Which countries have 2 official languages?

Can a country have 2 national languages?

Most countries have one or two official national languages, while a few including the United States and Mexico have none. South Africa, however, has 11 – a number that could soon increase to 12 if the country's parliament accepts a recommendation to give South African Sign Language official status.

Why do some countries have 2 official languages?

One of the main reasons is to integrate different groups of people, either at the country's founding or later in their history. Having various official languages contributes to the sense of belonging a resident can have all while respecting a nation's history and its native population.

What countries have 3 official languages?

There are three official languages in Luxembourg: German, French, and Luxembourgish. The official language of Monaco is French. About 23% of the country's population speaks French, especially in the western part of Switzerland.

Which country has more than one language?

Papua New Guinea is the most multilingual country, with over 839 living languages, according to Ethnologue, a catalogue of the world's known languages. The site ranked countries and territories based on the number of languages spoken as a first language within their borders.

Countries With More Than One Official Language

Which country has 37 language?

According to the 2005 Census of Colombia, the country has 37 major languages. More than 99.5% of Colombians speak Spanish. English has official status in the San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands.

Why does the US have no official language?

Linguistic Diversity in the United States

The Federal government allows Americans to speak any language they want. This right is protected in the Constitution. Many scholars assert that English-only laws would violate due process and equal protection under the law.

Does Mexico have an official language?

In Mexico, Spanish is the de facto official language of the government and the first language of 90% per cent of the population.

Is the US a bilingual country?

America is not known for being a bilingual country, but rather, for not being willing to learn a second language. Many countries, such as Japan, Taiwan, and Mexico teach English as a second language to students.

Which country has both English and French as official language?

Canada has two official languages: French and English.

Is Canada officially bilingual?

Official bilingualism in 1969 helped ensure the provision of federal government services in both official languages throughout the country. In 1982, the new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrined the right of official-language minorities to instruction in their language, long a controversial matter.

Where is English not spoken?

The 15 weakest-scoring countries, in order of strongest to weakest, were Iran, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, El Salvador, Oman, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Angola, Kuwait, Cameroon, Libya, Iraq and Laos.

Why is America not bilingual?

Call it the consequence of geographic isolation, a history of economic and cultural hegemony, or a culture of rugged independence, but for better or for worse, America has a foreign language education deficit. As of 2001, 26 percent of American adults were capable of holding a conversation in another language.

What is the youngest language?

Rich in idiom and emotion, Afrikaans was born 340 years ago in the homes of South Africa's white Dutch, German and French settlers. Not only is it the world's youngest national language, it is one of the smallest, with just 13 million speakers.

What countries have 4 languages?

Switzerland has four national languages; German, French, Italian, and Romansh.

Who speak the most languages?

Ziad Fazah, born in Liberia, brought up in Beirut and now living in Brazil, claims to be the world's greatest living polyglot, speaking a total of 59 world languages. He has been 'tested' on Spanish television, where it was not clear just how well he could communicate in some of them.

What is the main language in the USA?

English is by far the most prominent spoken language in the U.S., with over 239 million English-speaking people across the country. In fact, English is commonly mistaken as the official language of the United States, which doesn't actually have an official language on record.

Which country has more than 500 languages?

Papua New Guinea has the most languages, with 840 living languages.

Do most countries speak two languages?

Many countries around the globe have populations who speak multiple languages. But in the most multilingual nations, everyone is at least trilingual and many people can converse fluently in four or five tongues, sometimes using multiple languages in the same conversation (or even in the same sentence).

What's the first language in the world?

Dating back to at least 3500 BC, the oldest proof of written Sumerian was found in today's Iraq, on an artifact known as the Kish Tablet. Thus, given this evidence, Sumerian can also be considered the first language in the world.