Country | Languages |
Aruba | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English dialect), English (widely spoken), Spanish |
Antigua and Barbuda | English (official), local dialects |
United Arab Emirates | Arabic (official), Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu |
Afghanistan | Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashtu (official) 35%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism |
Algeria | Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects |
Azerbaijan | Azerbaijani (Azeri) 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.) |
Albania | Albanian (official - derived from Tosk dialect), Greek, Vlach, Romani, Slavic dialects |
Armenia | Armenian 97.7%, Yezidi 1%, Russian 0.9%, other 0.4% (2001 census) |
Andorra | Catalan (official), French, Castilian, Portuguese |
Angola | Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages |
American Samoa | Samoan 90.6% (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English 2.9%, Tongan 2.4%, other Pacific islander 2.1%, other 2% |
Argentina | Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French |
Australia | English 79.1%, Chinese 2.1%, Italian 1.9%, other 11.1%, unspecified 5.8% (2001 Census) |
Ashmore and Cartier Islands | |
Austria | German (official nationwide), Slovene (official in Carinthia), Croatian (official in Burgenland), Hungarian (official in Burgenland) |
Anguilla | English (official) |
Akrotiri | English, Greek |
Antarctica | |
Bahrain | Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu |
Barbados | English |
Botswana | Setswana 78.2%, Kalanga 7.9%, Sekgalagadi 2.8%, English 2.1% (official), other 8.6%, unspecified 0.4% (2001 census) |
Bermuda | English (official), Portuguese |
Belgium | Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French) |
Bahamas, The | English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
Bangladesh | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English |
Belize | English (official), Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib), Creole |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian |
Bolivia | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) |
Burma | Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages |
Benin | French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north) |
Belarus | Belarusian, Russian, other |
Solomon Islands | Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English is official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population |
Navassa Island | |
Brazil | Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French |
Bassas da India | |
Bhutan | Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects |
Bulgaria | Bulgarian 84.5%, Turkish 9.6%, Roma 4.1%, other and unspecified 1.8% (2001 census) |
Bouvet Island | |
Brunei | Malay (official), English, Chinese |
Burundi | Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area) |
Canada | English (official) 59.3%, French (official) 23.2%, other 17.5% |
Cambodia | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
Chad | French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 different languages and dialects |
Sri Lanka | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% |
Congo, Republic of the | French (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo is the most widespread) |
Congo, Democratic Republic of the | French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba |
China | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) |
Chile | Spanish |
Cayman Islands | English |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands | Malay (Cocos dialect), English |
Cameroon | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
Comoros | Arabic (official), French (official), Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili and Arabic) |
Colombia | Spanish |
Northern Mariana Islands | Philippine languages 24.4%, Chinese 23.4%, Chamorro 22.4%, English 10.8%, other Pacific island languages 9.5%, other 9.6% (2000 census) |
Coral Sea Islands | |
Costa Rica | Spanish (official), English |
Central African Republic | French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages |
Cuba | Spanish |
Cape Verde | Portuguese, Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words) |
Cook Islands | English (official), Maori |
Cyprus | Greek, Turkish, English |
Denmark | Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority) |
Djibouti | French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar |
Dominica | English (official), French patois |
Jarvis Island | |
Dominican Republic | Spanish |
Dhekelia | English, Greek |
Ecuador | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
European Union | Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish; note - only official languages are listed; Irish (Gaelic) will become the twenty-first language on 1 January 2007 |
Egypt | Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes |
Ireland | English (official) is the language generally used, Irish (official) (Gaelic or Gaeilge) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard |
Equatorial Guinea | Spanish (official), French (official), pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo |
Estonia | Estonian (official) 67.3%, Russian 29.7%, other 2.3%, unknown 0.7% (2000 census) |
Eritrea | Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages |
El Salvador | Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians) |
Ethiopia | Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, other local languages, English (major foreign language taught in schools) |
Europa Island | |
Czech Republic | Czech |
French Guiana | French |
Finland | Finnish 92% (official), Swedish 5.6% (official), other 2.4% (small Sami- and Russian-speaking minorities) (2003) |
Fiji | English (official), Fijian, Hindustani |
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) | English |
Micronesia, Federated States of | English (official and common language), Trukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosrean, Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro, Kapingamarangi |
Faroe Islands | Faroese (derived from Old Norse), Danish |
French Polynesia | French 61.1% (official), Polynesian 31.4% (official), Asian languages 1.2%, other 0.3%, unspecified 6% (2002 census) |
Baker Island | |
France | French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) |
French Southern and Antarctic Lands | |
Gambia, The | English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars |
Gabon | French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi |
Georgia | Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7% |
Ghana | English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga) |
Gibraltar | English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese |
Grenada | English (official), French patois |
Guernsey | English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Greenland | Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English |
Germany | German |
Glorioso Islands | |
Guadeloupe | French (official) 99%, Creole patois |
Guam | English 38.3%, Chamorro 22.2%, Philippine languages 22.2%, other Pacific island languages 6.8%, Asian languages 7%, other languages 3.5% (2000 census) |
Greece | Greek 99% (official), English, French |
Guatemala | Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca) |
Guinea | French (official), each ethnic group has its own language |
Guyana | English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Hindi, Urdu |
Gaza Strip | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Haiti | French (official), Creole (official) |
Hong Kong | Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official |
Heard Island and McDonald Islands | |
Honduras | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
Howland Island | |
Croatia | Croatian 96.1%, Serbian 1%, other and undesignated 2.9% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German) (2001 census) |
Hungary | Hungarian 93.6%, other or unspecified 6.4% (2001 census) |
Iceland | Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken |
Indonesia | Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese |
Man, Isle of | English, Manx Gaelic |
India | English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language |
British Indian Ocean Territory | |
Clipperton Island | |
Iran | Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2% |
Israel | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language |
Italy | Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area) |
Iraq | Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian |
Japan | Japanese |
Jersey | English 94.5% (official), Portuguese 4.6%, other 0.9% (2001 census) |
Jamaica | English, patois English |
Jan Mayen | |
Jordan | Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes |
Johnston Atoll | |
Juan de Nova Island | |
Kenya | English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages |
Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz (official), Russian (official) |
Korea, North | Korean |
Kingman Reef | |
Kiribati | I-Kiribati, English (official) |
Korea, South | Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school |
Christmas Island | English (official), Chinese, Malay |
Kuwait | Arabic (official), English widely spoken |
Kazakhstan | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.) |
Laos | Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
Lebanon | Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian |
Latvia | Latvian (official) 58.2%, Russian 37.5%, Lithuanian and other 4.3% (2000 census) |
Lithuania | Lithuanian (official) 82%, Russian 8%, Polish 5.6%, other and unspecified 4.4% (2001 census) |
Liberia | English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages, of which a few can be written and are used in correspondence |
Slovakia | Slovak (official) 83.9%, Hungarian 10.7%, Roma 1.8%, Ukrainian 1%, other or unspecified 2.6% (2001 census) |
Palmyra Atoll | |
Liechtenstein | German (official), Alemannic dialect |
Lesotho | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Luxembourg | Luxembourgish (national language), German (administrative language), French (administrative language) |
Libya | Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities |
Madagascar | French (official), Malagasy (official) |
Martinique | French, Creole patois |
Macau | Cantonese 87.9%, Hokkien 4.4%, Mandarin 1.6%, other Chinese dialects 3.1%, other 3% (2001 census) |
Moldova | Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian, Gagauz (a Turkish dialect) |
Mayotte | Mahorian (a Swahili dialect), French (official language) spoken by 35% of the population |
Mongolia | Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) |
Montserrat | English |
Malawi | Chichewa 57.2% (official), Chinyanja 12.8%, Chiyao 10.1%, Chitumbuka 9.5%, Chisena 2.7%, Chilomwe 2.4%, Chitonga 1.7%, other 3.6% (1998 census) |
Macedonia | Macedonian 66.5%, Albanian 25.1%, Turkish 3.5%, Roma 1.9%, Serbian 1.2%, other 1.8% (2002 census) |
Mali | French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages |
Monaco | French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque |
Morocco | Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business, government, and diplomacy |
Mauritius | Creole 80.5%, Bhojpuri 12.1%, French 3.4% (official), other 3.7%, unspecified 0.3% (2000 census) |
Midway Islands | |
Mauritania | Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, French, Hassaniya, Wolof |
Malta | Maltese (official), English (official) |
Oman | Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects |
Maldives | Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials |
Mexico | Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages |
Malaysia | Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai |
Mozambique | Emakhuwa 26.1%, Xichangana 11.3%, Portuguese 8.8% (official; spoken by 27% of population as a second language), Elomwe 7.6%, Cisena 6.8%, Echuwabo 5.8%, other Mozambican languages 32%, other foreign languages 0.3%, unspecified 1.3% (1997 census) |
New Caledonia | French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects |
Niue | Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English |
Norfolk Island | English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian |
Niger | French (official), Hausa, Djerma |
Vanuatu | local languages (more than 100) 72.6%, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama) 23.1%, English 1.9%, French 1.4%, other 0.3%, unspecified 0.7% (1999 Census) |
Nigeria | English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani |
Netherlands | Dutch (official), Frisian (official) |
Norway | Bokmal Norwegian (official), Nynorsk Norwegian (official), small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities |
Nepal | Nepali 47.8%, Maithali 12.1%, Bhojpuri 7.4%, Tharu (Dagaura/Rana) 5.8%, Tamang 5.1%, Newar 3.6%, Magar 3.3%, Awadhi 2.4%, other 10%, unspecified 2.5% (2001 census) |
Nauru | Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes |
Suriname | Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese |
Netherlands Antilles | Papiamento 65.4% (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect), English 15.9% (widely spoken), Dutch 7.3% (official), Spanish 6.1%, Creole 1.6%, other 1.9%, unspecified 1.8% (2001 census) |
Nicaragua | Spanish 97.5% (official), Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census) |
New Zealand | English (official), Maori (official) |
Southern Ocean | |
Paraguay | Spanish (official), Guarani (official) |
Pitcairn Islands | English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect) |
Peru | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara, and a large number of minor Amazonian languages |
Paracel Islands | |
Spratly Islands | |
Pakistan | Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8% |
Poland | Polish 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2% (2002 census) |
Panama | Spanish (official), English 14%; note - many Panamanians bilingual |
