# National Language **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421 "2002-07-23T18:37:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![High\_Deity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9a140/32.png) [@High\_Deity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Deity)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/1 "2002-07-23T18:37:30Z")
What countries, other than the US and possibly Canada, provide federal documentation in a language other than the national language. I’m 99% sure that the US provides national documentation in Spainish, and I’m pretty sure that Canada has both French and English versions of their documentation. I am simply asking a question here, not trying to start a GD. ---
**Author:** ![JS\_Princeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JS\_Princeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JS_Princeton)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/2 "2002-07-23T18:50:37Z")
What makes you think the national language of the US is English? Indeed, the US has no national language ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/3 "2002-07-23T18:52:12Z")
Yes, Canada has two official languages, English and French; everything the _federal_ government produces must be in both languages. I believe this even extends to the English and French wordings of laws being equally authoritative. I was not aware that the federal government of the USA had any _official_ national language… just the de-facto working language of English. Am I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/4 "2002-07-23T18:57:22Z")
I would think that in any country in which the government was required to provide information in any particular language would by definition be giving official status to that language. ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/5 "2002-07-23T19:18:50Z")
Sunspace: It seems the OP meant what other nations publish their national “documentation” in languages other than the de facto or de jure primary language of the country. What “documentation” is may possibly understood to mean laws, or may be just things like the signs where you get the driving licenses. My impression is that most countries do not do this, and would not do this unless there are areas in the country where some other language or languages are very widely spoken. Some central governments do it as a matter of pride, and some as a matter of economy. ---
**Author:** ![mandielise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@mandielise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandielise)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/6 "2002-07-23T19:27:09Z")
There actually is a national language, although it took a while for us to establish it. I can’t find the cite right now, but hopefully someone else will… Apparently there was a lady a while back (I wanna say it was in California, but I don’t remember) who wanted to take the drivers test in some other language (I wanna say Spanish). It was ruled that since all signs in the US are in English, there’s no reason for a Spanish-speaker to take the test in another language. As part of that ruling, our official language became English. I’ve had this debate with quite a few friends, as I believe everyone coming to this country should be welcomed and given all the rights we have (obviously voting and other such rights come only with naturalization which I’m also highly for). However, it should be imperative that newcomers learn the language… maybe after they got here, but in any case, they should learn it. My boyfriend’s family’s from Cuba - some have been here for over 40 years and still can’t speak English! ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/7 "2002-07-23T19:56:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mandielise \* > \*\*There actually is a national language, although it took a while for us to establish it. I can’t find the cite right now, but hopefully someone else will… > > Apparently there was a lady a while back (I wanna say it was in California, but I don’t remember) who wanted to take the drivers test in some other language (I wanna say Spanish). It was ruled that since all signs in the US are in English, there’s no reason for a Spanish-speaker to take the test in another language. As part of that ruling, our official language became English. > \*\* No. From the [California Department of Motor Vehicles](http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#2500): > [@](#): > > DMV offers alternative methods for completing the driver license written examination. The examination may be conducted: > > \*\*In a foreign language. \*\* > In American Sign Language. > By using a cassette tape rather than reading the material. > By having an examiner ask the questions. > > Besides English, the basic Class C written driver license exam is also available in the following languages: > > Amharic, French, Hmong, Korean, Romanian, Thai, > Armenian, German, Hungarian, Laotian, Russian, Tongan, > Arabic, Greek, Indonesian, Polish, Samoan, Turkish, > Cambodian, Hebrew, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Hindi, Italian, Punjabi, Tagalog, Farsi/Persian, and Serbo Croatioan. Also, even if any one state did establish an official language, it would still not be the national language of the entire United States. For the OP: Switzerland has three official national languages, German, French, and Italian. You can look up the national language(s) of any country in the [CIA World Factbook](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/). ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/8 "2002-07-23T21:01:51Z")
**High Deity** , many countries have more than one “official” language. Top-of-my-head examples: Belgium, Paraguay, South Africa, India, Pakistan. There are many more. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/9 "2002-07-23T23:50:10Z")
> [@](#): > > As part of that ruling, our official language became English. The case was in Alabama, however it _did not_ result in a declaration by the Supreme Court that English is the official language of the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/10 "2002-07-24T00:07:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SpoilerVirgin \* > \*\* > For the OP: Switzerland has three official national languages, German, French, and Italian. You can look up the national language(s) of any country in the [CIA World Factbook](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/). \*\* Four, actually, the other being Romansch. (The CIA has it wrong.) I was just in Switzerland, and was interested to see some signage in all four languages (even though Romansch is spoken by less than 1% of the population). ---
**Author:** ![Sparc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Sparc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparc)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/11 "2002-07-24T00:40:27Z")
The EU has 11 official languages. All official EU documents must be translated into them. In the Parliamentary cessions and other meetings of governmental bodies a representative may only address the assembly in the official language of his/her electorate. Simultaneous translation is obviously provided (pretty silly if you ask me). Anyway, the languages are (in no particular order) English French Dutch Swedish Danish Greek Spanish Portuguese Italian Finish German Within the fifteen states we have some cases of double official languages beyond that; Belgium has French and Flemish, Finland has Finish and Swedish and Ireland has Irish and English. Off the top of my head I can’t remember how it is with Luxembourg and what the situation with the minority languages of the UK is. Sparc ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/12 "2002-07-24T00:55:07Z")
Actually the Swiss do have 3 official languages, German, French and Italian. They have 4 NATIONAL languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. So CIA is correct. Luxembourg has 3 languages French, German and Dutch. They have a dialect called Luxembourgious or something like that. Flemish is Dutch. The Belgian government finally gave up the term Flemish and now refers to its other language as Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/13 "2002-07-24T00:56:55Z")
I don’t know whether or not Australia has an offical language but the vast majority of Government documentation (statutes, reports etc) are in english. However a lot of information that goes out to ordinary citizens (eg guides to local health facilities, library information, licence applications etc) is published in various languages. Australia, particularly urban Australia, is very multicultural. The area I live in is made up of 57% Australian born people (many of whom have parents born overseas) and 43% overseas born people. As a result a lot of the forms etc we see look like those guarantee booklets you get with watches you buy duty free - ten different versions of the same information just in different languages. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/14 "2002-07-24T01:22:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Markxxx \* > \*\*Actually the Swiss do have 3 official languages, German, French and Italian. They have 4 NATIONAL languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. So CIA is correct. \*\* I think not. The [U.S. State Department](http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/switzerland_9905_bgn.html%5B/url) indicates that Romansch is an official language, contradicting the CIA. (Look in the section under “People.”) Romansch gained official status only recently, in 1996. I have some Swiss francs at home, and the writing on them appears in all four official languages. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/15 "2002-07-24T02:23:25Z")
A Swiss friend of mine explained to me that Romansch is not an official language, although a native speaker has the right to address the government in that language. Switzerland is such a loose confederation (citizenship has to be acquired first in a community, which is approved by a Canton and only then by the national government) that it is the individual cantons that really determine what is official. Fribourg/Freiberg, where I have lived for over a year, is officially bilingual, while Zurich (where I have also lived for over a year) is rigidly monolingual and even a visitor needs official permission to send children even to a private school that operates in other than German. Now that people in Zurich actually speak German, since their dialect is not mutually comprehensible with German. However, it seems to me that all the federal government documents I saw were in German, French, and Italian. I once saw a shopping bag from a dept store that had its slogan in six languages: Swiss dialect, German, French, Italian, Romansch, and, inevitably, English. I imagine that in the UK (as opposed to England) at least Welsh must be an official language. ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/16 "2002-07-24T03:24:19Z")
The US provides federal documentation in about any language you can think of. Since the US has no official language, it has to spend millions producing documents in just about every language for every Tom Dick and Harry who comes over here and refuses to learn English. Don’t get me started! ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/17 "2002-07-24T04:31:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Since the US has no official language, it has to spend millions producing documents in just about every language for every Tom Dick and Harry who comes over here and refuses to learn English. Start a thread about it in Great Debates and I’ll be there with bells on. -fh ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/18 "2002-07-24T06:21:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WV\_Woman \* > **Since the US has no official language, it has to spend millions producing documents in just about every language for every Tom Dick and Harry who comes over here and refuses to learn English.** I’m struggling to find a shred of reasonableness in this apparently inane comment since this is **GQ** , but I’m failing. It seems pretty obvious to me that the while the U.S. might choose to produce literature in dozens of languages for the benefit of people who don’t know English, I’m pretty certain that there’s no law that requires it. As with **Motog** , I live in a very diverse city. The minorities in Toronto actually outnumber the majority. We have _daily_ newspapers in English, Chinese, Italian, Spanish and Korean, and weekly publications in many more. Ironically, since Ontario’s government produces all publications in English and French, we don’t have a daily French newspaper! The city of Toronto publishes announcements in at least a dozen languages, but I’m just as sure there’s no law that requires them to. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/19 "2002-07-24T09:39:53Z")
Belgium has _three_ official languages: Dutch/Flemish, French, and German. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421/20 "2002-07-24T09:53:03Z")
While you’re here **Flodnak** … What’s the official status of **nynorsk** in Norway? I thought it was considered an official language (next to bokmål - the ‘normal norwegian’), but the CIA factbook only lists one official language! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-language/120421.md?page=2)