e. Simplified Chinese.
-- ran ( talk) 01:26, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
If scripts, be it characters, alphabets, whatsover, are not components of written languages, what is the relations between scripts and written languages? (This is beyond the subject matter here, so please don't go into details, or perhaps proceed to relevant talk pages.) — Insta ntnood 12:57, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
" The PRC government writes Putonghua.. ..The ROC writes Guoyu.. " Great.. so are you going to tell a Shanghainese speaker who speaks little Putonghua/Kuo-yü that she/he has been writing in Putonghua/Kuo-yü in her/his whole life? If they write Putonghua/Kuo-yü, why does the ROC bother to say 國語說明 and 中文字幕 in its law [19]? Why not 國語字幕? — Insta ntnood 18:25, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Written Chinese satisfies all the defining properties of human language:
Written Chinese is also different from any spoken variety of Chinese in grammar and vocabulary.
On the other hand, I should point out that Vernacular Chinese (the modern standard style of Written Style) is not mentioned anywhere in the documents I quoted above. Only Putonghua and Simplified Chinese characters have official status.
-- ran ( talk) 23:16, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Chinese speakers have long been accustomed to write in a way which is quite different from what they speak, that written Chinese and one's own spoken language is rarely, if not never, considered separate languages. Nor do non-Mandarin speakers consider themselves writing in Mandarin. The connections between Written Chinese and any one of the Chinese spoken languages is not like separate languages. Just that we have to acknowledge that Chinese is one language when written, but several when spoken. — Insta ntnood 08:28, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
Although it's true that the development of modern written Chinese (baihuawen) was considerably based on the northern group of dialects of Mandarin (note: Mandarin here does not mean Standard Mandarin/Putonghua/Kuo-yü, it means the language that Putonghua is a dialect of), elements of other dialect groups of Mandarin as well as other Chinese spoken languages were brought into it by writers and advocators of baihuawen who spoke other spoken languages. Many famous Chinese writers by then were from places like Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Sichuan.
Linguistically some may argue modern Standard Mandarin/Putonghua/Kuo-yü and modern written Chinese share many characteristics in common, nevertheless in terms of terminology it is plain wrong to say people write in Standard Mandarin. It is also wrong, and perhaps hegemonic, to say modern written Chinese is Mandarin on paper. — Insta ntnood 08:40, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
Should categories such as minority language be put in separate parentheses from the regional location, or all in one set of parentheses--such as Irish/Gaelic (Northern Ireland only; minority language) OR Irish/Gaelic (Northern Ireland only) (minority language)?-- Dpr 04:22, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
The short name of the "Republic of China" is "Taiwan" and therefore will be located under "T" beacuse the list is classified by the short name. – Zntrip 04:47, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
"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." - Pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of China, the territory of Taiwan is clearly not soverign. Nor "Taiwan" satisfies the standard of international recognition. It should be removed. Besides, among the extremely few countries that have diplomatic relations, they recognize only "Republic of China". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.39.96.94 ( talk) 11:10, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
I don't understand in which way you decided about countries to list. 1) This is not a list of States recognized by UNO, because Taiwan is recognized only by Vatican City and definitely not by UNO; 2) This is not a list of States recognized by almost one country, because you missed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (not recognized by UNO, but recognized by Turkey)and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, whose two buildings in Rome, Italy, are recognized as a sovereign State by a lot of countries, though not by UNO; 3) This is not a list of de facto States, because you missed Transdnestria, Abkhasia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh,Tamil Eelam, Somaliland and others, all States de facto existing and administering their territory. On the contrary, you included officialy recognized States which are not really existing, such as Palestine (de facto occupied by Israel), Afghanistan and Iraq (de facto occupied by USA) and Somalia (de facto divided into many different States and whose government lives in exile abroad). And neither this list is full, because you missed Western Sahara, partially recognized, but de facto occupied by Morocco. Can you explain how do you chase the States to list, please?
Given that Western Sahara, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Kosovo, and the Palestinian Authority are listed, Taiwan should be included.
Under the definition of "sovereign, internationally recognised, independent political entities," Taiwan would technically meet each requirement.
Given that it has its own government that exerts political control over the island as well as maintains its own military, Taiwan would satisfy the requirement of a "independent political entity."
As sovereignty is the "quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory," as the ROC government exercises supreme and independent practical control in all sense over Taiwan, that requirement is met.
Taiwan as the ROC is recognized by 23 UN member nations and possesses numerous diplomatic missions and embassies throughout the world. Therefore, it would be internationally recognized.
The policy of the Taiwanese/ROC government has been to refer to the state as the "Republic of China (Taiwan)," with Taiwan being the short name. As states like North and South Korea are referred to with the aforementioned designations and not the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" or "Republic of Korea," Taiwan should be listed as said under "T". Hartnrm ( talk) 06:58, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
Why this list has to be sorted by (sovereign) state? Most similar lists on the English language version of Wikipedia are sorted by country. Is there any specific reason? Thanks. — Insta ntnood 17:48, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
The status of French polynesia (artilce # 7)says that "Le français, le tahitien, le marquisien, le paumotu et le mangarevien sont les langues de la Polynésie française." So why my changes about marquisian, tuamotuan and mangarevian have been reverted ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jussia ( talk • contribs) 06:23, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
I wanted to add the following explanation to the Definitions section to avoid confusion, but I'm confused myself and not sure it's correct. Can someone verify it? If it's true, add it; otherwise add whatever the true explanation is because, as this comment illustrates, it is confusing. jnestorius( talk) 23:12, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
I am interested in listing languages which have historically had official recognition, but not currently. Illinois recognised "American" as the state's official language in 1923. That stayed on the books for the next fifty years. Comments? samwaltz 18:12, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
Silesian has no official status. Additionally German and Lithuanian are minority languages in some municipalities. -- xRiffRaffx 22:11, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
This article seems to deal more with "languages with an official [formal legal] status" rather than "official languages" (the latter category being somewhat tricky even). Would there be any support for renaming the page accordingly?
