List of multilingual countries and regions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an incomplete list of areas with either multilingualism at the community level or at the personal level.

There is a distinction between social and personal bilingualism. Many countries, such as Belgium, which are officially multilingual, may have many monolinguals in their population. Officially monolingual countries, on the other hand, such as France, can have sizable multilingual populations.

1 Africa
2 Americas
3 Asia
4 Europe
5 Oceania
6 Multilingual Cities

[edit] Africa

Central Africa
- Cameroon : English & French (official) + Cameroonian Pidgin, Basaa, Bikya, Bung, Fula, Kanuri, Ngumba, Yeni, Bamum
- Central African Republic : French (official) + Sango
- Chad : Arabic & French (official) + more than 100 tribal languages + Chadian Arabic (national trade language)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo : French (official), + Lingala, Kongo, Swahili & Tshiluba (national languages) + 238 other languages
- Equatorial Guinea : French + Spanish
- Republic of the Congo : French (official) +Lingala & Kituba national languages + other dialects, including Kikongo and Kituba (Kikongo creole)

Eastern Africa
- Burundi : French & Kirundi (official) + Swahili
- Djibouti : Arabic & French (official) + Somali & Afar
- Eritrea : no official language with 2 dominant language families: Semitic (Arabic, Tigrinya, Tigre and Dahlik) and Cushitic (Afar, Beja, Blin & Saho) + Kunama & Nara + English, Amharic & some Italian
- Kenya : English & Swahili (official) + other indigenous languages
- Rwanda : English, French & Kinyarwanda (official languages)
- Seychelles : English, French & Seychellois Creole (official languages)
- Somalia : Somali (official) + Arabic & English
- Tanzania : Swahili (national) + English, Gujarati & Portuguese
- Uganda : English (official) + Arabic, Luganda, Swahili + other Bantu languages & other Nilo-Saharan languages

Northern Africa
- Algeria: Arabic (official) + Tamazight (a national language) and other languages + French
- Egypt: Arabic (official) + Egyptian Arabic, English & French
- Libya: Arabic (official) + Tamazight, Tamahaq + Italian & English
- Mauritania: Arabic (de facto) + Hassaniya & French
- Morocco: Arabic + French, Amazigh & Moroccan Arabic
  - - Western Sahara: Hassaniya, Moroccan Arabic, Spanish
    - Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic: Arabic + Spanish
- Sudan: Arabic & English + indigenous languages
- Tunisia: Modern Standard Arabic (official) + Tunisian Arabic, French & several Tamazight languages

Southern Africa
- Botswana : English (official) + Setswana (national)
- Comores : Arabic, Comorian, French
- Lesotho : English + Sesotho
- Madagascar : French + Malagasy
- Malawi : Chichewa (national) + English (official)
- Mauritius : English (official) + French (administrative), Mauritian Creole (lingua franca), HIndi, Hakka, Bojpoori, Tamil, Urdu,
- Namibia : English (official) + Ovambo (half of the population), Afrikaans & German (former official languages), Portuguese (Angolan immigrants, both of African & European-descent)
- South Africa : Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Swati, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu.
- Swaziland : English + Siswati
- Zimbabwe : English (official), Shona, Ndebele

Western Africa
- Benin: French (official) + many indigenous languages including Fon & Songhay
- Burkina Faso: French (official) + indigenous Sudanic languages
- Cape Verde: Portuguese + Cape Verdean Crioulo languages + French
- Côte d'Ivoire: French (official) + 60 indigenous dialects
- Gambia: English (official) + Mandinka, Wolof, Fula & others
- Ghana: English (official) + Akan, Dagaare/Wale, Dagbane, Dangme, Ewe, Ga, Gonja, Kasem & Nzema + 70 others
- Guinea: French (official) + Arabic, Fula & Susu
- Guinea-Bissau: Portuguese (official) + Kriol + indigenous languages
- Liberia: English (official) + 20 ethnic group languages
- Togo : French (official) + Ewe, Mina & le Kabiyé

[edit] Americas

Canada is officially bilingual under the Official Languages Act and the Constitution of Canada that require the federal government to deliver services in both official languages. As well, minority language rights are guaranteed where numbers warrant. Approximately 15% of Canadians speak French with another 18% speaking both English and French. See Bilingualism in Canada

The Canadian province of New Brunswick, with a large Acadian population (35% French-speaking), is the only province in Canada with two official languages.
The Canadian province of Quebec, (10% English-speaking) Note: Although there is a relatively sizable English-speaking population in Quebec, French is the only official language. At the same time, most government services are available in English and French.
There are also significant French language minorities in the provinces of Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Prince Edward Island. Though these provinces are not officially bilingual they do provide a number of services in French.
Nunavut is a Canadian territory with a population that is 85% Inuit. Its official languages are the Inuit dialects of Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun as well as English and French.
In many of Canada's First Nations' communities in the more isolated regions, aboriginal languages are retained. English and French are accepted in the community at the community elders discretion.
In the 2006 Canadian census, information and questions are available in sixty-two languages, including eighteen First Nation languages.