Portugal | Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used) |
Papua New Guinea | Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region |
Palau | Palauan 64.7% official in all islands except Sonsoral (Sonsoralese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official), Filipino 13.5%, English 9.4%, Chinese 5.7%, Carolinian 1.5%, Japanese 1.5%, other Asian 2.3%, other languages 1.5% (2000 census) |
Guinea-Bissau | Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages |
Qatar | Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language |
Reunion | French (official), Creole widely used |
Marshall Islands | Marshallese 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999 census) |
Romania | Romanian (official), Hungarian, German |
Philippines | two official languages - Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English; eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinan |
Puerto Rico | Spanish, English |
Russia | Russian, many minority languages |
Rwanda | Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
Saudi Arabia | Arabic |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon | French (official) |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | English |
Seychelles | Creole 91.8%, English 4.9% (official), other 3.1%, unspecified 0.2% (2002 census) |
South Africa | IsiZulu 23.8%, IsiXhosa 17.6%, Afrikaans 13.3%, Sepedi 9.4%, English 8.2%, Setswana 8.2%, Sesotho 7.9%, Xitsonga 4.4%, other 7.2% (2001 census) |
Senegal | French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka |
Saint Helena | English |
Slovenia | Slovenian 91.1%, Serbo-Croatian 4.5%, other or unspecified 4.4% (2002 census) |
Sierra Leone | English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) |
San Marino | Italian |
Singapore | Mandarin 35%, English 23%, Malay 14.1%, Hokkien 11.4%, Cantonese 5.7%, Teochew 4.9%, Tamil 3.2%, other Chinese dialects 1.8%, other 0.9% (2000 census) |
Somalia | Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English |
Spain | Castilian Spanish 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%; note - Castilian is the official language nationwide; the other languages are official regionally |
Saint Lucia | English (official), French patois |
Sudan | Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English |
Svalbard | Norwegian, Russian |
Sweden | Swedish, small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities |
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
Syria | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood |
Switzerland | German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 20.4%, Italian (official) 6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish 1.1%, English 1%, Romansch 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census) |
Trinidad and Tobago | English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese |
Tromelin Island | |
Thailand | Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
Tajikistan | Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
Turks and Caicos Islands | English (official) |
Tokelau | Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English |
Tonga | Tongan, English |
Togo | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) |
Sao Tome and Principe | Portuguese (official) |
Tunisia | Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce) |
East Timor | Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), Indonesian, English |
Turkey | Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
Tuvalu | Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui) |
Taiwan | Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects |
Turkmenistan | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
Tanzania | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages |
Uganda | English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic |
United Kingdom | English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
Ukraine | Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%; small Romanian-, Polish-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities |
United States | English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) |
Burkina Faso | French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population |
Uruguay | Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) |
Uzbekistan | Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | English, French patois |
Venezuela | Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects |
British Virgin Islands | English (official) |
Vietnam | Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
Virgin Islands | English 74.7%, Spanish or Spanish Creole 16.8%, French or French Creole 6.6%, other 1.9% (2000 census) |
Holy See (Vatican City) | Italian, Latin, French, various other languages |
Namibia | English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages: Oshivambo, Herero, Nama |
West Bank | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Wallis and Futuna | Wallisian 58.9% (indigenous Polynesian language), Futunian 30.1%, French 10.8%, other 0.2% (2003 census) |
Western Sahara | Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic |
Wake Island | |
Samoa | Samoan (Polynesian), English |
Swaziland | English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official) |
Indian Ocean | |
Arctic Ocean | |
World | Chinese, Mandarin 13.69%, Spanish 5.05%, English 4.84%, Hindi 2.82%, Portuguese 2.77%, Bengali 2.68%, Russian 2.27%, Japanese 1.99%, German, Standard 1.49%, Chinese, Wu 1.21% (2004 est.) |
Serbia and Montenegro | Serbian 95%, Albanian 5% |
Yemen | Arabic |
Zambia | English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages |
Atlantic Ocean | |
Zimbabwe | English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects |
Pacific Ocean | |
Cote d'Ivoire | French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the most widely spoken |
Aruba | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English dialect), English (widely spoken), Spanish |
Antigua and Barbuda | English (official), local dialects |
United Arab Emirates | Arabic (official), Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu |
Afghanistan | Pashtu (official) 35%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 50%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism |
Algeria | Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects |
Azerbaijan | Azerbaijani (Azeri) 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.) |
Albania | Albanian (official - derived from Tosk dialect), Greek, Vlach, Romani, Slavic dialects |
Armenia | Armenian 96%, Russian 2%, other 2% |
Andorra | Catalan (official), French, Castilian, Portuguese |
Angola | Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages |
American Samoa | Samoan (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English |
Argentina | Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French |
Australia | English, native languages |
Ashmore and Cartier Islands | |
Austria | German (official nationwide), Slovene (official in Carinthia), Croatian (official in Burgenland), Hungarian (official in Burgenland) |
Anguilla | English (official) |
Akrotiri | |
Antarctica | |
Bahrain | Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu |
Barbados | English |
Botswana | English (official), Setswana |
Bermuda | English (official), Portuguese |
Belgium | Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French) |
Bahamas, The | English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
Bangladesh | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English |
Belize | English (official), Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib), Creole |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian |
Bolivia | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) |
Burma | Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages |
Benin | French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north) |
Belarus | Belarusian, Russian, other |
Solomon Islands | Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English is official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population |
Navassa Island | |
Brazil | Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French |
Bassas da India | |
Bhutan | Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects |
Bulgaria | Bulgarian, secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown |
Bouvet Island | |
Brunei | Malay (official), English, Chinese |
Burundi | Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area) |
Canada | English 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official), other 17.5% |
Cambodia | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
Chad | French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 different languages and dialects |
Sri Lanka | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% |
Congo, Republic of the | French (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo is the most widespread) |
Congo, Democratic Republic of the | French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba |
China | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) |
Chile | Spanish |
Cayman Islands | English |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands | Malay (Cocos dialect), English |
Cameroon | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
Comoros | Arabic (official), French (official), Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili and Arabic) |
Colombia | Spanish |
Northern Mariana Islands | English, Chamorro, Carolinian |
Coral Sea Islands | |
Costa Rica | Spanish (official), English |
Central African Republic | French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages |
Cuba | Spanish |
Cape Verde | Portuguese, Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words) |
Cook Islands | English (official), Maori |
Cyprus | Greek, Turkish, English |
Denmark | Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority) |
Djibouti | French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar |
Dominica | English (official), French patois |
Jarvis Island | |
Dominican Republic | Spanish |
Dhekelia | |
Ecuador | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
European Union | Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish; note - only official languages are listed |
Egypt | Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes |
Ireland | English is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic or Gaeilge) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard |
Equatorial Guinea | Spanish (official), French (official), pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo |
Estonia | Estonian (official), Russian, Ukrainian, Finnish, other |
Eritrea | Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages |
El Salvador | Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians) |
Ethiopia | Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, other local languages, English (major foreign language taught in schools) |
Europa Island | |
Czech Republic | Czech |
French Guiana | French |
Finland | Finnish 93.4% (official), Swedish 5.9% (official), small Sami- and Russian-speaking minorities |
Fiji | English (official), Fijian, Hindustani |
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) | English |
Micronesia, Federated States of | English (official and common language), Trukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosrean, Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro, Kapingamarangi |
Faroe Islands | Faroese (derived from Old Norse), Danish |
French Polynesia | French (official), Tahitian (official) |
Baker Island | |
France | French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) |
French Southern and Antarctic Lands | |
Gambia, The | English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars |
Gabon | French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi |
Georgia | Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7% |
Ghana | English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga) |
Gibraltar | English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese |
Grenada | English (official), French patois |
Guernsey | English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Greenland | Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English |
Germany | German |
Glorioso Islands | |
Guadeloupe | French (official) 99%, Creole patois |
Guam | English, Chamorro, Japanese |
Greece | Greek 99% (official), English, French |
Guatemala | Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca) |
Guinea | French (official), each ethnic group has its own language |
Guyana | English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Hindi, Urdu |
Gaza Strip | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Haiti | French (official), Creole (official) |
Hong Kong | Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official |
Heard Island and McDonald Islands | |
Honduras | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
Howland Island | |
Croatia | Croatian 96%, other 4% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German) |
Hungary | Hungarian 98.2%, other 1.8% |
Iceland | Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken |
Indonesia | Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese |
Man, Isle of | English, Manx Gaelic |
India | English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language |
British Indian Ocean Territory | |
Clipperton Island | |
Iran | Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2% |
Israel | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language |
Italy | Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area) |
Cote d'Ivoire | French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the most widely spoken |
Iraq | Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian |
Japan | Japanese |
Jersey | English (official), French (official), Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Jamaica | English, patois English |