Also, looking at the list I realize that a lot of work has gone into it, but (1) see that a lot of work is yet to be done on what is listed for many African countries, and (2) wonder if a table format might be more useful. The latter might get complicated since you run into the issue of the inherent fuzziness of the categories, but with asterisks it might be easier for users to browse.-- A12n ( talk) 15:12, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
CIA World Factbook says Palauan is official "in all islands except Sonsoral (Sonsoralese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official)" 203.7.140.3 ( talk) 02:56, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
The Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730 made English the official language of the law courts. m.e. ( talk) 15:22, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
Is there really such a language as ' Cornish' today? I thought it was a myth. And does anyone have any evidence that it has any official status, even in Cornwall? There is nothing in the Cornish article to suggest so anyway. m.e. ( talk) 14:12, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
English is the official language of Zambia, and there are 7 national languages: Bemba, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, and Tonga. So maybe someone can add that edit. (I don't know how to edit the pages.) also, here's a citation: Spitulnik, Debra. 1998. “Mediating Unity and Diversity: The Production of Language Ideologies in Zambian Broadcasting.” In Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard, and P. Kroskrity, eds. Pp. 163-188. Oxford: Oxford University Press. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Peace500 ( talk • contribs) 22:01, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
How about we say under Georgia something like
? It's entirely factual, it doesn't address whether or not the separatists have merit to their control, and it informs the reader of Russian language's status in this area. Διγουρεν Εμπρος! 11:25, 18 March 2009 (UTC)
The entry for Mexico is wrong. The Constitution does not state any official language, but there are 63 indigenous languages that are explicitlly recognized as national (General Law of Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples) together with Spanish. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Mexico) Ajusco —Preceding undated comment added 15:06, 27 March 2009 (UTC).
Some adjustments made in Namibia and The Kingdom of the Netherlands, regarding the true situations there. (Afrikaans being the lingua franca of Namibia, Dutch being official nationwide in NL)
The current version of the article is confusing. The article sometimes uses the word "national" to designate a " national language" (e.g. Burkina Faso) but other times the word is used to designate that the language is official with respect to the national government but not necessarily subnational governments (e.g. Canada). The term nationwide is used in a few places, and the term statewide in others, but even that is confusing and inconsistent. (Because "statewide" might be taken to refer to a subnational unit, such as the states of India, Australia, or the USA.) -- Mathew5000 ( talk) 07:02, 4 November 2009 (UTC)
Only Azerbaijani has a official status in Azerbaijan. Russian is only spoken by half the population of the capital (Baku), its a minority language of the city of Baku, that has no place in the list of official languages by state Neftchi ( talk) 23:04, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
You're much too trigger happy and obviously did not read the articles lead: 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. Pay another attention to the word Russian in all other Ex Soviet nations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by XrAi ( talk • contribs) 02:07, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
But does Russian have official minority language status in Azerbaijan? As it says in the article: "Minority language: (as used here) one spoken by a minority population within the state and officially designated as such" Munci ( talk) 12:44, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
According to Nova Scotia's own article, there are less then 1, 000 speakers of Gaelic in the province. Perhaps it was "de facto" official at one point, but it certainly isn't now. It has virtually disappeared. saɪm duʃan Talk| Contribs 11:20, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
There is no regional language recognized in Hungary, so I removed German. And added all the 6 officially recognized minority languages. Links were added too. -- maxval ( talk) 20:32, 25 January 2012 (UTC)
What kind of alphabetical order is this? Why is "Ivory Coast" sorted under C? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.32.249.133 ( talk) 10:46, 2 August 2012 (UTC)
Where did you find that English would be the official language of Eritrea? Really, Eritrea has no official language. However, Arabic and Tigrinya are the de facto official languages of the country. Lele giannoni ( talk) 17:36, 2 August 2012 (UTC)
An editor has been adding Somaliland to the "Partially recognised states" sub-heading alongside states that are actually partially recognised. The problem with this is that Somaliland has no recognition at all as a state, and is instead internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. Logically, it therefore belongs in its own section that should be clearly labeled "Unrecognised territories" or some variation thereof. He has argued that this is a problem because apparently "giving Somaliland its own category does not help the reader with the topic of this article in the slightest". Correcting patently false information, as done here, is obviously helping the reader; offering him/her instead misleading info is certainly not. Middayexpress ( talk) 13:29, 28 October 2012 (UTC)
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Somaliland is listed on this wikipedia page under the Partially recognised states heading. However, unlike the cited states, it has no recognition as an independent state and is instead internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. Given this, would it be more accurate to list the territory under a new, separate sub-heading titled Unrecognised territories or some variation thereof? Middayexpress ( talk) 14:34, 29 October 2012 (UTC)
I came here expecting a list of official languages by state. And it lists loads of minority languages?! They have no place here in my mind; there are plenty of language articles about. There are Chinese communities everywhere, should every country list all the Chinese languages as minority languages??? There's China Town in the US... A couple of countries even list sign language. Really?? Why does that belong in this list, and only for those countries? There are deaf people everywhere, you know. I say, restrict the list to only official languages, de jure and de facto. Nothing else. And no language should be allowed to be added without a reference. And EVERY language should state if it's de jure, de facto, and in what region if not statewide. Currently the list is not consistent at all. Frankly my dear, it is ugly. -- Dbjorck ( talk) 20:51, 14 May 2013 (UTC)
List of official languages by state lists Danish as statewide official language of Denmark, consistent with Danish language. But the article Official language lists Denmark as one of fifteen countries without an official language.
Which one is correct? Please discuss here: talk:Official language#Denmark-- Nø ( talk) 07:13, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
I've been looking all around for a total of how many languages in the world have official status. While this list is perhaps the closest thing I've found, it does not mention the total number of unique languages in the list, although that would be super helpful. Is there any quick way to count this or do we just do it by hand? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.17.240.149 ( talk) 18:35, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
This page says "French (in Louisiana)," and yet the Louisiana page itself only lists English. Which page is correct? This discrepancy should be resolved. allixpeeke ( talk) 09:39, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
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Abkhazia and South Osetia are not recognized countries and should not listed in this list as a countries. If those are listed as a just territory than Georgian Language is official and Russian must be excluded.-- Paata Shetekauri ( talk) 13:16, 7 July 2017 (UTC)
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The page is called "List of official languages by country and territory", but it includes other languages.