In Guatemala, the official language is Spanish, however, there are 23 distinct Mayan languages. Not all Guatemalans speak Spanish, while some may do so only as a second or third language.

In Mexico, the government recognizes 62 indigenous languages, including Nahuatl spoken by more than 1.5 million people and Aquacatec spoken by 27 people, along with Spanish. There is no official language at the federal level, although Spanish is the de facto state language.

In the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, where Dutch is the official language, but most inhabitants of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire are multilingual and speak Papiamentu, Dutch, English and Spanish.

Paraguay, 48% of its population is bilingual in Guaraní and Spanish, of whom 37% speak only Guaraní and 8% only Spanish but the latter increases with the use of Jopará.

In the USA, at the federal level, there is no official language, although there have been efforts to make English the official language.

Three US states are officially bilingual: Louisiana (English and French), New Mexico (English and Spanish), and Hawai'i (English and Hawaiian).
Three US territories are also bilingual: American Samoa (Samoan and English), Guam (English and Chamorro), and Puerto Rico (Spanish and English). One US territory is trilingual: Northern Marianas Islands (English, Chamorro, and Carolinian)

Furthermore, in Florida, at the municipal level, HIaleah recognizes both English and Spanish while Miami recnognizes English, French Creole, and Spanish as official government languages.

[edit] Asia

In Lebanon, Arabic, French and English are official languages. Most Lebanese are fluent in all three, often using them simultaneously in the same sentence. i.e "Shou, on part clubbing?" meaning "So, what, are we going clubbing?"

In China, Putonghua is the official language and is spoken in all regions. It is used for official and formal purposes, by the media and in education as the language of instruction. However in every locality and region, local dialects of spoken variants of Chinese are spoken in daily life. These dialects range from being quite similar to Putonghua, such as Tianjin dialect, to varieties that are mutually unintelligible with Putonghua such as Shanghai dialect (Wu) or Guangzhou dialect (Cantonese). In the autonomous regions, minority languages are widely used (such as Tibetan in Tibet or Mongolian in Inner Mongolia).

In Hong Kong, both English and Chinese are official languages. While Cantonese is the dominant Chinese language, Putonghua is gradually having more speakers in recent years. Although these three languages are taught in schools and are mandatory subjects, most people only speak Cantonese, relatively few people are bilingual in Cantonese and English or Putonghua.

In Macau, both Chinese and Portuguese are official languages. While Cantonese is the dominant Chinese language, and Putonghua is also spoken. Chinese is taught in all schools, while Portuguese is mainly taught in government schools. In addition, English is also taught in many schools.

India: There are 23 official languages in India (Including Hindi and English). The largest, Hindi, is spoken natively by 18% of the population and is largely understood by educated Indians. English is also widely used, although mainly in urban parts of the country. An Indian with a high-school education would generally be trilingual - speaking his own native language, in addition to Hindi and English, with varying fluency, both the languages being compulsorily (in select states) taught in most schools and colleges. For more information, see Indian languages, List of national languages of India

Most people in Indonesia are bilingual at an early age. They speak a local native language with their families whereas the official Indonesian language is used to communicate with people from other regions and is taught in schools as a compulsory subject. Indonesia has over two hundred native languages.

In Israel, some of the immigrant Jewish population speaks Hebrew as well as their mother tongue; The Arab population of Israel speaks both Arabic and Hebrew.

Many Koreans living in Japan speak both Korean and Japanese.

Many people in Malaysia are bilingual while Malaysians of Chinese and Indian descent may be trilingual. Malay, the official language of the country, is a compulsory subject learnt in all public schools, and English is the language of instruction for Science and Math. Tamil and several Chinese dialects are spoken by respective communities. The indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak speak their ancestral languages (Dayak etc). Multilinguilism is common in Malaysia, most notably among the Chinese and Indian communities.

Philippines: Filipino and English are official languages in the constitution. Some People in native Tagalog areas are bilingual, while in non-Tagalog speaking areas it's common to be multililingual in the native and/or regional language/s, Filipino and English.

Singapore: English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil are all official languages. As English links the different races, a group with diverse races communicate using English. In addition to English, individuals speak their ethnic language, a dialect, and usually have some proficiency with a third language from one of the four, or commonly Japanese, French or German.

Sri Lanka. Sinhala and Tamil are official languages.