Jan Mayen | |
Jordan | Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes |
Johnston Atoll | |
Juan de Nova Island | |
Kenya | English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages |
Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz - official language, Russian - official language |
Korea, North | Korean |
Kingman Reef | |
Kiribati | I-Kiribati, English (official) |
Korea, South | Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school |
Christmas Island | English (official), Chinese, Malay |
Kuwait | Arabic (official), English widely spoken |
Kazakhstan | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.) |
Laos | Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
Lebanon | Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian |
Latvia | Latvian (official), Lithuanian, Russian, other |
Lithuania | Lithuanian (official), Polish, Russian |
Liberia | English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages, of which a few can be written and are used in correspondence |
Slovakia | Slovak (official), Hungarian |
Palmyra Atoll | |
Liechtenstein | German (official), Alemannic dialect |
Lesotho | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Luxembourg | Luxembourgish (national language), German (administrative language), French (administrative language) |
Libya | Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities |
Madagascar | French (official), Malagasy (official) |
Martinique | French, Creole patois |
Macau | Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese) |
Moldova | Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian, Gagauz (a Turkish dialect) |
Mayotte | Mahorian (a Swahili dialect), French (official language) spoken by 35% of the population |
Mongolia | Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) |
Montserrat | English |
Malawi | English (official), Chichewa (official), other languages important regionally |
Macedonia | Macedonian 68%, Albanian 25%, Turkish 3%, Serbo-Croatian 2%, other 2% |
Mali | French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages |
Monaco | French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque |
Morocco | Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business, government, and diplomacy |
Mauritius | English (official), Creole, French (official), Hindi, Urdu, Hakka, Bhojpuri |
Midway Islands | |
Mauritania | Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, French, Hassaniya, Wolof |
Malta | Maltese (official), English (official) |
Oman | Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects |
Maldives | Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials |
Mexico | Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages |
Malaysia | Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and Kadazan |
Mozambique | Makhuwa, Tsonga, Lomwe, Sena, numerous other indigenous languages, Portuguese (official; spoken by 27% of population as a second language) |
New Caledonia | French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects |
Niue | Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English |
Norfolk Island | English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian |
Niger | French (official), Hausa, Djerma |
Vanuatu | three official languages: English, French, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama), plus more than 100 local languages |
Nigeria | English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani |
Netherlands | Dutch (official language), Frisian (official language) |
Norway | Bokmal Norwegian (official), Nynorsk Norwegian (official) |
Nepal | Nepali (official; spoken by 90% of the population), about a dozen other languages and about 30 major dialects; note - many in government and business also speak English (1995) |
Nauru | Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes |
Suriname | Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese |
Netherlands Antilles | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish |
Nicaragua | Spanish (official) |
New Zealand | English (official), Maori (official) |
Southern Ocean | |
Paraguay | Spanish (official), Guarani (official) |
Pitcairn Islands | English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect) |
Peru | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara, and a large number of minor Amazonian languages |
Paracel Islands | |
Spratly Islands | |
Pakistan | Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8% |
Poland | Polish |
Panama | Spanish (official), English 14% |
Portugal | Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used) |
Papua New Guinea | Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region |
Palau | English and Palauan official in all states except Sonsoral (Sonsoralese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official) |
Guinea-Bissau | Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages |
Qatar | Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language |
Reunion | French (official), Creole widely used |
Marshall Islands | English (widely spoken as a second language, both English and Marshallese are official languages), two major Marshallese dialects from the Malayo-Polynesian family, Japanese |
Romania | Romanian (official), Hungarian, German |
Philippines | two official languages - Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English; eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinense |
Puerto Rico | Spanish, English |
Russia | Russian, other |
Rwanda | Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
Saudi Arabia | Arabic |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon | French (official) |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | English |
Seychelles | English (official), French (official), Creole |
South Africa | 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu |
Senegal | French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka |
Saint Helena | English |
Slovenia | Slovenian 92%, Serbo-Croatian 6.2%, other 1.8% |
Sierra Leone | English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) |
San Marino | Italian |
Singapore | Chinese (official), Malay (official and national), Tamil (official), English (official) |
Somalia | Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English |
Spain | Castilian Spanish 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2% |
Saint Lucia | English (official), French patois |
Sudan | Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English |
Svalbard | Norwegian, Russian |
Sweden | Swedish |
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
Syria | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood |
Switzerland | German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 19.2%, Italian (official) 7.6%, Romansch (official) 0.6%, other 8.9% |
Trinidad and Tobago | English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese |
Tromelin Island | |
Thailand | Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
Tajikistan | Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
Turks and Caicos Islands | English (official) |
Tokelau | Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English |
Tonga | Tongan, English |
Togo | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) |
Sao Tome and Principe | Portuguese (official) |
Tunisia | Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce) |
East Timor | Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), Indonesian, English |
Turkey | Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
Tuvalu | Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui) |
Taiwan | Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects |
Turkmenistan | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
Tanzania | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages |
Uganda | English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic |
United Kingdom | English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
Ukraine | Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian |
United States | English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority) |
Burkina Faso | French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population |
Uruguay | Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) |
Uzbekistan | Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | English, French patois |
Venezuela | Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects |
British Virgin Islands | English (official) |
Vietnam | Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
Virgin Islands | English (official), Spanish, Creole |
Holy See (Vatican City) | Italian, Latin, French, various other languages |
Namibia | English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages: Oshivambo, Herero, Nama |
West Bank | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Wallis and Futuna | French, Wallisian (indigenous Polynesian language) |
Western Sahara | Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic |
Wake Island | |
Samoa | Samoan (Polynesian), English |
Swaziland | English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official) |
Indian Ocean | |
Arctic Ocean | |
World | Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.) |
Serbia and Montenegro | Serbian 95%, Albanian 5% |
Yemen | Arabic |
Zambia | English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages |
Atlantic Ocean | |
Zimbabwe | English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects |
Pacific Ocean | |
Aruba | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English dialect), English (widely spoken), Spanish |
Antigua and Barbuda | English (official), local dialects |
Afghanistan | Pashtu 35%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 50%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism |
Algeria | Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects |
Azerbaijan | Azerbaijani (Azeri) 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.) |
Albania | Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect), Greek |
Armenia | Armenian 96%, Russian 2%, other 2% |
Andorra | Catalan (official), French, Castilian, Portuguese |
Angola | Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages |
American Samoa | Samoan (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English |
Argentina | Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French |
Australia | English, native languages |
Ashmore and Cartier Islands | |
Austria | German |
Anguilla | English (official) |
Antarctica | |
Bahrain | Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu |
Barbados | English |
Botswana | English (official), Setswana |
Bermuda | English (official), Portuguese |
Belgium | Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French) |
Bahamas, The | English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
Bangladesh | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English |
Belize | English (official), Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib), Creole |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian |
Bolivia | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) |
Burma | Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages |
Benin | French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north) |
Belarus | Belarusian, Russian, other |
Solomon Islands | Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English is official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population |
Navassa Island | |
Brazil | Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French |
Bassas da India | |
Bhutan | Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects |
Bulgaria | Bulgarian, secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown |
Bouvet Island | |
Brunei | Malay (official), English, Chinese |
Burundi | Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area) |
Canada | English 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official), other 17.5% |
Cambodia | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
Chad | French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 different languages and dialects |
Sri Lanka | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% |
Congo, Republic of the | French (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo has the most users) |
Congo, Democratic Republic of the | French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba |
China | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) |
Chile | Spanish |
Cayman Islands | English |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands | Malay (Cocos dialect), English |
Cameroon | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
Comoros | Arabic (official), French (official), Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili and Arabic) |
Colombia | Spanish |
Northern Mariana Islands | English, Chamorro, Carolinian |
Coral Sea Islands | |
Costa Rica | Spanish (official), English |
Central African Republic | French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages |
Cuba | Spanish |
Cape Verde | Portuguese, Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words) |
Cook Islands | English (official), Maori |
Cyprus | Greek, Turkish, English |
Denmark | Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority) |
Djibouti | French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar |
Dominica | English (official), French patois |
Jarvis Island | |
Dominican Republic | Spanish |
Ecuador | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
Egypt | Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes |
Ireland | English is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard |
Equatorial Guinea | Spanish (official), French (official), pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo |
Estonia | Estonian (official), Russian, Ukrainian, Finnish, other |
Eritrea | Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages |
El Salvador | Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians) |
Ethiopia | Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, other local languages, English (major foreign language taught in schools) |