The introduction needs to explain exactly what it means by "countries and dependent territories"; and whatever terms are used must be used in accordance with their UN-regognised meanings.
I think that the language of Brazil might be better described as "Brazilian Portuguese".
One needs to disinguish between written and spoken languages. The prime example is perhaps China, in which I believe that the written Chinese language is the same throughout but the common spoken Chinese of some regions is more-or-less incomprehensible in other regions.
Gibraltar exists, and is not Spanish.
The Falkland Islands exist, and are not Argentinian.
A Tamil language page exists, /info/en/?search=Tamil_language
None of the following places are in the UK, & IoM + IP should be preced by "the" :
Pitcairnese (in Pitcairn Islands) Guernésiais and French (in Guernsey) Jèrriais and French (in Jersey) Manx (in Isle of Man)
Guernsey and Jersey are (when not knitwear or cattle) islands (+ islets?). The Channel Islands (when not American) are two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands, and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands. Therefore, if Guernsey is mentioned, one should either also mention Alderney, Sark, Herm, and Jethou, or use "the Bailiwick of Guernsey"; and in the latter case one should also use "the Bailiwick of Jersey".
The UK is a State; England, Scotland, and Wales are countries and nations; and Northern Ireland is administratively on an equal footing with those.
The first column should be in three parts, in this order :
National States (recognised as such by the UN, whether or not Member States) Countries which are not so recognised Inhabited Territories not included in the above
Be guided by /info/en/?search=British_Overseas_Territories !
94.30.84.71 ( talk) 12:53, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
Turnagra, I am happy to expand my reasoning here. One of the pillars of the macron debate is that in NZ macrons are so widely used they are part of NZ English. As articles with a heavy leaning towards one particular country can use that county's variety of English. This guideline is usually used for simple UK-US spelling, but it sometimes has a wider scope. Hence, macrons in NZ articles. This article is not NZ specific so that guideline does not apply. I accept that macrons are now usually used with English in NZ, but I do not see how that also is the case outside NZ, sometimes yes, but usually not. This principal has been in place for a while now and I think generally accepted by editors, including NZ editors. Hence a macron with the word Maori in a NZ based article; no macron with Maori in non-NZ based articles.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Roger 8 Roger ( talk • contribs) 07:05, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
I realise the rule I outlined results in different spellings of the same word in different articles, but that is no different from words like color/colour. This macron issue is not the same as the placename issue so I want to make that clear, the issues are not the same. I think we need to be clear if we are using Maori as a Maori language word (hence using Maori spelling), or using an English language word, hence English spelling. You say the 'correct' spelling is 'Māori'. Even if I agreed with you that is only the correct spelling in NZ because NZ English is treating the word as a foreign language word. Writers in, say, Texas, will likely use the word Maori without a macron because the word Maori is treated there as an English language word, and English invariably does not uses macrons. To claim it is the correct spelling worldwide is rich, if not a touch arrogant I think. Roger 8 Roger ( talk) 19:39, 12 November 2021 (UTC)
Thank you for the reply. I will try to summarise my view on macrons as best I can. Foreign language words enter the English language all the time and as they do they go through stages of assimilation that varies from word to word. In a general sense, the spelling moves from an exact copy of the foreign spelling, though adaptations to align with the Roman script, English usage of that script, ironing out awkward pronunciation (for English speakers) to an accepted anglised version that becomes fixed. That word has been an English word throughout these stages, because it is used in the English language, even at the start when it was the same as the foreign language word. It can also evolve by changing the words meaning when used in English. Definitions vary but generally the word starts as a 'foreign' word, becomes a 'loan' word, then becomes a word of foreign origin. Some Maori language words have progressed through these stages to the last stage where they have become fully assimilated into English, which includes an anglised spelling and meaning. The word Maori, spelt without a macron, is one such word. It is therefore wrong to say it is being misspelt without a macron. Misspelt in te reo, yes, but in English no. What has been happening in recent years is an attempt to move words like 'Maori' back in time to when they first entered the English language when they would most likely be viewed as 'foreign' words which would be written closer to the foreign language spelling. (This assumes the current Maori language spelling was in place when the word 'Maori' was first usedd in English, which it was not.) I think it is wrong to do that: languages evolve all the time and the current non-macron spelling of certin words is simply the anglised version of the Maori word. It is unfortunate that so many people take offence at that when it has nothing to do with insulting the original foreign language of a word. There are countless words in English of foreign origin that bare little resemblance to the spelling in the original language: are we going to go round changing all of those too? There are te reo words starting to be used in English now. I would expect them to be spelt close to if not the same as they are in Maori, including macrons - but over time I would expect them to become more anglised, which would probably mean any macrons would be dropped. I am sorry if this sounds like a lecture or if to you it is patently obvious, but I do not know you, and in the past I have often felt that other editors have not understood my point, which is not the same as understanding it but disagreeing. I think your example of an American spelling our defence force as the 'Ministry of Defense' is off topic. If the term refers to that ministry then it should be spelt with a 'defence' because it is the name of that entity: if it refers to the broader less defined way in which we manage our defence then it can use 'defense'. It is no different from the term 'Prime Minister' or 'prime minister' - both spellings can be used correctly in context, and incorrectly out of context. The word 'Maori' in any regional form of English can be used with a macron, in context, but in most cases the context will dictate it should not. Roger 8 Roger ( talk) 10:20, 15 November 2021 (UTC)
I propose: List of official languages by country and territory ("Official language" and "National language" columns), List of regional official languages by country and territory ("Regional languages"), List of recognized minority languages by country and territory ("Minority languages"), and just get rid of the "widely-spoken" column, which shouldn't be in this article anyways. The 6-column approach leaves a ton of whitespace, very long article, and a bunch of those terrible tall and skinny cells. Multiple articles would greatly improve readability, in my opinion. However, you'd lose the ability to, for instance, compare regional languages and minority languages within the same country. Thoughts? Linshee ☺ 16:25, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
The article Languages of New Zealand says that "The Māori language of the indigenous Māori people was made the first de jure official language in 1987." So shouldn't Māori be listed here under New Zealand? GilesMartin1945 ( talk) 01:24, 30 June 2022 (UTC)
See above. In Belgium, Limburgs is spoken (the same Limburgs as the (recognised) minority language in the Netherlands). Now I understand if it is only recognised languages by the country we are talking about, but in that case I am rather sure Yiddish should not be listed for the Netherlands (the other 4 should, as far as I know). Ouroboros777 ( talk) 00:29, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
List of languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 27 June 2023 with a consensus to merge. Its contents were merged into List of official languages by country and territory. The original page is now a redirect to this page. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history; for its talk page, see here. |
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The list for Italy is ridiculous. Italian is the only official language nationwide. Then there is French co-official in Val d'Aosta and German co-official in Bolzano province. Stop. The other are ALL minorities'languages, not official ones, even at local level. And what about Emiliano,Piemontese etc listed in a list of Italy's official languages!OMG! (Easyboy82)
It's ridiculous to list both de facto and official. If it has not official language, then list none. Some countries have official languages, but another local language that is more common than the offficial language. How is this indicated here?
Also, the languages should be wikified. -- Jia ng 08:38, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC)
This list is ridculous, and I'm going to put it on VfD tomorrow. How can you have "de facto" languages on a list of official languages?? If they're de facto, they're not necessarily official. Period. Change the title or it goes on VfD. Moncrief 28 Feb 2004 (UTC) And FRENCH is listed as an official language of the UK?? What! Not even de facto... oy vey. Moncrief
--Either way, it should be Scottish Gaelic, not French. Perhaps using the World Factbook to get languages? Nick04
I guess I'm not clear why "de facto" languages are still being included on a list of Official Languages. Does someone think they are the same thing or similar enough to fudge it? It's not the case, if so. De facto and official languages are two very distinct categories. Moncrief
Matt, do you want to do the honor of moving to a new title? I think you or someone should. Moncrief, 20:50, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I removed the list of local dialects of Italy, because this is a list of "official" languages: Italian is the one official language statewide. A 1999 Law (I'm sorry, but I don't remember its number) recognizes 12 minority languages, locally considered as official: French, Occitan, French-Provençal, Catalan, Sardinian, German, Slovenian, Ladin, Friulian,Albanese, Serbian-Croatian, Greek. The difference between a language and a dialect, of course, is not defined, but no other local way has official recognition. By the way,calling "Neapolitans" all local dialects of south is simply ridiculous, because they belong to many different linguistic groups.More, Abruzzo, in central Italy, has two different linguistic families, whose one is related to Roman and other central dialects(called: Osco-Umbrian) and the other related to the dialects of Apulia (called: Iapigian). Mirko
The Italian language isn't an official language in Libya, so i removed it.
The language of Norway is Norweigan, "Bokmål" and "Nynorsk" are only two different ways of writing it. As this is a list of languages, and not of written languages, the terms "bokmål" and "nynorsk" should not be included here. Therefore I have removed them.
I've found the following information on the official site of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina:
I believe this proves that there are six official languages of Vojvodina. Boraczek 12:01, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
I will rephrase it in article.-- Avala 12:29, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
Huaiwei wrote People's Republic of China and removed the words mainland China with brackets. The reality is laws only govern the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to use Mandarin Chinese as the official language. The brackets in fact made the issue clearer. - Privacy 16:24, Jan 5, 2005 (UTC)
As far as I remember it used to be romanised as Kuo-Yü rather than Guoyu. - Privacy 16:26, Jan 5, 2005 (UTC)
The local name of Mandarin is Kuo-Yü rather than Guo Yu. ROC doesn't use Pinyin. - Privacy 18:23, Jan 28 2005 (UTC)
In the article there are 15 official languages, used in “formal” or “non-formal” education. The following website: [1] lists 9 “government sponsored languages” and the areas were they are spoken. Dose anyone know anything about this? Zntrip 18:34, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
In addition to Ghana the following countries may have additional official language:
The term "constituent country" is used to describe the major subdivisions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (except for Northern Ireland). None of the constituent countries claim to be independent from the United Kingdom and are not recognized by any foreign state. To list Wales, Scotland, or England on this page would not be proper because they are not real countries, nor do they claim to be. – Zntrip 22:39, 8 September 2005 (UTC) But Wales has its own Government and passes its own legislation. Welsh is currently an official language in Wales via Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011/Mesur y Gymraeg (Cymru) 2011 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/mwa/2011/1/section/1/enacted/welsh or http://www.legislation.gov.uk/mwa/2011/1/section/1/enacted — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.121.124.132 ( talk) 11:52, 18 July 2012 (UTC)
Oh dear. I see that zntrip has not bothered to do his homework. Here are the links he will need if he wants to avoid future boo-boos: State, Country, Nation. You see, all three words do not mean the same thing. If they did, there would be no need for three different words. The UK is not a country, but a state, however , because I am not a fundamwentalist like zntrip, I am willing to have a double entry under both UK and Wales. If only he could be that reasonable. I am forthwith reinstating Wales. Here is the deposit he left at my talk page: " == Wales == Please stop this nonsense. Wales is part of the United Kingdom, which is a country. How can Wales be its own country when it is part of the United Kingdom? It can’t. French Polynesia is called a country, but that’s right — its part of France. The article, list of official languages by country, only includes countries that have international recognition and claim to be independent. Please do not put Wales on this page again. – Zntrip 23:00, 9 September 2005 (UTC)." Sad, but true.-- Mais oui! 23:18, 9 September 2005 (UTC) -- Mais oui! 23:18, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
I just made a few revisions that I wanted to justify to everyone: (1) reworded the first paragraph and added a definitions section (partly in conformity with
Wikipedia:Lists (stand-alone lists) and (2) for a few languages, added frequent alternate names.
I also had a few questions to ask:
(1) Within each country's listing, should the dominant official language(s) (e.g. English and French for Canada) be set apart from the rest of the listing (typically consisting of minority languages)?
I mean, it's a bit confusing to get lost in half a dozen minority languages with the internationally-known state-wide language buried half-invisible in the middle.
(2) (Tosk is the official dialect): is there a more technically concise way to phrase this? Such as, (official dialect: Tosk). I'm concerned some may object to the adequacy of the term
dialect, even if scientifically correct.
