The List of official languages reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

List of official languages

Official languages of sovereign countries:

Afrikaans:

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

Albanian:

• Albania

Arabic:

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Chad
• Djibouti
• Iraq (with Kurdish)
• Israel (with Hebrew)
• Lebanon
• Morocco
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Sudan
• Syria
• The United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

Armenian:

• Armenia

Azeri:

• Azerbaijan

Bahasa Indonesia:

• Indonesia

Bulgarian:

• Bulgaria

Catalan:

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

Cree

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

Chipewyan

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

Danish

• Denmark
  • Greenland (with Inuktitut)

Dari:

• Afghanistan (with Pashtu)

Dogrib/Tli Cho

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

Dutch:

• Belgium (with French and German)
• The Netherlands
• Suriname

Dzongkha:

• Bhutan

English:

• Australia
• Bahamas
• Botswana (but the national language is Setswana)
• Canada (federally, with French)
  • New Brunswick (with French)
  • Nunavut (with French, Inuktitut, and Inuvialuktun)
  • Northwest Territories (with Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, French, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, and Slavey)
  • Yukon (with French)
• Cyprus (with Turkish and Greek (Hellenic))
• Fiji (with Bau Fijian and Hindustani)
• part of the People's Republic of China
  • Hong Kong (with Chinese)
• India (with Hindi)
• Kenya (with Kiswahili)
• Kiribati
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea (with Tok Pisin and Motu)
• Republic of Ireland (but secondary to 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)
• Singapore (with Malay, Tamil and Mandarin)
• Philippines (but the national language is Filipino)
• The Gambia
• parts of the United States. The USA Federal Government does not have an official language; English is the first language by custom, not law. 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
  • Massachusetts
  • Mississippi
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • New Hampshire
  • New Mexico (with Spanish)
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Puerto Rico (with Spanish)
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Utah
  • Virginia
  • Wyoming

Fijian

• Fiji (with English and Hindustani

Filipino:

• Philippines (with English)

Finnish:

• Finland (with Swedish)

French:

• Belgium (with Dutch and German)
• 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)
• Chad
• Congo-Brazzaville
• Congo-Kinshasa
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Djibouti
• France
• Haiti (with Haitian Creole)
• part of Italy
  • the Aosta Valley (with Italian)
• Monaco
• Switzerland (with German, Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansch)
  • Geneva
  • Vaud
  • Valais

  • Jura
  • Neuchâtel
  • Fribourg, Bern (with German)

German:

• Austria
• Belgium (with Dutch and French)
• Germany
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg (with French and Letzeburgish)
• part of Italy
  • South Tyrol (with Italian)
• part of of Danmark
  • areas of the german minority in Northern Schleswig (with Danish)
• Switzerland (with French, Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansch)
  • 17 of the 26 cantons (unilingually German)
  • Graubünden (with Italian and Romansh)
  • Bern, Fribourg (with French)

Greek (Hellenic):

• Greece (Hellas)
• Cyprus (with Turkish and English)

Gwich'in:

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

Haitian Creole is an official language of:

• 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.

Hungarian:

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

Inuktitut:

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

Inuvialuktun

• part of Canada
  • Nunavut (with English, French, and Inuktitut)

Irish is the first official language of:

• Republic of Ireland (with English as a secondary official language)

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 Slovenia

Japanese:

• Japan

Kazakh:

• Kazakhstan

Khmer:

• Cambodia

Korean:

• North Korea
• South Korea

Lao:

• Laos

Latin:

• Holy See (Vatican City)

Latvian:

• Latvia

Lithuanian:

• Lithuania

Malay:

• Malaysia (as Bahasa Melayu)
• Brunei
• Singapore (with English, Tamil and Mandarin)

Māori:

• New Zealand (with English)

Mandarin Chinese:

• the People's Republic of China
• the Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Singapore (with Malay, English and Tamil)

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

• Moldova

Motu:

• Papua New Guinea (with English and Tok Pisin)

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)

Pashtu:

• Afghanistan (with Dari)

Polish:

• Poland
• part of Lithuania
  • Vilnius county

Portuguese:

• Angola
• Brazil
• Cape Verde
• 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)

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:

• Kazakhstan (with Kazakh)
• Russia

Sardinian is a partially official language of:

• part of Italy
  • Sardinia (with Italian)

Sinhala:

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

Slavey:

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

Slovene:

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

Sotho:

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

Spanish:

• Argentina
• Bolivia (with Aymara and Quecha)
• Chile
• Colombia
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Equatorial Guinea(with Bubi and Fang)
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Spain (Aranese, Basque, Catalan and Galician are co-official in some regions)
• Panama
• Paraguay(with Guarani)
• Peru (with Quechua)
• parts of the United States (co-official with English in New Mexico and Puerto Rico)
• Venezuela
• Uruguay

Swahili:

• Kenya (with English)
• Tanzania
• Uganda

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)

Tamil:

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

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 Turkish and Greek (Hellenic))

Urdu:

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

Venda:

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

Vietnamese:

• Vietnam

Welsh:

• Wales (with English)

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

Aranese:

• part of Spain
  • Val d'Aran (with Catalan and Spanish)

Assamese:

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

Basque:

• part of Spain
  • Basque Country (with Spanish)

Bengali:

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

Catalan:

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

Chipewyan:

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

Cree:

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

Dhivehi:

• Maldives

Dogrib:

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

Frisian:

• part of the Netherlands
  • Friesland (with Dutch)

Telugu:

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

Galician:

• part of Spain
  • Galicia (with Spanish)

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

Gwich'in:

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

Gujarati:

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

Hawaiian is an official language in:

• part of the United States:
  • Hawaii (with English)

Kannada:

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

Kashmiri:

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

Ladin:

• part of Italy
  • the Dolomite Mountains (with Italian)

Inuvialuktun:

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

Kurdish:

• part of Iraq (only in Kurdish regions, elsewhere Arabic is official)

Malayalam:

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

Marathi:

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

Oriya:

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

'''Ruthenian

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

Sanskrit:

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

Sindhi:

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

Slavey:

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

See also

• List of official languages by institution
• List of official languages by country

This is the "List of official languages" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.