Europa Island | |
Czech Republic | Czech |
French Guiana | French |
Finland | Finnish 93.4% (official), Swedish 5.9% (official), small Sami- and Russian-speaking minorities |
Fiji | English (official), Fijian, Hindustani |
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) | English |
Micronesia, Federated States of | English (official and common language), Trukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosrean, Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro, Kapingamarangi |
Faroe Islands | Faroese (derived from Old Norse), Danish |
French Polynesia | French (official), Tahitian (official) |
Baker Island | |
France | French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) |
French Southern and Antarctic Lands | |
Gambia, The | English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars |
Gabon | French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi |
Georgia | Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7% |
Ghana | English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga) |
Gibraltar | English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese |
Grenada | English (official), French patois |
Guernsey | English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Greenland | Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English |
Germany | German |
Glorioso Islands | |
Guadeloupe | French (official) 99%, Creole patois |
Guam | English, Chamorro, Japanese |
Greece | Greek 99% (official), English, French |
Guatemala | Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca) |
Guinea | French (official), each ethnic group has its own language |
Guyana | English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Hindi, Urdu |
Gaza Strip | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Haiti | French (official), Creole (official) |
Hong Kong | Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official |
Heard Island and McDonald Islands | |
Honduras | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
Howland Island | |
Croatia | Croatian 96%, other 4% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German) |
Hungary | Hungarian 98.2%, other 1.8% |
Iceland | Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken |
Indonesia | Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese |
Man, Isle of | English, Manx Gaelic |
India | English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language |
British Indian Ocean Territory | |
Clipperton Island | |
Iran | Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2% |
Israel | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language |
Italy | Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area) |
Cote d'Ivoire | French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the most widely spoken |
Iraq | Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian |
Japan | Japanese |
Jersey | English (official), French (official), Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Jamaica | English, patois English |
Jan Mayen | |
Jordan | Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes |
Johnston Atoll | |
Juan de Nova Island | |
Kenya | English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages |
Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz - official language, Russian - official language |
Korea, North | Korean |
Kingman Reef | |
Kiribati | I-Kiribati, English (official) |
Korea, South | Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school |
Christmas Island | English (official), Chinese, Malay |
Kuwait | Arabic (official), English widely spoken |
Kazakhstan | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.) |
Laos | Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
Lebanon | Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian |
Latvia | Latvian (official), Lithuanian, Russian, other |
Lithuania | Lithuanian (official), Polish, Russian |
Liberia | English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages, of which a few can be written and are used in correspondence |
Slovakia | Slovak (official), Hungarian |
Palmyra Atoll | |
Liechtenstein | German (official), Alemannic dialect |
Lesotho | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Luxembourg | Luxembourgish (national language), German (administrative language), French (administrative language) |
Libya | Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities |
Madagascar | French (official), Malagasy (official) |
Martinique | French, Creole patois |
Macau | Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese) |
Moldova | Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian, Gagauz (a Turkish dialect) |
Mayotte | Mahorian (a Swahili dialect), French (official language) spoken by 35% of the population |
Mongolia | Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) |
Montserrat | English |
Malawi | English (official), Chichewa (official), other languages important regionally |
Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of | Macedonian 70%, Albanian 21%, Turkish 3%, Serbo-Croatian 3%, other 3% |
Mali | French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages |
Monaco | French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque |
Morocco | Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business, government, and diplomacy |
Mauritius | English (official), Creole, French (official), Hindi, Urdu, Hakka, Bhojpuri |
Midway Islands | |
Mauritania | Hassaniya Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof (official), French |
Malta | Maltese (official), English (official) |
Oman | Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects |
Maldives | Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials |
Mexico | Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages |
Malaysia | Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and Kadazan |
Mozambique | Portuguese (official), indigenous dialects |
New Caledonia | French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects |
Niue | Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English |
Norfolk Island | English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian |
Niger | French (official), Hausa, Djerma |
Vanuatu | three official languages: English, French, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama), plus more than 100 local languages |
Nigeria | English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani |
Netherlands | Dutch (official language), Frisian (official language) |
Norway | Norwegian (official) |
Nepal | Nepali (official; spoken by 90% of the population), about a dozen other languages and about 30 major dialects; note - many in government and business also speak English (1995) |
Nauru | Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes |
Suriname | Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese |
Netherlands Antilles | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish |
Nicaragua | Spanish (official) |
New Zealand | English (official), Maori (official) |
Southern Ocean | |
Paraguay | Spanish (official), Guarani (official) |
Pitcairn Islands | English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect) |
Peru | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara |
Paracel Islands | |
Spratly Islands | |
Pakistan | Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8% |
Poland | Polish |
Panama | Spanish (official), English 14% |
Portugal | Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used) |
Papua New Guinea | English spoken by 1%-2%, pidgin English widespread, Motu spoken in Papua region |
Palau | English and Palauan official in all states except Sonsoral (Sonsoralese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official) |
Guinea-Bissau | Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages |
Qatar | Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language |
Reunion | French (official), Creole widely used |
Marshall Islands | English (widely spoken as a second language, both English and Marshallese are official languages), two major Marshallese dialects from the Malayo-Polynesian family, Japanese |
Romania | Romanian (official), Hungarian, German |
Philippines | two official languages - Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English; eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinense |
Puerto Rico | Spanish, English |
Russia | Russian, other |
Rwanda | Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
Saudi Arabia | Arabic |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon | French (official) |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | English |
Seychelles | English (official), French (official), Creole |
South Africa | 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu |
Senegal | French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka |
Saint Helena | English |
Slovenia | Slovenian 91%, Serbo-Croatian 6%, other 3% |
Sierra Leone | English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) |
San Marino | Italian |
Singapore | Chinese (official), Malay (official and national), Tamil (official), English (official) |
Somalia | Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English |
Spain | Castilian Spanish 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2% |
Saint Lucia | English (official), French patois |
Sudan | Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English |
Svalbard | Russian, Norwegian |
Sweden | Swedish |
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
Syria | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood |
Switzerland | German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 19.2%, Italian (official) 7.6%, Romansch (official) 0.6%, other 8.9% |
Trinidad and Tobago | English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese |
Tromelin Island | |
Thailand | Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
Tajikistan | Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
Turks and Caicos Islands | English (official) |
Tokelau | Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English |
Tonga | Tongan, English |
Togo | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) |
Sao Tome and Principe | Portuguese (official) |
Tunisia | Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce) |
East Timor | Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), Indonesian, English |
Turkey | Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
Tuvalu | Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui) |
Taiwan | Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects |
Turkmenistan | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
Tanzania | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages |
Uganda | English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic |
United Kingdom | English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
Ukraine | Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian |
United States | English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority) |
Burkina Faso | French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population |
Uruguay | Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) |
Uzbekistan | Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | English, French patois |
Venezuela | Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects |
British Virgin Islands | English (official) |
Vietnam | Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
Virgin Islands | English (official), Spanish, Creole |
Holy See (Vatican City) | Italian, Latin, French, various other languages |
Namibia | English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages: Oshivambo, Herero, Nama |
West Bank | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Wallis and Futuna | French, Wallisian (indigenous Polynesian language) |
Western Sahara | Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic |
Wake Island | |
Samoa | Samoan (Polynesian), English |
Swaziland | English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official) |
Indian Ocean | |
Arctic Ocean | |
World | Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.) |
Serbia and Montenegro | Serbian 95%, Albanian 5% |
Yemen | Arabic |
Zambia | English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages |
Atlantic Ocean | |
Zimbabwe | English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects |
Pacific Ocean | |
Aruba | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English dialect), English (widely spoken), Spanish |
Antigua and Barbuda | English (official), local dialects |
Afghanistan | Pashtu 35%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 50%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism |
Algeria | Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects |
Azerbaijan | Azerbaijani (Azeri) 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.) |
Albania | Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect), Greek |
Armenia | Armenian 96%, Russian 2%, other 2% |
Andorra | Catalan (official), French, Castilian, Portuguese |
Angola | Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages |
American Samoa | Samoan (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English |
Argentina | Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French |
Australia | English, native languages |
Ashmore and Cartier Islands | |
Austria | German |
Anguilla | English (official) |
Antarctica | |
Bahrain | Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu |
Barbados | English |
Botswana | English (official), Setswana |
Bermuda | English (official), Portuguese |
Belgium | Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French) |
Bahamas, The | English, Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
Bangladesh | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English |
Belize | English (official), Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib), Creole |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian |
Bolivia | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) |
Burma | Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages |
Benin | French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north) |
Belarus | Belarusian, Russian, other |
Solomon Islands | Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English is official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population |
Navassa Island | |
Brazil | Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French |
Bassas da India | |
Bhutan | Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects |
Bulgaria | Bulgarian, secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown |
Bouvet Island | |
Brunei | Malay (official), English, Chinese |
Burundi | Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area) |
Canada | English 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official), other 17.5% |
Cambodia | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
Chad | French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 different languages and dialects |
Sri Lanka | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% |
Congo, Republic of the | French (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo has the most users) |
Congo, Democratic Republic of the | French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba |
China | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) |
Chile | Spanish |
Cayman Islands | English |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands | Malay (Cocos dialect), English |
Cameroon | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
Comoros | Arabic (official), French (official), Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili and Arabic) |
Colombia | Spanish |
Northern Mariana Islands | English, Chamorro, Carolinian |
Coral Sea Islands | |
Costa Rica | Spanish (official), English spoken around Puerto Limon |
Central African Republic | French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages |
Cuba | Spanish |
Cape Verde | Portuguese, Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words) |
Cook Islands | English (official), Maori |
Cyprus | Greek, Turkish, English |
Denmark | Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority) |
Djibouti | French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar |
Dominica | English (official), French patois |
Jarvis Island | |
Dominican Republic | Spanish |
Ecuador | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
Egypt | Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes |
Ireland | English is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard |
Equatorial Guinea | Spanish (official), French (official), pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo |
Estonia | Estonian (official), Russian, Ukrainian, Finnish, other |
Eritrea | Afar, Amharic, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages |
El Salvador | Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians) |
Ethiopia | Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, other local languages, English (major foreign language taught in schools) |
Europa Island | |
Czech Republic | Czech |
French Guiana | French |
Finland | Finnish 93.4% (official), Swedish 5.9% (official), small Lapp- and Russian-speaking minorities |
Fiji | English (official), Fijian, Hindustani |
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) | English |
Micronesia, Federated States of | English (official and common language), Trukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosrean, Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro, Kapingamarangi |
Faroe Islands | Faroese (derived from Old Norse), Danish |
French Polynesia | French (official), Tahitian (official) |
Baker Island | |
France | French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) |
French Southern and Antarctic Lands | |
Gambia, The | English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars |
Gabon | French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi |
Georgia | Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7% |
Ghana | English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga) |
Gibraltar | English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese |
Grenada | English (official), French patois |
Guernsey | English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Greenland | Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English |
Germany | German |
Glorioso Islands | |
Guadeloupe | French (official) 99%, Creole patois |
Guam | English, Chamorro, Japanese |
Greece | Greek 99% (official), English, French |
Guatemala | Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca) |
Guinea | French (official), each ethnic group has its own language |
Guyana | English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Hindi, Urdu |
Gaza Strip | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Haiti | French (official), Creole (official) |
Hong Kong | Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official |
Heard Island and McDonald Islands | |
Honduras | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
Howland Island | |
Croatia | Croatian 96%, other 4% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German) |
Hungary | Hungarian 98.2%, other 1.8% |
Iceland | Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken |
Indonesia | Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese |
Man, Isle of | English, Manx Gaelic |
India | English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language |
British Indian Ocean Territory | |
Clipperton Island | |
Iran | Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2% |
Israel | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language |
Italy | Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area) |
Cote d'Ivoire | French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the most widely spoken |
Iraq | Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian |
Japan | Japanese |
Jersey | English (official), French (official), Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Jamaica | English, patois English |
Jan Mayen | |
Jordan | Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes |
Johnston Atoll | |
Juan de Nova Island | |
Kenya | English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages |
Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz - official language, Russian - official language |
Korea, North | Korean |
Kingman Reef | |
Kiribati | I-Kiribati, English (official) |
Korea, South | Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school |
Christmas Island | English (official), Chinese, Malay |
Kuwait | Arabic (official), English widely spoken |
Kazakhstan | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.) |
Laos | Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
Lebanon | Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian |
Latvia | Latvian (official), Lithuanian, Russian, other |
Lithuania | Lithuanian (official), Polish, Russian |
Liberia | English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages, of which a few can be written and are used in correspondence |
Slovakia | Slovak (official), Hungarian |
Palmyra Atoll | |
Liechtenstein | German (official), Alemannic dialect |
Lesotho | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Luxembourg | Luxembourgish (national language), German (administrative language), French (administrative language) |
Libya | Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities |
Madagascar | French (official), Malagasy (official) |
Martinique | French, Creole patois |
Macau | Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese) |
Moldova | Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian (official), Gagauz (a Turkish dialect) |
Mayotte | Mahorian (a Swahili dialect), French (official language) spoken by 35% of the population |
Mongolia | Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) |
Montserrat | English |
Malawi | English (official), Chichewa (official), other languages important regionally |
Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of | Macedonian 70%, Albanian 21%, Turkish 3%, Serbo-Croatian 3%, other 3% |
Mali | French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages |
Monaco | French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque |
Morocco | Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business, government, and diplomacy |
Mauritius | English (official), Creole, French (official), Hindi, Urdu, Hakka, Bhojpuri |
Midway Islands | |
Mauritania | Hassaniya Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof (official), French |
Malta | Maltese (official), English (official) |
Oman | Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects |
Maldives | Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials |
Mexico | Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages |
Malaysia | Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest of which are Iban and Kadazan |
Mozambique | Portuguese (official), indigenous dialects |
New Caledonia | French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects |
Niue | Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English |
Norfolk Island | English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian |
Niger | French (official), Hausa, Djerma |
Vanuatu | three official languages: English, French, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama), plus more than 100 local languages |
Nigeria | English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani |
Netherlands | Dutch |
Norway | Norwegian (official) |
Nepal | Nepali (official; spoken by 90% of the population), about a dozen other languages and about 30 major dialects; note - many in government and business also speak English (1995) |
Nauru | Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes |
Suriname | Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese |
Netherlands Antilles | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish |
Nicaragua | Spanish (official) |
New Zealand | English (official), Maori (official) |
Southern Ocean | |
Paraguay | Spanish (official), Guarani (official) |
Pitcairn Islands | English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect) |
Peru | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara |
Paracel Islands | |
Spratly Islands | |
Pakistan | Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8% |
Poland | Polish |
Panama | Spanish (official), English 14% |
Portugal | Portuguese |
Papua New Guinea | English spoken by 1%-2%, pidgin English widespread, Motu spoken in Papua region |
Palau | English and Palauan official in all states except Sonsoral (Sonsorolese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official) |
Guinea-Bissau | Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages |
Qatar | Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language |
Reunion | French (official), Creole widely used |
Marshall Islands | English (widely spoken as a second language, both English and Marshallese are official languages), two major Marshallese dialects from the Malayo-Polynesian family, Japanese |
Romania | Romanian, Hungarian, German |
Philippines | two official languages - Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English; eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinense |
Puerto Rico | Spanish, English |
Russia | Russian, other |
Rwanda | Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
Saudi Arabia | Arabic |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon | French (official) |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | English |
Seychelles | English (official), French (official), Creole |
South Africa | 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu |
Senegal | French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka |
Saint Helena | English |
Slovenia | Slovenian 91%, Serbo-Croatian 6%, other 3% |
Sierra Leone | English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) |
San Marino | Italian |
Singapore | Chinese (official), Malay (official and national), Tamil (official), English (official) |
Somalia | Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English |
Spain | Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2% |
Saint Lucia | English (official), French patois |
Sudan | Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English |
Svalbard | Russian, Norwegian |
Sweden | Swedish |
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
Syria | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood |
Switzerland | German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 19.2%, Italian (official) 7.6%, Romansch 0.6%, other 8.9% |
Trinidad and Tobago | English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese |
Tromelin Island | |
Thailand | Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
Tajikistan | Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
Turks and Caicos Islands | English (official) |
Tokelau | Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English |
Tonga | Tongan, English |
Togo | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) |
Sao Tome and Principe | Portuguese (official) |
Tunisia | Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce) |
East Timor | Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), Indonesian, English |
Turkey | Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
Tuvalu | Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui) |
Taiwan | Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects |
Turkmenistan | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
Tanzania | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages |
Uganda | English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic |
United Kingdom | English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
Ukraine | Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian |
United States | English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority) |
Burkina Faso | French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population |
Uruguay | Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) |
Uzbekistan | Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | English, French patois |
Venezuela | Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects |
British Virgin Islands | English (official) |
Vietnam | Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
Virgin Islands | English (official), Spanish, Creole |
Holy See (Vatican City) | Italian, Latin, French, various other languages |
Namibia | English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages: Oshivambo, Herero, Nama |
West Bank | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Wallis and Futuna | French, Wallisian (indigenous Polynesian language) |
Western Sahara | Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic |
Wake Island | |
Samoa | Samoan (Polynesian), English |
Swaziland | English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official) |
Indian Ocean | |
Arctic Ocean | |
World | Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, Hindi 6.02%, English 5.61%, Spanish 5.59%, Bengali 3.4%, Portuguese 2.63%, Russian 2.75%, Japanese 2.06%, German, Standard 1.64%, Korean 1.28%, French 1.27% (2000 est.) |
Serbia and Montenegro | Serbian 95%, Albanian 5% |
Yemen | Arabic |
Zambia | English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages |
Atlantic Ocean | |
Zimbabwe | English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects |
Pacific Ocean | |
Argentina | Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French |
Australia | English, native languages |
Ashmore and Cartier Islands | |
Austria | German |
Anguilla | English (official) |
Antarctica | |
Bahrain | Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu |
Barbados | English |
Botswana | English (official), Setswana |
Bermuda | English (official), Portuguese |
Belgium | Dutch 58%, French 32%, German 10%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French) |
Bahamas, The | English, Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
Bangladesh | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English |
Belize | English (official), Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib), Creole |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian |
Bolivia | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) |
Burma | Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages |
Benin | French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north) |
Belarus | Byelorussian, Russian, other |
Solomon Islands | Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2% of population
note:
120 indigenous languages |
Navassa Island | |
Brazil | Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French |
Bassas da India | |
Bhutan | Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects |
Bulgaria | Bulgarian, secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown |
Bouvet Island | |
Brunei | Malay (official), English, Chinese |
Burundi | Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area) |
Canada | English 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official), other 17.5% |
Cambodia | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
Chad | French (official), Arabic (official), Sara and Sango (in south), more than 100 different languages and dialects |
Sri Lanka | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%
note:
English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population |
Congo, Republic of the | French (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo has the most users) |
Congo, Democratic Republic of the | French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba |
China | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) |
Chile | Spanish |
Cayman Islands | English |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands | English, Malay |
Cameroon | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
Comoros | Arabic (official), French (official), Comoran (a blend of Swahili and Arabic) |
Colombia | Spanish |
Northern Mariana Islands | English, Chamorro, Carolinian
note:
86% of population speaks a language other than English at home |
Coral Sea Islands | |
Costa Rica | Spanish (official), English spoken around Puerto Limon |
Central African Republic | French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), Arabic, Hunsa, Swahili |
Cuba | Spanish |
Cape Verde | Portuguese, Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words) |
Cook Islands | English (official), Maori |
Cyprus | Greek, Turkish, English |
Denmark | Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority)
note:
English is the predominant second language |
Djibouti | French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar |
Dominica | English (official), French patois |
Jarvis Island | |
Dominican Republic | Spanish |
Ecuador | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
Egypt | Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes |
Ireland | English is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard |
Equatorial Guinea | Spanish (official), French (official), pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo |
Estonia | Estonian (official), Russian, Ukrainian, English, Finnish, other |
Eritrea | Afar, Amharic, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages |
El Salvador | Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians) |
Ethiopia | Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, other local languages, English (major foreign language taught in schools) |
Europa Island | |
Czech Republic | Czech |
French Guiana | French |
Finland | Finnish 93.4% (official), Swedish 5.9% (official), small Lapp- and Russian-speaking minorities |
Fiji | English (official), Fijian, Hindustani |
Micronesia, Federated States of | English (official and common language), Trukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosrean |
Faroe Islands | Faroese (derived from Old Norse), Danish |
French Polynesia | French (official), Tahitian (official) |
Baker Island | |
France | French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) |
French Southern and Antarctic Lands | |
Gambia, The | English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars |
Gabon | French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi |
Georgia | Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7%
note:
Abkhaz is the official language in Abkhazia |
Ghana | English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga) |
Gibraltar | English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian |
Grenada | English (official), French patois |
Guernsey | English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Greenland | Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English |
Germany | German |
Glorioso Islands | |
Guadeloupe | French (official) 99%, Creole patois |
Guam | English, Chamorro, Japanese |
Greece | Greek 99% (official), English, French |
Guatemala | Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (more than 20 Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca) |
Guinea | French (official), each ethnic group has its own language |
Guyana | English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Hindi, Urdu |
Gaza Strip | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Haiti | French (official), Creole (official) |
Hong Kong | Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official |
Heard Island and McDonald Islands | |
Honduras | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
Howland Island | |
Croatia | Croatian 96%, other 4% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German) |
Hungary | Hungarian 98.2%, other 1.8% |
Iceland | Icelandic |
Indonesia | Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese |
Man, Isle of | English, Manx Gaelic |
India | English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication, Hindi the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people, Bengali (official), Telugu (official), Marathi (official), Tamil (official), Urdu (official), Gujarati (official), Malayalam (official), Kannada (official), Oriya (official), Punjabi (official), Assamese (official), Kashmiri (official), Sindhi (official), Sanskrit (official), Hindustani (a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India)
note:
24 languages each spoken by a million or more persons; numerous other languages and dialects, for the most part mutually unintelligible |
British Indian Ocean Territory | |
Clipperton Island | |
Iran | Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2% |
Israel | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language |
Italy | Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area) |
Cote d'Ivoire | French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the most widely spoken |
Iraq | Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian |
Japan | Japanese |
Jersey | English (official), French (official), Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Jamaica | English, Creole |
Jan Mayen | |
Jordan | Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes |
Johnston Atoll | |
Juan de Nova Island | |
Kenya | English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages |
Kyrgyzstan | Kirghiz (Kyrgyz) - official language, Russian - official language
note:
in May 2000, the Kyrgyzstani legislature made Russian an official language, equal in status to Kirghiz |
Korea, North | Korean |
Kingman Reef | |
Kiribati | English (official), I-Kiribati |
Korea, South | Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school |
Christmas Island | English, Chinese, Malay |
Kuwait | Arabic (official), English widely spoken |
Kazakhstan | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 40%, Russian (official, used in everyday business) 66% |
Laos | Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
Lebanon | Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian |
Latvia | Latvian or Lettish (official), Lithuanian, Russian, other |
Lithuania | Lithuanian (official), Polish, Russian |
Liberia | English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages, of which a few can be written and are used in correspondence |
Slovakia | Slovak (official), Hungarian |
Palmyra Atoll | |
Liechtenstein | German (official), Alemannic dialect |
Lesotho | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Luxembourg | Luxembourgish (national language), German (administrative language), French (administrative language) |
Libya | Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities |
Madagascar | French (official), Malagasy (official) |
Martinique | French, Creole patois |
Macau | Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese) |
Moldova | Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian, Gagauz (a Turkish dialect) |
Mayotte | Mahorian (a Swahili dialect), French (official language) spoken by 35% of the population |
Mongolia | Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) |
Montserrat | English |
Malawi | English (official), Chichewa (official), other languages important regionally |
Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of | Macedonian 70%, Albanian 21%, Turkish 3%, Serbo-Croatian 3%, other 3% |
Mali | French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages |
Monaco | French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque |
Morocco | Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business, government, and diplomacy |
Mauritius | English (official), Creole, French, Hindi, Urdu, Hakka, Bojpoori |
Midway Islands | |
Mauritania | Hasaniya Arabic (official), Pular, Soninke, Wolof (official), French |
Malta | Maltese (official), English (official) |
Oman | Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects |
Maldives | Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials |
Mexico | Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages |
Malaysia | Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest of which are Iban and Kadazan |
Mozambique | Portuguese (official), indigenous dialects |
New Caledonia | French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects |
Niue | Polynesian closely related to Tongan and Samoan, English |
Norfolk Island | English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian |
Niger | French (official), Hausa, Djerma |
Vanuatu | English (official), French (official), pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama) |
Nigeria | English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani |
Netherlands | Dutch |
Norway | Norwegian (official)
note:
small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities |
Nepal | Nepali (official; spoken by 90% of the population), about a dozen other languages and about 30 major dialects; note - many in government and business also speak English (1995) |
Nauru | Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes |
Suriname | Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese |
Netherlands Antilles | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish |
Nicaragua | Spanish (official)
note:
English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast |
New Zealand | English (official), Maori |
Southern Ocean | |
Paraguay | Spanish (official), Guarani (official) |
Pitcairn Islands | English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect) |
Peru | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara |
Paracel Islands | |
Spratly Islands | |
Pakistan | Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8% |
Poland | Polish |
Panama | Spanish (official), English 14%
note:
many Panamanians bilingual |
Portugal | Portuguese |
Papua New Guinea | English spoken by 1%-2%, pidgin English widespread, Motu spoken in Papua region
note:
715 indigenous languages |
Palau | English and Palauan official in all states except Sonsoral (Sonsorolese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official) |
Guinea-Bissau | Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages |
Qatar | Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language |
Reunion | French (official), Creole widely used |
