What country has two official languages?
Examples of countries with two official languages include Canada (English and French), Belgium (Dutch and French), and Finland (Finnish and Swedish).
Canada is one of the countries that has two official languages. English and French are both recognized as official languages in Canada. This means that government institutions, schools, and public services are provided in both languages. Another country with two official languages is South Korea.
- Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse country in the world, with approximately 840 different languages spoken across the islands.
- In second place, Indonesia has around 711 different languages. Only 20% of the population speaks the national language of Bahasa Indonesian at home.
Israel has two official languages: Hebrew and Arabic. Hebrew is the primary language of the Jewish population in Israel and was declared the official language of the state upon Israel's establishment in 1948.
178 countries recognise an official language, 101 of them recognising more than one. The government of Italy made Italian official only in 1999, and some nations (such as the United States, Mexico, and Australia) have never declared de jure official languages at the national level.
According to the online reference Wikipedia, half the countries of the world have official languages. Some have only one official language, such as Albania, France, Germany and Lithuania.
Trilingual Luxembourg speaks three languages: French (official), German (official), and Luxembourgish (native). There are seven different languages spoken in Spain: Basque, Galician, Spanish, Catalan, Valencian, and Asturian.
Cameroon: French and English (both official), as well as Cameroonian Pidgin.
Although Singapore is not the only country with four official languages (others include Rwanda, Papua New Guinea, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Spain) this is the most interesting one. All of Singapore's four official languages come from different language families, which makes this case so special.
Papua New Guinea is the world's most multilingual country, with a total of 840 languages spoken.
What is the #2 language in the world?
Mandarin (1,118 million speakers)
Looking at total speakers, Mandarin is the second most widely spoken language in the world.
Papua New Guinea has about eight million people, but more than 800 languages. The oldest ones, in the Papuan group, date back tens of thousands of years. So why are there so many languages in this mountainous island country?
Mandarin Chinese
Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the writing system is extremely difficult for English speakers (and anyone else) accustomed to the Latin alphabet.
Most religious scholars and historians agree with Pope Francis that the historical Jesus principally spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic. Through trade, invasions and conquest, the Aramaic language had spread far afield by the 7th century B.C. and would become the lingua franca in much of the Middle East.
Historians and linguists generally agree that Sumerian, Akkadian and Egyptian are the oldest languages with a clear written record. All three are extinct, meaning they are no longer used and do not have any living descendants that can carry the language to the next generation.
The two with the lowest rates of bilingualism – defined as being able to hold a conversation in more than one language – were the UK and Ireland. About two-thirds of people in these countries speak only English. It's a similar story wherever English is spoken as the mother tongue.
With over 170 spoken languages and dialects, but the 8 major languages, the Philippines is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world.
South Africa's constitution recognises 11 official languages: Sepedi (also known as Sesotho sa Leboa), Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.
The official language of Egypt is Arabic, and most Egyptians speak one of several vernacular dialects of that language. As is the case in other Arab countries, the spoken vernacular differs greatly from the literary language.
| Rank | Language Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Tsuut'ina | Canada, specifically in the province of Alberta |
| #2 | Kallawaya | Bolivia |
| #3 | Jedek | Malaysia |
| #4 | Istro-Romanian | primarily Croatia |
Why the US has no official language?
In 1780, John Adam's proposal to the Continental Congress that English be made the official language of the U.S. was deemed, “undemocratic and a threat to individual liberty.” At the time, not only did the colonists have diverse native languages, but they also commonly spoke multiple languages, so picking just one ...
| Rank | Country or territory | Number of living languages |
|---|---|---|
| Total | ||
| 1 | Papua New Guinea | 840 |
| 2 | Indonesia | 710 |
| 3 | Nigeria | 524 |
7000 Languages is a non-profit that helps Indigenous communities around the world teach, learn and sustain their languages through technology. We create free online language-learning courses in partnership with Indigenous, minority, and refugee communities so they can keep their languages alive.
The country with the most languages is Bolivia, which has 37 official languages, as verified on 9 June 2022.
- Antigua and Barbuda.
- Australia.
- The Bahamas.
- Barbados.
- Belize.
- Canada*
- Dominica.
- Grenada.