(3) At the risk of stirring up a can of worms (see above), I wanted to talk about China (PRC).
Chinese (statewide) (pointing to Vernacular Chinese) is listed. (Standard) Mandarin is also listed. Does China makes a distinction between these two and offically recognizes both? I could be wrong but my hunch is that it does not. Putting Vernacular Chinese in there is redundant, as it is not officially recognized. Standard Mandarin (Putonghua) is the premier official, state-wide language and the only Chinese language recognized with the exception of regional use for Cantonese. Can we remove Chinese (statewide)?
Unless--is someone putting it there to draw a distinction between Putonghua (technically Standard Mandarin) as the universal written language and Mandarin as a spoken language? (see: Chinese spoken language) But even then, one out of the two almost certainly should go as I suspect only one is officially recognized. Thanks -- Dpr 08:05, 11 September 2005 (UTC)
Instantnood added this item back into the entry for China. However, does anyone else support this? Wasn't this resolved above? Instantnood, are you asserting that there are two state-wide official languages in China, (1) Putonghua (Standard Chinese or Standard Mandarin) and (2) Vernacular Chinese? -- Dpr 04:29, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
Actually, linguistic articles show that there is not just, in fact, "one written language" of Chinese. There are, actually, many Chinese dialects and many written Chinese languages based on those dialects, though none are nearly as prevalent as Standard Mandarin/Guoyu/Putonghua.
The "Chinese as the written language" you speak of is, in fact, the written version of Standard Mandarin/Guoyu/Putonghua. Therefore the spoken language and written language are the same. Had Classical Chinese been retained as a written standard, it would be a separate language from spoken Putonghua/Standard Mandarin. Written documents, in a province today are written in Putonghua, even if the people speak a different dialect. This is because the written language is based on Standard Mandarin which is not the native language of the place. I don't think the two can be separated.
If what I say seems incorrect, we can seek guidance on the Chinese language talk page, or identify official Chinese public sector sources which designate what the official language or languages is/are. Thanks. -- Dpr 07:53, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
Zntrip, do you mean, "I'm for him"? It does seem that Instantnood is right, though the situation is still a bit complex. --
Dpr 06:28, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
No I was just saying I'm a male ;) As I have explained to Zntrip at her/his talk page. – Zntrip 03:53, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
Are languages with geographical scope indicated in parentheses (but without specific annotation as minority languages), be assumed to be so (e.g. Slovenian (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia))? Should they be explicity annotated? Thanks -- Dpr 04:41, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
Forget what I said, I have a better answer. All languages on this list are official languages. If it has (national) next to it, it is also a national language. If it has the name of a province, territory, etc., next to it, it is a regional language in the specified area(s). If it has (minority language) next to it, then and only then, it is a minority language. Of course, some regional languages may be minority languages, but are not followed by (minority language) such as Slovenian in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. – Zntrip 22:43, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
Why do we have to have written Chinese on here could someone please explain why the Chinese are special? Other countries have official languages and official written languages; so why Chinese? – Zntrip 03:48, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
I am not sure if this list is exclusively for spoken languages, or failed to acknowledge the fact that spoken language and written language can be different. If it's the former, this list may have to be renamed accordingly.
The possible analogy to illustrate the differences between the written Chinese language and the spoken Chinese languages would be: Imagine Sweden, Denmark and Norway are one country under one central government, with three major spoken languages. The three spoken languages share one common and unified written language. One of the three spoken languages is designated official language, and the shared written language is designated official.
In the case of the PRC as well as the ROC, Standard Mandarin, a dialect of Mandarin, and Chinese (the written language) are official spoken and written languages respectively. — Insta ntnood 11:49, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
To repeat, nobody is talking about writing script here. Languages are never defined by scripts. A language can be written in different scripts, and it is still one language. Different languages can share the same script, but that doesn't mean they are the same language, or languages of the same language family. The debate on whether Chinese spoken variants are languages or dialects is not a result of a shared writing script, but rather, because of a shared written language. — Insta ntnood 15:28, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
If it were true that modern written Chinese is only the written form of Standard Mandarin as you have claimed [12], then I would be wondering if you are going to tell a speaker of Shanghainese who speaks little Standard Mandarin, for instance, that she/he has been speaking one language (Shanghainese being a dialect of Wu), and yet writing in another language for her/his whole life. This is a question you have not yet answered directly [13].
In fact written Chinese is a written language shared by several spoken languages. (And as a matter of fact, I have already quoted the interesting quote before [14] [15], just that you might have missed it.)
If only spoken languages can be official languages, then are governments printing their documents in their official languages? — Insta ntnood 17:20, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
From what you said [17], you have effectively implied and asserted that written Chinese is just the written form of Standard Mandarin, official languages can only be the spoken languages, and the languages on government documents are the written form of the official (spoken) languages. Please substantiate this claim. For what I know, the real side of the fact is that written Chinese is a writtern language shared by several Chinese spoken languages. If your claim that Standard Mandarin and written Chinese are the same is not substantiated, then both Chinese and Standard Mandarin (Putonghua for the PRC, Kuo-yü for the ROC) shall be included in the list. — Insta ntnood 19:18, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
From the naming conventions for Chinese-related topics: " In general, one should avoid using the term "Chinese" to be synonymous with the spoken Mandarin Chinese. ". — Insta ntnood 18:12, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Why are we debating semantics, rather than looking at the actual laws?
Article 19 of the Constitution:
……国家推广全国通用的普通话。
... The state will promote the national common [language] Putonghua.
Article 2 of the Law on National Common Language and Script (中华人民共和国国家通用语言文字法):
本法所称的国家通用语言文字是普通话和规范汉字。
The common language and script referred to in this law are Putonghua and standard Chinese characters [i.e. Simplified Chinese]).
As such, it can be seen that China does not have an "official language", only a common language, which is Putonghua. China also has a common script that is used with the common language and appears to have the same "official" status, i.e. Simplified Chinese.
-- ran ( talk) 01:26, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
If scripts, be it characters, alphabets, whatsover, are not components of written languages, what is the relations between scripts and written languages? (This is beyond the subject matter here, so please don't go into details, or perhaps proceed to relevant talk pages.) — Insta ntnood 12:57, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
" The PRC government writes Putonghua.. ..The ROC writes Guoyu.. " Great.. so are you going to tell a Shanghainese speaker who speaks little Putonghua/Kuo-yü that she/he has been writing in Putonghua/Kuo-yü in her/his whole life? If they write Putonghua/Kuo-yü, why does the ROC bother to say 國語說明 and 中文字幕 in its law [19]? Why not 國語字幕? — Insta ntnood 18:25, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Written Chinese satisfies all the defining properties of human language:
Written Chinese is also different from any spoken variety of Chinese in grammar and vocabulary.
On the other hand, I should point out that Vernacular Chinese (the modern standard style of Written Style) is not mentioned anywhere in the documents I quoted above. Only Putonghua and Simplified Chinese characters have official status.
-- ran ( talk) 23:16, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Chinese speakers have long been accustomed to write in a way which is quite different from what they speak, that written Chinese and one's own spoken language is rarely, if not never, considered separate languages. Nor do non-Mandarin speakers consider themselves writing in Mandarin. The connections between Written Chinese and any one of the Chinese spoken languages is not like separate languages. Just that we have to acknowledge that Chinese is one language when written, but several when spoken. — Insta ntnood 08:28, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
Although it's true that the development of modern written Chinese (baihuawen) was considerably based on the northern group of dialects of Mandarin (note: Mandarin here does not mean Standard Mandarin/Putonghua/Kuo-yü, it means the language that Putonghua is a dialect of), elements of other dialect groups of Mandarin as well as other Chinese spoken languages were brought into it by writers and advocators of baihuawen who spoke other spoken languages. Many famous Chinese writers by then were from places like Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Sichuan.
Linguistically some may argue modern Standard Mandarin/Putonghua/Kuo-yü and modern written Chinese share many characteristics in common, nevertheless in terms of terminology it is plain wrong to say people write in Standard Mandarin. It is also wrong, and perhaps hegemonic, to say modern written Chinese is Mandarin on paper. — Insta ntnood 08:40, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
Should categories such as minority language be put in separate parentheses from the regional location, or all in one set of parentheses--such as Irish/Gaelic (Northern Ireland only; minority language) OR Irish/Gaelic (Northern Ireland only) (minority language)?-- Dpr 04:22, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
The short name of the "Republic of China" is "Taiwan" and therefore will be located under "T" beacuse the list is classified by the short name. – Zntrip 04:47, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
"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." - Pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of China, the territory of Taiwan is clearly not soverign. Nor "Taiwan" satisfies the standard of international recognition. It should be removed. Besides, among the extremely few countries that have diplomatic relations, they recognize only "Republic of China". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.39.96.94 ( talk) 11:10, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
I don't understand in which way you decided about countries to list. 1) This is not a list of States recognized by UNO, because Taiwan is recognized only by Vatican City and definitely not by UNO; 2) This is not a list of States recognized by almost one country, because you missed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (not recognized by UNO, but recognized by Turkey)and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, whose two buildings in Rome, Italy, are recognized as a sovereign State by a lot of countries, though not by UNO; 3) This is not a list of de facto States, because you missed Transdnestria, Abkhasia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh,Tamil Eelam, Somaliland and others, all States de facto existing and administering their territory. On the contrary, you included officialy recognized States which are not really existing, such as Palestine (de facto occupied by Israel), Afghanistan and Iraq (de facto occupied by USA) and Somalia (de facto divided into many different States and whose government lives in exile abroad). And neither this list is full, because you missed Western Sahara, partially recognized, but de facto occupied by Morocco. Can you explain how do you chase the States to list, please?
Given that Western Sahara, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Kosovo, and the Palestinian Authority are listed, Taiwan should be included.
Under the definition of "sovereign, internationally recognised, independent political entities," Taiwan would technically meet each requirement.
Given that it has its own government that exerts political control over the island as well as maintains its own military, Taiwan would satisfy the requirement of a "independent political entity."
As sovereignty is the "quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory," as the ROC government exercises supreme and independent practical control in all sense over Taiwan, that requirement is met.
Taiwan as the ROC is recognized by 23 UN member nations and possesses numerous diplomatic missions and embassies throughout the world. Therefore, it would be internationally recognized.
The policy of the Taiwanese/ROC government has been to refer to the state as the "Republic of China (Taiwan)," with Taiwan being the short name. As states like North and South Korea are referred to with the aforementioned designations and not the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" or "Republic of Korea," Taiwan should be listed as said under "T". Hartnrm ( talk) 06:58, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
Why this list has to be sorted by (sovereign) state? Most similar lists on the English language version of Wikipedia are sorted by country. Is there any specific reason? Thanks. — Insta ntnood 17:48, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
The status of French polynesia (artilce # 7)says that "Le français, le tahitien, le marquisien, le paumotu et le mangarevien sont les langues de la Polynésie française." So why my changes about marquisian, tuamotuan and mangarevian have been reverted ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jussia ( talk • contribs) 06:23, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
I wanted to add the following explanation to the Definitions section to avoid confusion, but I'm confused myself and not sure it's correct. Can someone verify it? If it's true, add it; otherwise add whatever the true explanation is because, as this comment illustrates, it is confusing. jnestorius( talk) 23:12, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
I am interested in listing languages which have historically had official recognition, but not currently. Illinois recognised "American" as the state's official language in 1923. That stayed on the books for the next fifty years. Comments? samwaltz 18:12, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
Silesian has no official status. Additionally German and Lithuanian are minority languages in some municipalities. -- xRiffRaffx 22:11, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
This article seems to deal more with "languages with an official [formal legal] status" rather than "official languages" (the latter category being somewhat tricky even). Would there be any support for renaming the page accordingly?
Also, looking at the list I realize that a lot of work has gone into it, but (1) see that a lot of work is yet to be done on what is listed for many African countries, and (2) wonder if a table format might be more useful. The latter might get complicated since you run into the issue of the inherent fuzziness of the categories, but with asterisks it might be easier for users to browse.-- A12n ( talk) 15:12, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
CIA World Factbook says Palauan is official "in all islands except Sonsoral (Sonsoralese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official)" 203.7.140.3 ( talk) 02:56, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
The Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730 made English the official language of the law courts. m.e. ( talk) 15:22, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
Is there really such a language as ' Cornish' today? I thought it was a myth. And does anyone have any evidence that it has any official status, even in Cornwall? There is nothing in the Cornish article to suggest so anyway. m.e. ( talk) 14:12, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
English is the official language of Zambia, and there are 7 national languages: Bemba, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, and Tonga. So maybe someone can add that edit. (I don't know how to edit the pages.) also, here's a citation: Spitulnik, Debra. 1998. “Mediating Unity and Diversity: The Production of Language Ideologies in Zambian Broadcasting.” In Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard, and P. Kroskrity, eds. Pp. 163-188. Oxford: Oxford University Press. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Peace500 ( talk • contribs) 22:01, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
How about we say under Georgia something like
? It's entirely factual, it doesn't address whether or not the separatists have merit to their control, and it informs the reader of Russian language's status in this area. Διγουρεν Εμπρος! 11:25, 18 March 2009 (UTC)
The entry for Mexico is wrong. The Constitution does not state any official language, but there are 63 indigenous languages that are explicitlly recognized as national (General Law of Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples) together with Spanish. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Mexico) Ajusco —Preceding undated comment added 15:06, 27 March 2009 (UTC).
Some adjustments made in Namibia and The Kingdom of the Netherlands, regarding the true situations there. (Afrikaans being the lingua franca of Namibia, Dutch being official nationwide in NL)
The current version of the article is confusing. The article sometimes uses the word "national" to designate a " national language" (e.g. Burkina Faso) but other times the word is used to designate that the language is official with respect to the national government but not necessarily subnational governments (e.g. Canada). The term nationwide is used in a few places, and the term statewide in others, but even that is confusing and inconsistent. (Because "statewide" might be taken to refer to a subnational unit, such as the states of India, Australia, or the USA.) -- Mathew5000 ( talk) 07:02, 4 November 2009 (UTC)
Only Azerbaijani has a official status in Azerbaijan. Russian is only spoken by half the population of the capital (Baku), its a minority language of the city of Baku, that has no place in the list of official languages by state Neftchi ( talk) 23:04, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
You're much too trigger happy and obviously did not read the articles lead: 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. Pay another attention to the word Russian in all other Ex Soviet nations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by XrAi ( talk • contribs) 02:07, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
But does Russian have official minority language status in Azerbaijan? As it says in the article: "Minority language: (as used here) one spoken by a minority population within the state and officially designated as such" Munci ( talk) 12:44, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
According to Nova Scotia's own article, there are less then 1, 000 speakers of Gaelic in the province. Perhaps it was "de facto" official at one point, but it certainly isn't now. It has virtually disappeared. saɪm duʃan Talk| Contribs 11:20, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
There is no regional language recognized in Hungary, so I removed German. And added all the 6 officially recognized minority languages. Links were added too. -- maxval ( talk) 20:32, 25 January 2012 (UTC)
What kind of alphabetical order is this? Why is "Ivory Coast" sorted under C? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.32.249.133 ( talk) 10:46, 2 August 2012 (UTC)
Where did you find that English would be the official language of Eritrea? Really, Eritrea has no official language. However, Arabic and Tigrinya are the de facto official languages of the country. Lele giannoni ( talk) 17:36, 2 August 2012 (UTC)
An editor has been adding Somaliland to the "Partially recognised states" sub-heading alongside states that are actually partially recognised. The problem with this is that Somaliland has no recognition at all as a state, and is instead internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. Logically, it therefore belongs in its own section that should be clearly labeled "Unrecognised territories" or some variation thereof. He has argued that this is a problem because apparently "giving Somaliland its own category does not help the reader with the topic of this article in the slightest". Correcting patently false information, as done here, is obviously helping the reader; offering him/her instead misleading info is certainly not. Middayexpress ( talk) 13:29, 28 October 2012 (UTC)
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Somaliland is listed on this wikipedia page under the Partially recognised states heading. However, unlike the cited states, it has no recognition as an independent state and is instead internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. Given this, would it be more accurate to list the territory under a new, separate sub-heading titled Unrecognised territories or some variation thereof? Middayexpress ( talk) 14:34, 29 October 2012 (UTC)
I came here expecting a list of official languages by state. And it lists loads of minority languages?! They have no place here in my mind; there are plenty of language articles about. There are Chinese communities everywhere, should every country list all the Chinese languages as minority languages??? There's China Town in the US... A couple of countries even list sign language. Really?? Why does that belong in this list, and only for those countries? There are deaf people everywhere, you know. I say, restrict the list to only official languages, de jure and de facto. Nothing else. And no language should be allowed to be added without a reference. And EVERY language should state if it's de jure, de facto, and in what region if not statewide. Currently the list is not consistent at all. Frankly my dear, it is ugly. -- Dbjorck ( talk) 20:51, 14 May 2013 (UTC)
List of official languages by state lists Danish as statewide official language of Denmark, consistent with Danish language. But the article Official language lists Denmark as one of fifteen countries without an official language.
Which one is correct? Please discuss here: talk:Official language#Denmark-- Nø ( talk) 07:13, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
I've been looking all around for a total of how many languages in the world have official status. While this list is perhaps the closest thing I've found, it does not mention the total number of unique languages in the list, although that would be super helpful. Is there any quick way to count this or do we just do it by hand? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.17.240.149 ( talk) 18:35, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
This page says "French (in Louisiana)," and yet the Louisiana page itself only lists English. Which page is correct? This discrepancy should be resolved. allixpeeke ( talk) 09:39, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
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Abkhazia and South Osetia are not recognized countries and should not listed in this list as a countries. If those are listed as a just territory than Georgian Language is official and Russian must be excluded.-- Paata Shetekauri ( talk) 13:16, 7 July 2017 (UTC)
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The page is called "List of official languages by country and territory", but it includes other languages.
The introduction needs to explain exactly what it means by "countries and dependent territories"; and whatever terms are used must be used in accordance with their UN-regognised meanings.
I think that the language of Brazil might be better described as "Brazilian Portuguese".
One needs to disinguish between written and spoken languages. The prime example is perhaps China, in which I believe that the written Chinese language is the same throughout but the common spoken Chinese of some regions is more-or-less incomprehensible in other regions.