Marshall Islands | English (universally spoken and is the official language), two major Marshallese dialects from the Malayo-Polynesian family, Japanese |
Romania | Romanian, Hungarian, German |
Philippines | two official languages - Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English, eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinense |
Puerto Rico | Spanish, English |
Russia | Russian, other |
Rwanda | Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
Saudi Arabia | Arabic |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon | French |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | English |
Seychelles | English (official), French (official), Creole |
South Africa | 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu |
Senegal | French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka |
Saint Helena | English |
Slovenia | Slovenian 91%, Serbo-Croatian 6%, other 3% |
Sierra Leone | English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) |
San Marino | Italian |
Singapore | Chinese (official), Malay (official and national), Tamil (official), English (official) |
Somalia | Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English |
Spain | Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2% |
Saint Lucia | English (official), French patois |
Sudan | Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
note:
program of "Arabization" in process |
Svalbard | Russian, Norwegian |
Sweden | Swedish
note:
small Lapp- and Finnish-speaking minorities |
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
Syria | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood |
Switzerland | German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 19.2%, Italian (official) 7.6%, Romansch 0.6%, other 8.9% |
Trinidad and Tobago | English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese |
Tromelin Island | |
Thailand | Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
Tajikistan | Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
Turks and Caicos Islands | English (official) |
Tokelau | Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English |
Tonga | Tongan, English |
Togo | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) |
Sao Tome and Principe | Portuguese (official) |
Tunisia | Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce) |
Turkey | Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
Tuvalu | Tuvaluan, English |
Taiwan | Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects |
Turkmenistan | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
Tanzania | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages
note:
Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources, including Arabic and English, and it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages |
Uganda | English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic |
United Kingdom | English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
Ukraine | Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian |
United States | English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority) |
Burkina Faso | French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population |
Uruguay | Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) |
Uzbekistan | Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | English, French patois |
Venezuela | Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects |
British Virgin Islands | English (official) |
Vietnam | Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
Virgin Islands | English (official), Spanish, Creole |
Holy See (Vatican City) | Italian, Latin, French, various other languages |
Namibia | English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages: Oshivambo, Herero, Nama |
West Bank | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Wallis and Futuna | French, Wallisian (indigenous Polynesian language) |
Western Sahara | Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic |
Wake Island | |
Samoa | Samoan (Polynesian), English |
Swaziland | English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official) |
Indian Ocean | |
Arctic Ocean | |
World | |
Yemen | Arabic |
Zambia | English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages |
Atlantic Ocean | |
Zimbabwe | English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects |
Pacific Ocean | |
World | Mandarin Chinese 13.69%, Spanish 5.05%, English 4.84%, Hindi 2.82%,
Portuguese 2.77%, Bengali 2.68%, Russian 2.27%, Japanese 1.99%,
Standard German 1.49%, Wu Chinese 1.21% (2004 est.) |
Afghanistan | Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashtu (official) 35%, Turkic
languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages
(primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism |
Akrotiri | English, Greek |
Albania | Albanian (official - derived from Tosk dialect), Greek, Vlach, Romani, Slavic dialects |
Algeria | Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects |
American Samoa | Samoan 90.6% (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English 2.9%, Tongan 2.4%, other Pacific islander 2.1%, other 2% |
Andorra | Catalan (official), French, Castilian, Portuguese |
Angola | Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages |
Anguilla | English (official) |
Antarctica | |
Antigua and Barbuda | English (official), local dialects |
Arctic Ocean | |
Argentina | Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French |
Armenia | Armenian 97.7%, Yezidi 1%, Russian 0.9%, other 0.4% (2001 census) |
Aruba | Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) 66.3%, Spanish 12.6%, English (widely spoken) 7.7%, Dutch (official) 5.8%, other 2.2%, unspecified or unknown 5.3% (2000 census) |
Ashmore and Cartier Islands | |
Atlantic Ocean | |
Australia | English 79.1%, Chinese 2.1%, Italian 1.9%, other 11.1%, unspecified 5.8% (2001 Census) |
Austria | German (official nationwide) 88.6%, Turkish 2.3%, Serbian 2.2%, Croatian (official in Burgenland) 1.6%, other (includes Slovene,official in Carinthia, and Hungarian, official in Burgenland) 5.3% (2001 census) |
Azerbaijan | Azerbaijani (Azeri) 90.3%, Lezgi 2.2%, Russian 1.8%, Armenian 1.5%, other 3.3%, unspecified 1% (1999 census) |
Bahamas, The | English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
Bahrain | Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu |
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges | |
Bangladesh | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English |
Barbados | English |
Iles Eparses | |
Belarus | Belarusian, Russian, other |
Belgium | Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French) |
Belize | Spanish 46%, Creole 32.9%, Mayan dialects 8.9%, English 3.9% (official), Garifuna 3.4% (Carib), German 3.3%, other 1.4%, unknown 0.2% (2000 census) |
Benin | French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north) |
Bermuda | English (official), Portuguese |
Bhutan | Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian |
Bolivia | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) |
Botswana | Setswana 78.2%, Kalanga 7.9%, Sekgalagadi 2.8%, English 2.1% (official), other 8.6%, unspecified 0.4% (2001 census) |
Bouvet Island | |
Brazil | Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French |
British Indian Ocean Territory | |
British Virgin Islands | English (official) |
Brunei | Malay (official), English, Chinese |
Bulgaria | Bulgarian 84.5%, Turkish 9.6%, Roma 4.1%, other and unspecified 1.8% (2001 census) |
Burkina Faso | French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population |
Burma | Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages |
Burundi | Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area) |
Cambodia | Khmer (official) 95%, French, English |
Cameroon | 24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official) |
Canada | English (official) 59.3%, French (official) 23.2%, other 17.5% |
Cape Verde | Portuguese, Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words) |
Cayman Islands | English |
Central African Republic | French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages |
Chad | French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 different languages and dialects |
Chile | Spanish |
China | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) |
Christmas Island | English (official), Chinese, Malay |
Clipperton Island | |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands | Malay (Cocos dialect), English |
Colombia | Spanish |
Comoros | Arabic (official), French (official), Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili and Arabic) |
Cyprus | Greek, Turkish, English |
Congo, Republic of the | French (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo is the most widespread) |
Cook Islands | English (official), Maori |
Coral Sea Islands | |
Costa Rica | Spanish (official), English |
Cote d'Ivoire | French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the most widely spoken |
Croatia | Croatian 96.1%, Serbian 1%, other and undesignated 2.9% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German) (2001 census) |
El Salvador | Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians) |
Egypt | Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes |
East Timor | Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), Indonesian, English |
Ecuador | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
Dominican Republic | Spanish |
Dominica | English (official), French patois |
Dhekelia | English, Greek |
Djibouti | French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar |
Denmark | Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect), German (small minority) |
Czech Republic | Czech 94.9%, Slovak 2%, other 2.3%, unidentified 0.8% (2001 census) |
Cuba | Spanish |
Equatorial Guinea | Spanish 67.6% (official), other 32.4% (includes French (official), Fang, Bubi) (1994 census) |
Eritrea | Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages |
Estonia | Estonian (official) 67.3%, Russian 29.7%, other 2.3%, unknown 0.7% (2000 census) |
Ethiopia | Amarigna 32.7%, Oromigna 31.6%, Tigrigna 6.1%, Somaligna 6%, Guaragigna 3.5%, Sidamigna 3.5%, Hadiyigna 1.7%, other 14.8%, English (major foreign language taught in schools) (1994 census) |
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) | English |
Faroe Islands | Faroese (derived from Old Norse), Danish |
Fiji | English (official), Fijian (official), Hindustani |
Finland | Finnish 92% (official), Swedish 5.6% (official), other 2.4% (small Sami- and Russian-speaking minorities) (2003) |
France | French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) |
French Polynesia | French 61.1% (official), Polynesian 31.4% (official), Asian languages 1.2%, other 0.3%, unspecified 6% (2002 census) |
French Southern and Antarctic Lands | |
Gabon | French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi |
Gambia, The | English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars |
Gaza Strip | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |
Georgia | Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7% |
Germany | German |
Ghana | Asante 14.8%, Ewe 12.7%, Fante 9.9%, Boron (Brong) 4.6%, Dagomba 4.3%, Dangme 4.3%, Dagarte (Dagaba) 3.7%, Akyem 3.4%, Ga 3.4%, Akuapem 2.9%, other 36.1% (includes English (official)) (2000 census) |
Gibraltar | English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese |
Iles Eparses | |
Greece | Greek 99% (official), other 1% (includes English and French) |
Greenland | Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English |
Grenada | English (official), French patois |
Guam | English 38.3%, Chamorro 22.2%, Philippine languages 22.2%, other
Pacific island languages 6.8%, Asian languages 7%, other languages 3.5%
(2000 census) |
Guatemala | Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized
Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam,
Garifuna, and Xinca) |
Guernsey | English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts |
Guinea | French (official); note - each ethnic group has its own language |
Guinea-Bissau | Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages |
Guyana | English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Urdu |
Haiti | French (official), Creole (official) |
Heard Island and McDonald Islands | |
Holy See (Vatican City) | Italian, Latin, French, various other languages |
Honduras | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
Iceland | Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken |
Hungary | Hungarian 93.6%, other or unspecified 6.4% (2001 census) |
Hong Kong | Chinese (Cantonese) 89.2% (official), other Chinese dialects 6.4%, English 3.2% (official), other 1.2% (2001 census) |
Iles Eparses | |
India | English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for
national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the
national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14
other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu,
Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri,
Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu
spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language |
Indian Ocean | |
Indonesia | Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch,
local dialects (the most widely spoken of which is Javanese) |
Iran | Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%,
Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2% |
Iraq | Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian |
Ireland | English (official) is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic or
Gaeilge) (official) spoken mainly in areas located along the western
seaboard |
Isle of Man | English, Manx Gaelic |
Israel | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language |
Italy | Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are
predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority
in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the
Trieste-Gorizia area) |
Jamaica | English, English patois |
Jan Mayen | |
Japan | Japanese |
Jersey | English 94.5% (official), Portuguese 4.6%, other 0.9% (2001 census) |
Jordan | Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes |
Kazakhstan | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in
everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic
communication") 95% (2001 est.) |
Kenya | English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages |
Kiribati | I-Kiribati, English (official) |
Korea, North | Korean |
Korea, South | Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school |
Kuwait | Arabic (official), English widely spoken |
Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz 64.7% (official), Uzbek 13.6%, Russian 12.5% (official), Dungun 1%, other 8.2% (1999 census) |
Laos | Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
Latvia | Latvian (official) 58.2%, Russian 37.5%, Lithuanian and other 4.3% (2000 census) |
Lebanon | Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian |
Lesotho | Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa |
Liberia | English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages, of which a few can be written and are used in correspondence |
Libya | Arabic, Italian, English, all are widely understood in the major cities |
Liechtenstein | German (official), Alemannic dialect |
Lithuania | Lithuanian (official) 82%, Russian 8%, Polish 5.6%, other and unspecified 4.4% (2001 census) |
Luxembourg | Luxembourgish (national language), German (administrative language), French (administrative language) |
Macau | Cantonese 87.9%, Hokkien 4.4%, Mandarin 1.6%, other Chinese dialects 3.1%, other 3% (2001 census) |
Macedonia | Macedonian 66.5%, Albanian 25.1%, Turkish 3.5%, Roma 1.9%, Serbian 1.2%, other 1.8% (2002 census) |
Madagascar | French (official), Malagasy (official) |
Malawi | Chichewa 57.2% (official), Chinyanja 12.8%, Chiyao 10.1%, Chitumbuka
9.5%, Chisena 2.7%, Chilomwe 2.4%, Chitonga 1.7%, other 3.6% (1998
census) |
Malaysia | Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin,
Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi,
Thai |
Maldives | Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials |
Mali | French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages |
Malta | Maltese (official), English (official) |
Marshall Islands | Marshallese (official) 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999 census) |
Mauritania | Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, French, Hassaniya, Wolof |
Mauritius | Creole 80.5%, Bhojpuri 12.1%, French 3.4%, English (official; spoken by
less than 1% of the population), other 3.7%, unspecified 0.3% (2000
census) |
Mayotte | Mahorian (a Swahili dialect), French (official language) spoken by 35% of the population |
Mexico | Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages |
Micronesia, Federated States of | English (official and common language), Trukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosrean, Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro, Kapingamarangi |
Moldova | Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian, Gagauz (a Turkish dialect) |
Monaco | French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque |
Mongolia | Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) |
Montenegro | Serbian (official; Ijekavian dialect), Bosnian, Albanian, Croatian |
Montserrat | English |
Morocco | Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business, government, and diplomacy |
Mozambique | Emakhuwa 26.1%, Xichangana 11.3%, Portuguese 8.8% (official; spoken by
27% of population as a second language), Elomwe 7.6%, Cisena 6.8%,
Echuwabo 5.8%, other Mozambican languages 32%, other foreign languages
0.3%, unspecified 1.3% (1997 census) |
Namibia | English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the
population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%,
indigenous languages 1% (includes Oshivambo, Herero, Nama) |
Nauru | Nauruan (official; a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely
understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial
purposes |
Navassa Island | |
Nepal | Nepali 47.8%, Maithali 12.1%, Bhojpuri 7.4%, Tharu (Dagaura/Rana) 5.8%,
Tamang 5.1%, Newar 3.6%, Magar 3.3%, Awadhi 2.4%, other 10%,
unspecified 2.5% (2001 census) |
Netherlands | Dutch (official), Frisian (official) |
Netherlands Antilles | Papiamento 65.4% (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect), English
15.9% (widely spoken), Dutch 7.3% (official), Spanish 6.1%, Creole
1.6%, other 1.9%, unspecified 1.8% (2001 census) |
New Caledonia | French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects |
New Zealand | English (official), Maori (official), Sign Language (official) |
Nicaragua | Spanish 97.5% (official), Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census) |
Niger | French (official), Hausa, Djerma |
Nigeria | English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani |
Niue | Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English |
Norfolk Island | English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian |
Northern Mariana Islands | Philippine languages 24.4%, Chinese 23.4%, Chamorro 22.4%, English
10.8%, other Pacific island languages 9.5%, other 9.6% (2000 census) |
Norway | Bokmal Norwegian (official), Nynorsk Norwegian (official), small Sami-
and Finnish-speaking minorities; note - Sami is official in six
municipalities |
Pacific Ocean | |
Pakistan | Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%,
Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English
(official; lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government
ministries), Burushaski and other 8% |
Palau | Palauan 64.7% official in all islands except Sonsoral (Sonsoralese and
English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur
(Angaur, Japanese, and English are official), Filipino 13.5%, English
9.4%, Chinese 5.7%, Carolinian 1.5%, Japanese 1.5%, other Asian 2.3%,
other languages 1.5% (2000 census) |
Panama | Spanish (official), English 14%; note - many Panamanians bilingual |
Papua New Guinea | Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region |
Paracel Islands | |
Paraguay | Spanish (official), Guarani (official) |
Peru | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara, and a large number of minor Amazonian languages |
Philippines | Filipino (official; based on Tagalog) and English (official); eight
major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo,
Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinan |
Pitcairn Islands | English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect) |
Poland | Polish 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2% (2002 census) |
Portugal | Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used) |
Puerto Rico | Spanish, English |
Qatar | Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language |
Romania | Romanian 91% (official), Hungarian 6.7%, Romany (Gypsy) 1.1%, other 1.2% |
Uganda | English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in
courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda
or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred
for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in
school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili,
Arabic |
Tuvalu | Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui) |
Turks and Caicos Islands | English (official) |
Turkmenistan | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
Turkey | Turkish (official), Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian |
Tunisia | Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce) |
Trinidad and Tobago | English (official), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), French, Spanish, Chinese |
Tokelau | Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English |
Tonga | Tongan, English |
Togo | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two
major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye)
and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) |
Thailand | Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects |
Tanzania | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in
Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce,
administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in
Zanzibar), many local languages |
Tajikistan | Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
Syria | Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood |
Switzerland | German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 20.4%, Italian (official)
6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish
1.1%, English 1%, Romansch 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census) |
Sweden | Swedish, small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities |
Swaziland | English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official) |
Svalbard | Norwegian, Russian |
Suriname | Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese,
sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of
the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean
Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese |
Sudan | Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English |
Spratly Islands | |
Sri Lanka | Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% |
Southern Ocean | |
Spain | Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%, are official regionally |
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
South Africa | IsiZulu 23.8%, IsiXhosa 17.6%, Afrikaans 13.3%, Sepedi 9.4%, English
8.2%, Setswana 8.2%, Sesotho 7.9%, Xitsonga 4.4%, other 7.2% (2001
census) |
Somalia | Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English |
Solomon Islands | Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English
(official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous
languages |
Slovenia | Slovenian 91.1%, Serbo-Croatian 4.5%, other or unspecified 4.4% (2002 census) |
Slovakia | Slovak (official) 83.9%, Hungarian 10.7%, Roma 1.8%, Ukrainian 1%, other or unspecified 2.6% (2001 census) |
Singapore | Mandarin 35%, English 23%, Malay 14.1%, Hokkien 11.4%, Cantonese 5.7%,
Teochew 4.9%, Tamil 3.2%, other Chinese dialects 1.8%, other 0.9% (2000
census) |
Sierra Leone | English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende
(principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the
north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed
Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca
and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%) |
Congo, Democratic Republic of the | French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana
(a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba |
Seychelles | Creole 91.8%, English 4.9% (official), other 3.1%, unspecified 0.2% (2002 census) |
Senegal | French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka |
Saudi Arabia | Arabic |
Sao Tome and Principe | Portuguese (official) |
San Marino | Italian |
Samoa | Samoan (Polynesian), English |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | English, French patois |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon | French (official) |
Saint Lucia | English (official), French patois |
Saint Helena | English |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | English |
Rwanda | Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official),
English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
Russia | Russian, many minority languages |
Ukraine | Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%, other 9% (includes small Romanian-, Polish-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities) |
United Arab Emirates | Arabic (official), Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu |
United Kingdom | English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
United States | English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) |
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges | |
Uruguay | Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) |
Uzbekistan | Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
Vanuatu | local languages (more than 100) 72.6%, pidgin (known as Bislama or
Bichelama) 23.1%, English 1.9%, French 1.4%, other 0.3%, unspecified
0.7% (1999 Census) |
Venezuela | Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects |
Vietnam | Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second
language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages
(Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) |
Virgin Islands | English 74.7%, Spanish or Spanish Creole 16.8%, French or French Creole 6.6%, other 1.9% (2000 census) |
Wake Island | |
Wallis and Futuna | Wallisian 58.9% (indigenous Polynesian language), Futunian 30.1%, French 10.8%, other 0.2% (2003 census) |
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges | |
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges | |
Oman | Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects |
Iles Eparses | |
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges | |
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges | |
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges | |
Iles Eparses | |
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges | |
European Union | Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French,
Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian,
Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish,
Swedish; note - only official languages are listed |
Taiwan | Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects |
Zimbabwe | English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele,
sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects |
Zambia | English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda,
Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages |
Western Sahara | Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic |
Yemen | Arabic |
West Bank | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood) |