Official language

An official language is a language that is specifically designated to be so in the constitutions of countries, states, and other territories. (States and areas without a constitution, by this definition, lack official languages.)

Officially recognized minority languages are often mistaken for official languages. However, a language officially recognized by a state, taught in schools and used in official communication is not necessarily an official language. For example, Ladin and Sardinian in Italy and Mirandese in Portugal are only officially recognized minority languages, not official languages in the strict sense.

Half the countries in the world have official languages. Some have only one official language, such as Albania, France, or Lithuania (despite the fact that in all these countries there are more native languages). Some have more than one official language, as Afghanistan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Finland, India, Paraguay, South Africa and Switzerland.

In some countries, such as Iraq, Italy and Spain, there is an official language for the country, but other languages are co-official in some important regions. Some countries, such as Australia, Eritrea, Germany, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Tuvalu, have no official languages. There is no official language in the United States, but there are official languages in some U.S. states (See Languages in the United States).

As a consequence of colonialism or neocolonialism, the official and learning languages of the Philippines and some countries in Africa, such as French or English, are not the national languages or the most widely spoken.

In contrast, as a consequence of nationalism, Irish is the "national language" of the Republic of Ireland and its first official language, although it is spoken by only a small fraction of its people. English, which is spoken by the majority, is described only as the second official language (Constitution of Ireland, Article 8).

In some countries, the issue of which language is to be used in what context is a major political issue.

Official language

See also