|
|
|
World: Languages |
Countries
| |
|
Country |
Languages (%) | | Afghanistan
| Pashtu 35%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 50%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek
and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism
| | Albania
| Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect), Greek | |
Algeria
| Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects | |
American
Samoa | Samoan (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages),
English
note: most people are bilingual | |
Andorra
| Catalan (official), French, Castilian, Portuguese | |
Angola
| Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages |
| Anguilla
| English (official) | | Antigua
and Barbuda | English (official), local dialects | |
Argentina
| Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French |
| Armenia
| Armenian 96%, Russian 2%, other 2% | | Aruba
| Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English
dialect), English (widely spoken), Spanish | | Australia
| English, native languages | | Austria
| German | | Azerbaijan
| Azerbaijani (Azeri) 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.)
| | Bahamas,
The | English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
| Bahrain
| Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu | | Bangladesh
| Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English | |
Barbados
| English | | Belarus
| Belarusian, Russian, other | | Belgium
| Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less
than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French) | |
Belize
| English (official), Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib), Creole |
| 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 | | Bolivia
| Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official) |
| Bosnia
and Herzegovina | Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian | |
Botswana
| English (official), Setswana | | Brazil
| Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French | |
British
Virgin Islands | English (official) | |
Brunei
| Malay (official), English, Chinese | | Bulgaria
| Bulgarian, secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown
| | 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 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official), 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 | |
Cocos
(Keeling) Islands | Malay (Cocos dialect), English |
| Colombia
| Spanish | | Comoros
| Arabic (official), French (official), Shikomoro (a blend of Swahili
and Arabic) | | Congo,
Democratic Republic of the | French (official), Lingala (a lingua
franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo,
Tshiluba | | 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) | | Cook
Islands | English (official), Maori | |
Costa
Rica | Spanish (official), English | |
Cote
d'Ivoire | French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the most
widely spoken | | Croatia
| Croatian 96%, other 4% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak,
and German) | | Cuba
| Spanish | | Cyprus
| Greek, Turkish, English | | Czech
Republic | Czech | | 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 | | Dominican
Republic | Spanish | | East
Timor | Tetum (official), Portuguese (official), Indonesian, English
note: there are about 16 indigenous languages; Tetum, Galole, Mambae,
and Kemak are spoken by significant numbers of people | |
Ecuador
| Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
| Egypt
| Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated
classes | | El
Salvador | Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians) |
| Equatorial
Guinea | Spanish (official), French (official), pidgin English, Fang,
Bubi, Ibo | | Eritrea
| Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages |
| Estonia
| Estonian (official), Russian, Ukrainian, Finnish, other |
| Ethiopia
| Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, other local
languages, English (major foreign language taught in schools) |
| Falkland
Islands (Islas Malvinas) | English | |
Faroe
Islands | Faroese (derived from Old Norse), Danish |
| Fiji
| English (official), Fijian, Hindustani | |
Finland
| Finnish 93.4% (official), Swedish 5.9% (official), small Sami- and Russian-speaking
minorities | | France
| French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal,
Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) | |
French
Guiana | French | | French
Polynesia | French (official), Tahitian (official) |
| 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 Israeli settlers and many Palestinians),
English (widely understood) | | Georgia
| Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7%
note: Abkhaz is the official language in Abkhazia |
| Germany
| German | | Ghana
| English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba,
Ewe, and Ga) | | Gibraltar
| English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian,
Portuguese | | Greece
| Greek 99% (official), English, French | |
Greenland
| Greenlandic (East Inuit), Danish, English | |
Grenada
| English (official), French patois | | Guadeloupe
| French (official) 99%, Creole patois | |
Guam
| English, Chamorro, Japanese | | 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), each ethnic group has its own language |
| Guinea-Bissau
| Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages | |
Guyana
| English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Hindi, Urdu | |
Haiti
| French (official), Creole (official) | |
Holy
See (Vatican City) | Italian, Latin, French, various other languages
| | Honduras
| Spanish, Amerindian dialects | | Hong
Kong | Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official |
| Hungary
| Hungarian 98.2%, other 1.8% | | Iceland
| Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German widely spoken |
| 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 |
| 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 is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic) spoken mainly
in areas located along the western seaboard | | 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, patois English | | Japan
| Japanese | | Jersey
| English (official), French (official), Norman-French dialect spoken
in country districts | | 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 - official language, Russian - official language
note:
in December 2001, the Kyrgyzstani legislature made Russian an official language,
equal in status to Kyrgyz | | Laos
| Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages |
| Latvia
| Latvian (official), Lithuanian, Russian, other | |
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), Polish, Russian | |
Luxembourg
| Luxembourgish (national language), German (administrative language),
French (administrative language) | | Macau
| Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese) | | Macedonia,
The Former Yugoslav Republic of | Macedonian 70%, Albanian 21%, Turkish
3%, Serbo-Croatian 3%, other 3% | | Madagascar
| French (official), Malagasy (official) | |
Malawi
| English (official), Chichewa (official), other languages important regionally
| | 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 | | 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) | |
Man,
Isle of | English, Manx Gaelic | | 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 | | Martinique
| French, Creole patois | | Mauritania
| Hassaniya Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof (official), French
| | Mauritius
| English (official), Creole, French (official), Hindi, Urdu, Hakka, Bhojpuri
| | 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) | |
Montserrat
| English | | Morocco
| Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business,
government, and diplomacy | | Mozambique
| Portuguese (official), indigenous dialects | |
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 | | Nauru
| Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely
understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes |
| 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) | | Netherlands
| Dutch (official language), Frisian (official language) |
| Netherlands
Antilles | Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English
dialect) predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish | |
New
Caledonia | French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects |
| New
Zealand | English (official), Maori (official) | |
Nicaragua
| Spanish (official)
note: English and indigenous languages
on Atlantic coast | | 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 | English, Chamorro, Carolinian
note:
86% of population speaks a language other than English at home |
| Norway
| Norwegian (official)
note: small Sami- and Finnish-speaking
minorities | | Oman
| Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects |
| 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% | | 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) | | Panama
| Spanish (official), English 14%
note: many Panamanians bilingual
| | Papua
New Guinea | English spoken by 1%-2%, pidgin English widespread, Motu
spoken in Papua region
note: 715 indigenous languages |
| Paraguay
| Spanish (official), Guarani (official) | |
Peru
| Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara | |
Philippines
| two official languages - Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English; eight
major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray,
Pampango, and Pangasinense | | Pitcairn
Islands | English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century
English dialect and a Tahitian dialect) | | Poland
| Polish | | Portugal
| Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used) |
| Puerto
Rico | Spanish, English | | Qatar
| Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language |
| Reunion
| French (official), Creole widely used | |
Romania
| Romanian (official), Hungarian, German | |
Russia
| Russian, other | | Rwanda
| Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official),
English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers |
| Saint
Helena | English | | Saint
Kitts and Nevis | English | | Saint
Lucia | English (official), French patois | |
Saint
Pierre and Miquelon | French (official) | |
Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines | English, French patois |
| Samoa
| Samoan (Polynesian), English | | San
Marino | Italian | | Sao
Tome and Principe | Portuguese (official) | |
Saudi
Arabia | Arabic | | Senegal
| French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka | |
Serbia
and Montenegro | Serbian 95%, Albanian 5% | |
Seychelles
| English (official), French (official), Creole | |
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%) | |
Singapore
| Chinese (official), Malay (official and national), Tamil (official),
English (official) | | Slovakia
| Slovak (official), Hungarian | | Slovenia
| Slovenian 91%, Serbo-Croatian 6%, other 3% | |
Solomon
Islands | Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca;
English is official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population
note:
120 indigenous languages | | Somalia
| Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English | |
South
Africa | 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele,
Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu | |
Spain
| Castilian Spanish 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%
note:
Castilian is the official language nationwide; the other languages are official
regionally | | 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 | |
Sudan
| Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic,
Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
note: program of "Arabization"
in process | | 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 | | Svalbard
| Russian, Norwegian | | Swaziland
| English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati
(official) | | Sweden
| Swedish
note: small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities
| | Switzerland
| German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 19.2%, Italian (official)
7.6%, Romansch (official) 0.6%, other 8.9% | | Syria
| Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood;
French, English somewhat understood | | Taiwan
| Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects |
| Tajikistan
| Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
| 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 | | Thailand
| Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional
dialects | | 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) | |
Tokelau
| Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English | |
Tonga
| Tongan, English | | Trinidad
and Tobago | English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese |
| Tunisia
| Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce)
| | Turkey
| Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
| Turkmenistan
| Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% | |
Turks
and Caicos Islands | English (official) | |
Tuvalu
| Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui) |
| 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 | | Ukraine
| Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian | |
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, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority) |
| 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
| three official languages: English, French, pidgin (known as Bislama
or Bichelama), plus more than 100 local languages | |
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 (official), Spanish, Creole | |
Wallis
and Futuna | French, Wallisian (indigenous Polynesian language) |
| West
Bank | Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians),
English (widely understood) | | Western
Sahara | Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic | |
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.)
note: percents are for
"first language" speakers only | | Yemen
| Arabic | | Zambia
| English (official), major vernaculars - Bemba, Kaonda, Lozi, Lunda,
Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga, and about 70 other indigenous languages |
| Zimbabwe
| English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes
called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects | | |
| |
|
|
|