Gibraltar exists, and is not Spanish.
The Falkland Islands exist, and are not Argentinian.
A Tamil language page exists, /info/en/?search=Tamil_language
None of the following places are in the UK, & IoM + IP should be preced by "the" :
Pitcairnese (in Pitcairn Islands) Guernésiais and French (in Guernsey) Jèrriais and French (in Jersey) Manx (in Isle of Man)
Guernsey and Jersey are (when not knitwear or cattle) islands (+ islets?). The Channel Islands (when not American) are two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands, and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands. Therefore, if Guernsey is mentioned, one should either also mention Alderney, Sark, Herm, and Jethou, or use "the Bailiwick of Guernsey"; and in the latter case one should also use "the Bailiwick of Jersey".
The UK is a State; England, Scotland, and Wales are countries and nations; and Northern Ireland is administratively on an equal footing with those.
The first column should be in three parts, in this order :
National States (recognised as such by the UN, whether or not Member States) Countries which are not so recognised Inhabited Territories not included in the above
Be guided by /info/en/?search=British_Overseas_Territories !
94.30.84.71 ( talk) 12:53, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
Turnagra, I am happy to expand my reasoning here. One of the pillars of the macron debate is that in NZ macrons are so widely used they are part of NZ English. As articles with a heavy leaning towards one particular country can use that county's variety of English. This guideline is usually used for simple UK-US spelling, but it sometimes has a wider scope. Hence, macrons in NZ articles. This article is not NZ specific so that guideline does not apply. I accept that macrons are now usually used with English in NZ, but I do not see how that also is the case outside NZ, sometimes yes, but usually not. This principal has been in place for a while now and I think generally accepted by editors, including NZ editors. Hence a macron with the word Maori in a NZ based article; no macron with Maori in non-NZ based articles.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Roger 8 Roger ( talk • contribs) 07:05, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
I realise the rule I outlined results in different spellings of the same word in different articles, but that is no different from words like color/colour. This macron issue is not the same as the placename issue so I want to make that clear, the issues are not the same. I think we need to be clear if we are using Maori as a Maori language word (hence using Maori spelling), or using an English language word, hence English spelling. You say the 'correct' spelling is 'Māori'. Even if I agreed with you that is only the correct spelling in NZ because NZ English is treating the word as a foreign language word. Writers in, say, Texas, will likely use the word Maori without a macron because the word Maori is treated there as an English language word, and English invariably does not uses macrons. To claim it is the correct spelling worldwide is rich, if not a touch arrogant I think. Roger 8 Roger ( talk) 19:39, 12 November 2021 (UTC)
Thank you for the reply. I will try to summarise my view on macrons as best I can. Foreign language words enter the English language all the time and as they do they go through stages of assimilation that varies from word to word. In a general sense, the spelling moves from an exact copy of the foreign spelling, though adaptations to align with the Roman script, English usage of that script, ironing out awkward pronunciation (for English speakers) to an accepted anglised version that becomes fixed. That word has been an English word throughout these stages, because it is used in the English language, even at the start when it was the same as the foreign language word. It can also evolve by changing the words meaning when used in English. Definitions vary but generally the word starts as a 'foreign' word, becomes a 'loan' word, then becomes a word of foreign origin. Some Maori language words have progressed through these stages to the last stage where they have become fully assimilated into English, which includes an anglised spelling and meaning. The word Maori, spelt without a macron, is one such word. It is therefore wrong to say it is being misspelt without a macron. Misspelt in te reo, yes, but in English no. What has been happening in recent years is an attempt to move words like 'Maori' back in time to when they first entered the English language when they would most likely be viewed as 'foreign' words which would be written closer to the foreign language spelling. (This assumes the current Maori language spelling was in place when the word 'Maori' was first usedd in English, which it was not.) I think it is wrong to do that: languages evolve all the time and the current non-macron spelling of certin words is simply the anglised version of the Maori word. It is unfortunate that so many people take offence at that when it has nothing to do with insulting the original foreign language of a word. There are countless words in English of foreign origin that bare little resemblance to the spelling in the original language: are we going to go round changing all of those too? There are te reo words starting to be used in English now. I would expect them to be spelt close to if not the same as they are in Maori, including macrons - but over time I would expect them to become more anglised, which would probably mean any macrons would be dropped. I am sorry if this sounds like a lecture or if to you it is patently obvious, but I do not know you, and in the past I have often felt that other editors have not understood my point, which is not the same as understanding it but disagreeing. I think your example of an American spelling our defence force as the 'Ministry of Defense' is off topic. If the term refers to that ministry then it should be spelt with a 'defence' because it is the name of that entity: if it refers to the broader less defined way in which we manage our defence then it can use 'defense'. It is no different from the term 'Prime Minister' or 'prime minister' - both spellings can be used correctly in context, and incorrectly out of context. The word 'Maori' in any regional form of English can be used with a macron, in context, but in most cases the context will dictate it should not. Roger 8 Roger ( talk) 10:20, 15 November 2021 (UTC)
I propose: List of official languages by country and territory ("Official language" and "National language" columns), List of regional official languages by country and territory ("Regional languages"), List of recognized minority languages by country and territory ("Minority languages"), and just get rid of the "widely-spoken" column, which shouldn't be in this article anyways. The 6-column approach leaves a ton of whitespace, very long article, and a bunch of those terrible tall and skinny cells. Multiple articles would greatly improve readability, in my opinion. However, you'd lose the ability to, for instance, compare regional languages and minority languages within the same country. Thoughts? Linshee ☺ 16:25, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
The article Languages of New Zealand says that "The Māori language of the indigenous Māori people was made the first de jure official language in 1987." So shouldn't Māori be listed here under New Zealand? GilesMartin1945 ( talk) 01:24, 30 June 2022 (UTC)
See above. In Belgium, Limburgs is spoken (the same Limburgs as the (recognised) minority language in the Netherlands). Now I understand if it is only recognised languages by the country we are talking about, but in that case I am rather sure Yiddish should not be listed for the Netherlands (the other 4 should, as far as I know). Ouroboros777 ( talk) 00:29, 2 March 2024 (UTC)