Taiwan: Mandarin Chinese is the "official" language, but Taiwanese(Southern Fujian) is commonly use in most people in southern Taiwan and most adult in northern Taiwan. In the Hakka community, some people are trilingual in Hakka, Mandarin and Taiwanese.

[edit] Europe

see also European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

Belgium has 3 official languages: Dutch (60%) in North, French (35%) in the South and a small minority speaks German. Its bilingual capital, Brussels, is mainly French (15% Dutch).
Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. Swedish is spoken by a minority, about 5.5% native speakers concentrated along the coast and on the Åland Islands; the latter are unilingually Swedish.
Ireland, where three languages have some form of official status. In the Republic of Ireland, Irish (one of the Goidelic languages) is the first official language while English is the second. Approximately 250,000 Irish citizens are either fluent or semi-fluent in Irish, making it the most commonly spoken Goidelic language and the second most spoken Celtic language after Welsh. However English is far more commonly used as less than 3% speak Irish as their first language, about half of them living Gaeltacht regions where Irish is the everyday language. Ulster Scots, a variety of Scots, is spoken by some in northern regions, but again English is far more commonly used and Ulster Scots is less actively used in media. Irish and Ulster Scots now both have official status in the Northern Ireland as part of the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
Italy. The official language overall is Italian, while bilingualism is applied in some territories. In the province of Bolzano/Bozen (South Tirol) German is co-official in force of international treaties with Austria and the situation of this land represents one of the most representative case of bilingualism.^{[citation needed]} In the Aosta Valley region French is co-official, as is Slovene in some municipalities of the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia. Ladin municipalities of South Tirol are trilingual (Italian, German and Ladin). Italian law n. 482/1999 enforce bilingualism also in Sardinia (with Sardu), Friuli (with Friulian), Western Alps in Piedmont (with Occitan) and other minorities.
Luxembourg is a rare example of a truly trilingual society, in that it not only has three official languages, Luxembourgish, French and German, but has a trilingual education system. For the first four years, Luxembourgish is the medium of instruction, before giving way to German, which in turn gives way to French. (In addition, children learn English and another European language, usually Spanish or Italian.) Similarly in the country's parliament, debates are conducted in Luxembourgish, draft legislation is drafted in German, while the statute laws are in French.
ex-Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries: many people fluently speak Russian, especially in Slavic countries within the area of the former USSR (typically in Belarus, Ukraine. However few Poles, Slovaks and Czech people speak Russian, despite huge expenditure in the past)
- Republics of Russia. The language of titular nation is also official in those republics. Chuvash, Bashkir and Mari residents of Tatarstan also use to speak 3 language: own, Russian and Tatar.
- Abkhazia. Elder generation of Abkhaz spoke Georgian, Russian and Abkhaz language
Parts of Lower Silesia voivodship of Poland, where live many people for which German is mother tongue
Switzerland has three official languages : German, French and Italian as well as a fourth national language Romansh. In the German speaking part of Switzerland, children learn Swiss German at home as their mothertongue and learn German at school, as their second language. Most Swiss learn a second national language at school, in addition to English. The cantons Valais, Fribourg and Bern are bilingual (French and German), while canton Graubünden is trilingual (German, Romansh and Italian).
Spain, where many regions have more than one official language: Euskadi and Navarra (Basque-Spanish), Galicia (Galego-Spanish), Valencia, Balearic Islands and Catalonia (Catalan-Spanish), but especially in Catalonia, where Spanish and Catalan both enjoy great social esteem and are both used in almost every social situation)
Sweden. Tornedalen and Haparanda in North Bothnia, Finnish-speaking.
Wales with 611,000 Welsh speakers, making Welsh the most spoken Celtic language.
Scotland. 58,652 Gaelic speakers, mostly concentraded in the Highlands and the Hebrides, the traditional heartland of Gaelic culture.
Slovenia. In the costal area (Koper, Izola and Piran) Italian is also an official language, besides Slovene. In the eastern part of Prekmurje, Hungarian is used as an official language next to Slovene. In the bilingual areas, all children are taught both languages.
In most countries of Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian is understood by all three groups (see Serbo-Croatian)

[edit] Oceania

In New Zealand, approximately 10% of the population has some reasonable degree of bilingualism with English and Māori, mostly among the Māori themselves; few are fully fluent in Māori.

[edit] Multilingual Cities

In many cities around the globe, two or more languages are spoken frequently by a majority of the population. There are also large cities with high numbers of immigrants such as London, New York and Toronto, where dozens of languages can be heard, but the majority of the population are monolingual.

There are many more cities of multi-lingual speakers where multi-lingualism a part of everyday life.

The following list is an example: