The official language of Algeria is Modern Standard Arabic (literary Arabic), as specified in its constitution since 1963. In addition to this, Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002. Algerian Arabic and Berber are the native languages of over 99% of Algerians, with Algerian Arabic spoken by about 72% and Berber by 27.4%.[5]French, though it has no official status, is widely used in government, culture, media (newspapers) and education (from primary school), due to Algeria's colonial history and can be regarded as being a de facto co-official language of Algeria. Kabyle, the most spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts of Kabylie.
Andorra
Official language is Catalan, although the most spoken language is Spanish. Other minority languages are French and Portuguese.
The de facto[upper-alpha 1] official language is Spanish, spoken by almost all Argentines.[6] Due to the extensive Argentine geography, Spanish has a strong variation among regions, although the prevalent dialect is Rioplatense, primarily spoken in the La Plata Basin and accented similarly to Neapolitan language.[7]
There are several second-languages in widespread use among the Argentine population:
Welsh, including its Patagonian dialect, in which 25,000 people are fluent.[6] Some districts have recently incorporated it as an educational language.[11]
Armenia
Armenian is the only official language. Due to its Soviet past, Russian is still widely used in Armenia and could be considered as de facto second language. According to a 2013 survey, 95% of Armenians said they had some knowledge of Russian (24% advanced, 59% intermediate) compared to 40% who said they knew some English (4% advanced, 16% intermediate and 20% beginner). However, more adults (50%) think that English should be taught in public secondary schools than those who prefer Russian (44%).[12]
Australia
Although Australia has no official language, English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language.[13]Standard Australian English serves as the standard dialect. According to the 2016 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for 72.6% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (2.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese (1.2%), Vietnamese (1.2%), Italian (1.2%), Greek (1.0%), Tagalog (0.8%), Hindi (0.7%), Spanish (0.6%) and Punjabi (0.6%);[14] a considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. A 2010–2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic, followed by Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese, and Hindi.[15][16] 0.3% of Australians spoke an Indigenous Australian language at home in 2016.[14]
Austria
The official and national language of Austria is German. In some regions in the east of the country Croatian is a co-official language too.
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2020)
Bahrain
Arabic is the official language of Bahrain, though English is widely used.[19]Bahrani Arabic is the most widely spoken dialect of the Arabic language, though this differs slightly from standard Arabic. Among the Bahraini and non-Bahraini population, many people speak Persian, the official language of Iran, or Urdu, the official language of Pakistan.[19]Malayalam and Nepali are also widely spoken in the Nepalese workers and Gurkha Soldiers community. Hindi is spoken among significant Indian communities.[19]
Bangladesh
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2020)
Barbados
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2020)
Belarus
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2020)
In the past, Belgium held a census each ten years, including a language census (nl/fr). Since 1932, the results of this census defined to which official language a municipality belonged (Dutch, French or German). However, this caused a lot of conflicts along the language border, in Brussels and its periphery (due to the Francization of Brussels). The territory of Belgium was consequently divided into four definitive official language areas[20] and the language census was abolished, effective 1 September 1963. No national language censuses have been held since then.
The official language of Brunei is Malay. The principal spoken language is Melayu Brunei (Brunei Malay). Brunei Malay is rather divergent from standard Malay and the rest of the Malay dialects, being about 84% cognate with standard Malay,[22] and is mostly mutually unintelligible with it.[23] English and Chinese are also widely spoken, English is also used in business, as a working language, and as the language of instruction from primary to tertiary education,[24][25][26][27] and there is a relatively large expatriate community.[28] Other languages spoken include Kedayan, Tutong, Murut and Dusun.[22]
Bulgaria
In the Bulgarian census, the question about the mother tongue and the ethnic group is an optional one. The results among the people that have answered both questions according to the latest census in 2011 are:[29]
According to Statistics Canada, no other national census includes as many questions about language as does the Census in Canada; the 2016 census included seven such questions.[30] In 2016, all respondents were asked, "Can this person speak English or French well enough to conduct a conversation?"; "What language does this person speak most often at home?"; "Does this person speak any other languages on a regular basis at home?"; and "What is the language that this person first learned at home in childhood and still understands?".[31] In addition, a sample of 25% of households received a longer survey asking, "What language(s), other than English or French, can this person speak well enough to conduct a conversation?"; "In [the person's] job, what language did this person use most often?"; and "Did this person use any other languages on a regular basis in this job?".[32]
The following is the breakdown of the language spoken most often at home according to the 2016 census:[33]
Among immigrant languages (a term used by Statistics Canada to refer to languages other than English, French, Aboriginal languages, and sign languages), the top ten languages most commonly spoken at home in 2016 were the following:[34]
Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds.[38]
Cyprus
The Armenian Alphabet at the Melkonian Educational Institute. Armenian is recognised as a minority language in Cyprus.Cyprus road signs in Greek and English. An estimate of 87% of Cypriot population speaks English.
Cyprus has two official languages, Greek and Turkish.[39]Armenian and Cypriot Maronite Arabic are recognized as minority languages.[40][41] Although without official status, English is widely spoken. English features on road signs, public notices, and in advertisements, etc.[42] English was the sole official language during British colonial rule and lingua franca (until 1960) and continued to be used (de facto) in courts of law until 1989 and in legislature until 1996.[43] A reported 80.4% of Greek Cypriots have command of the English language as second language (L2).[44]Russian is widely spoken among the country's minorities, residents and citizens of post-Soviet countries, as well as Pontic Greeks. It is used and spoken by approximately 100,000 people, including Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians, Pontic Greeks, Georgians and Bulgarians.[citation needed] Russian, after English and Greek, is the third language used on many signs of shops and restaurants, particularly in Limassol and Paphos. In addition to these languages, 12% speak French and 5% speak German.[45]
The first official censuses for the Czech lands (then part of Austria-Hungary) in the years 1869–1910 recorded each person's "language of communication" ("obcovací řeč"). This used to be criticised by linguistic minorities as representing the language of a person's surroundings rather than his or her own. The Czechoslovak censuses (1921, 1930, 1950, 1961, 1980) did not register respondents' language but "národnost" (ethnicity) which was to be assessed primarily, but not exclusively, on the basis of the person's "maternal tongue" ("mateřská řeč"). The 1970 census as well as modern censuses (1990, 2001, 2011) register both "ethnicity" and "maternal tongue" (which was, for example in the 2001 census, defined as "the language in which your mother or the persons having raised you spoke with you during your childhood"[46]).[47] The 2011 census form was the first to allow a person to claim two native languages. While certain options are habitually suggested in the form (in 2011: Czech, Slovak, Romani, Polish, German, sign language), the possibility "Other" can be chosen together with completing one's own specification. Unlike "ethnicity", this is an obligatory field in the form.[48]
As the 2011 census introduced the possibility to state two native languages, the table below includes the number in both languages' rows.
Estonian is the official language of Estonia and 886,859 or 68.5% of permanent residents spoke it as native language.[53] Russian is spoken by 383,062 (29.6%), Ukrainian by 8,012 (0.6%), Finnish by 2,617 (0.17%) and Belarusian by 1,663 (0.13%). Other languages have less than thousand speakers.
There are two official languages in the Faroe Islands, Danish and Faroese.[54] According to the public census Hagstova Føroya in 2014, more than 90 percent had Faroese as their first language.[55] The entire list of spoken languages in 2014 is:[56]
Fiji currently recognises 3 languages in its country. The languages are Fijian, Fiji Hindi and English. As of 2017 450,000 of the population speaks Fijian as their first language and another 200,000 speak it as their second language. Fiji Hindi is another of the official languages of Fiji and has about 460,000 as of 1991. English is an official language as it was a British colony some time ago. There are many other languages spoken in Fiji such as Hindi and Chinese but they do not have any status in Fiji.
According to the Finnish constitution, the two national languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. About six per cent of the Finnish people speak Swedish as their mother tongue. The constitution also grants for the speakers of Sami, Romani and other languages the right to maintain and develop their language and culture. The right to use sign language is also set in the Finnish Language Act.[57] In accordance with the Population Census Act, censuses are drawn every ten years, and the mother tongue of each resident is registered. However, key census data, including population by native language, are updated annually. According to the official statistics, speakers of 155 different languages have been registered. The censuses use the ISO 639-1 language classification.[58][59]
France recognizes but one language, French, declared national language. Other indigenous languages have no official status, although their teaching is tolerated in some places under specific conditions, and there has never been any question about languages in a French national census.
However, the March 1999 census was associated with an INSEE survey "Study of family history" for 380 thousand people, including questions about language transmission.[60][61]
Germany
The census 2011 and the West-German census 1987 did not inquire about language. Since the 2017 micro census, a survey conducted with a sampling fraction of 1% of the persons and households in Germany that supplies basic socio-demographic data and facilitates the ongoing monitoring of the labour market, a question asking "Which language is being spoken predominantly in your household?" was added,[62] eighty years since the 1939 Census asked for the Mother tongue of the population.[63]
Greece
The official language of Greece is Greek, spoken by 99% of the population. In addition, a number of non-official, minority languages and some Greek dialects are spoken as well. The most common foreign languages learned by Greeks are English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
The two official languages of Haiti are French and Haitian Creole. French is the principal written and administratively authorized language. It is spoken by all educated Haitians, is the medium of instruction in most schools, and is used in the business sector. Haitian Creole,[64] which recently undergone a standardization, is spoken by virtually the entire population of Haiti.[65]
Hong Kong
Officially English and Chinese are the two official language of Hong Kong. The definition of Chinese is somehow ambiguous as Chinese itself consists of a number of mutually unintelligible varieties. Cantonese is the major spoken language in Hong Kong and written in various form with traditional Chinese characters. English is a variant of British English, though American English is also commonly used in Hong Kong.
From 19th century, the population Census in Hong Kong has investigated what languages the people of Hong Kong speak. Hakka, Hoklo, Sze Yap, Shanghainese and Tanka[dubious–discuss] have lost importance over time. Cantonese has come to be spoken by the vast majority, though there are increasingly more Mandarin-speaking people, particularly since the turn of the millennium.
Hungary
Starting from 1880 the Hungarian census system was based on native language (the language spoken at home in the early life of the person and at the time of the survey), vulgar language (the most frequently used language in the family), and other spoken languages.
Iceland has been a very isolated and linguistically homogeneous island historically, but has nevertheless beheld several languages. Gaelic was native to many of the early Icelanders, the Icelandic or Norse language however prevailing, albeit absorbing Gaelic features. Later, northern trade routes brought German, English, Dutch, French and Basque. Some merchants and clergymen settled in Iceland throughout the centuries, leaving their mark on culture, but linguistically mainly trade, nautical or religious terms. Excluding these and Latin words, Icelandic has altered remarkably little since settlement, the island's residents living in seclusion.
Icelandic is not only the national language, but is now "the official language in Iceland" by virtue of Act No 61/2011, adopted by parliament in 2011.[67]Icelandic Sign Language was also officially recognised by law in 2011 as a minority language with constitutional rights and the first language of the Icelandic deaf community. During the time of Danish rule, Danish was a minority language in Iceland,[68] although it is nowadays only spoken by a small number of immigrants.
India is a linguistically diverse country, with over 121 languages and 270 dialects spoken.[69] The population of India in 1991 exhibited 19.4% bilingualism and 7.2% trilingualism. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India, with over 522 million native speakers. It is also the official language of the central government of India. Bengali is the second most widely spoken language in India, with over 97 million native speakers. Marathi is the third most widely spoken language in India, with over 83 million native speakers. The other major languages in India are Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada, Odia, Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese, Konkani, Maithili, Dogri, and Santali.
Indonesia
Indonesian functions as the official language of the country, but it coexists with a high number of local languages. According to Ethnologue, there are currently about 737 living languages in Indonesia,[70] the most widely spoken being Javanese. Most Indonesians are bilingual and trilingual.
A number of Chinese varieties, most prominently Min Nan, are also spoken. The public use of Chinese, especially Chinese written characters, was officially discouraged between 1966 and 1998.
Arabic are used in religious setting, and in Madrasah (Islamic boarding school), and in various names (people and places). Arabic script (Jawi script) is used in many local languages.
English is taught in school as foreign language. Some school are also teaching other languages as foreign language, such as Chinese, and/or other Asian/European languages.
Previously to the invasion in 2003, Arabic was the sole official language. Since the new Constitution of Iraq was approved in June 2004, both Arabic and Kurdish are an official languages,[77] while Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Turkmen language (referred to as respectively "Syriac" and "Turkmen" in the constitution) are recognized as a regional languages.[78] In addition, any region or province may declare other languages official if a majority of the population approves in a general referendum.[79]
Based on the Iraqi constitution: "The Arabic language and the Kurdish language are the two official languages of Iraq. The right of Iraqis to educate their children in their mother tongue, such as Turkmen, Assyrian, and Armenian shall be guaranteed in government educational institutions in accordance with educational guidelines, or in any other language in private educational institutions".[80]
Ireland
The 2016 Irish census included the following questions: "Can you speak Irish?" (and if yes, whether the respondent spoke Irish daily within the education system, daily outside the education system, weekly, less often, or never); "Do you speak a language other than English or Irish at home?" (and if yes, which language); and "How well do you speak English?" (very well, well, not well, or not at all).[81]
In 2016, 1,761,420 persons stated that they could speak Irish (39.8% of the population). However, of this group, 418,420 (23.8% of Irish speakers) reported that they never spoke it, and 558,608 (31.7%) reported that they only spoke it within the education system.[82]
Ivory Coast
French, as an official language, is taught in schools and serves as a lingua franca in the country. Ethnic groups include Akan 42.1%, Voltaiques or Gur 17.6%, Northern Mandes 16.5%, Krous 11%, Southern Mandes 10%, other 2.8% (includes 30,000 Lebanese and 45,000 French; 2004). 77% of the population are considered Ivoirians. They represent several different peoples and language groups. An estimated 65 languages are spoken in the country. One of the most common is Dyula, which acts as a trade language as well as a language commonly spoken by the Muslim population.
The 2011 Population and Housing Census did not include any questions about language use.[83]
Japan
More than 99 percent of the population speaks Japanese as their first language.[76]
Besides Japanese, other languages like Ryukyuan languages (Amami, Kunigami, Okinawan, Miyako, Yaeyama, Yonaguni), also part of the Japonic language family, are spoken in the Ryukyu Islands chain. Few children learn these languages,[84] but in recent years the local governments have sought to increase awareness of the traditional languages. The Okinawan Japanese dialect is also spoken in the region. The Ainu language, which has no proven relationship to Japanese or any other language, is moribund, with only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaido.[85] Most public and private schools require students to take courses in both Japanese and English.[86][87]
As of the last national census in 2002, of the republic's 2,022,547 people, 67% speak Macedonian as their mother tongue. The next most common mother tongue is Albanian with 25% of the population. Other minority languages include Turkish (3.6%), Romani (1.9%), and the Serbo-croatian languages (1.6%).[88]
The national or official language is Malay, which is the mother tongue of the majority Malay ethnic group. The main ethnic groups within Malaysia comprise the Malays, Chinese and Indians, with many other ethnic groups represented in smaller numbers, each with its own languages. The largest native languages spoken in East Malaysia are the Iban, Dusunic and the Kadazan languages. English is widely understood in service industries and is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school.
Malaysia contains speakers of 137 living languages,[89] 41 of which are found in Peninsula Malaysia.[90] The government provides schooling at the primary level in each of the three major languages, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin), and Tamil. Within these three there are a number of dialectal differences.[91]
Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English. Maltese is also the national language. Until 1934, Italian was also an official language in Malta. Having been governed by many different countries in the past, the Maltese population is generally able to converse in languages which are not native to the country, namely English and Italian.
According to the 2011 census, there were 377,952 people aged 10 and over, of whom 352,121 people (93.2%) declared to speak Maltese "Well", 248,570 (65.8%) declared to speak English "Well" and 93,401 (24.7%) declared to speak Italian "Well", out of a scale made of "Well", "Average", "A little" and "Not at all".[92]
Mongolia
The official language of Mongolia is Mongolian, which is spoken by 95% of the population. A variety of dialects of Oirat and Buryat are spoken across the country, and there are also some speakers of Mongolic Khamnigan. In the west of the country, Kazakh and Tuvan, both Turkic languages, are also spoken. Mongolian Sign Language is the principal language of the deaf community.
Russian is the most frequently spoken foreign language in Mongolia, followed by English, although English has been gradually replacing Russian as the second language. Korean has gained popularity as tens of thousands of Mongolians work in South Korea.[93]
Interest in Chinese, as the language of the other neighbouring power, has been growing.[citation needed] A number of older educated Mongolian citizens speak some German, as they studied in the former East Germany, while a few speak other languages from the former Eastern Bloc. Many younger people are fluent in the Western European languages as they study or work in, among other places, Germany, France and Italy.[citation needed]
Myanmar
The official language of Myanmar is Burmese; which is spoken by 81% of population. First language is about 69% and second language user is about 12%.
The official language of Nepal is Nepali (नेपाली), formerly called Khaskura then Gorkhali. According to the 2011 national census, the percentage of people with Nepali as the mother tongue is 44.6%.[95]
New Zealand
The 2018 New Zealand census included a question asking, "In what language(s) could you have a conversation about a lot of everyday things?"[96] Respondents could choose more than one language. The top five selections were:[97]
In the Norwegian census of 1970, in limited areas in Northern Norway, people were identified by ethnicity and language. Such information has not been included in any census since then.[98] During the 19th century, the Norwegian government collected ethnicity and language information.[99]
Ethnologue lists 175 individual languages in the Philippines, 171 of which are living languages, while 4 no longer have any known speakers. Most native languages are part of the Philippine branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is itself a branch of the Austronesian language family.[102] The only non-Austronesian language indigenous to the Philippines is Chavacano, a Spanish-based creole. According to the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Filipino and English are the official languages. Filipino is a standardized version of Tagalog, spoken mainly in Metro Manila and other urban regions. Both Filipino and English are used in government, education, print, broadcast media, and business. The constitution mandates that Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.[103]
In the 2002 census and 2011 census was the possibility to state more than one home language, while in 2011 census was also possibility to state native languages; the table below includes the number in all languages' rows.
The official language of Portugal is Portuguese, which is spoken by the whole population. A small minority speaks Mirandese, recognized as a regional language, but all Mirandese speakers also speak Portuguese.
Qatar
Arabic is the official language of Qatar, with Qatari Arabic the local dialect. Qatari Sign Language is the language of the deaf community. English is also widely spoken,[112] and is considered to be a rising lingua franca, especially in commerce, to the extent that steps are being taken to try to preserve Arabic from English's encroachment.[113] English is particularly useful for communication with Qatar's large expatriate community. In 2012, Qatar joined the international French-speaking organisation of La Francophonie as a new associate member,[114] justifying its inscription by the consequent number of French speakers in the country (10% of the Qatari population would be francophone).[115][116] Reflecting the multicultural make-up of the country, many other languages are also spoken, including Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Tamil, Nepali and Tagalog.[117]
Romania
Romanian is the official language of Romania. According to the last census in 2011[118]
Native languages (mother tongues) of Singaporeans[119]
Language
Percent
Mandarin Chinese
50%
English
32%
Malay
12%
Tamil
3%
Singapore has four official languages.[120] The four languages that are recognised by the Singapore Government are: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil.[121] They were chosen to correspond with the major ethnic groups present in Singapore at the time as well as for the following reasons: Mandarin had gained status since the introduction of Chinese-medium schools; Malay was deemed the "most obvious choice" for the Malay community; and Tamil for the largest Indian ethnic group in Singapore, in addition to being "the language with the longest history of education in Malaysia and Singapore".[122] In 2009, more than 20 languages were identified as being spoken in Singapore, reflecting a rich linguistic diversity in the city.[123][124] Singapore's historical roots as a trading settlement gave rise to an influx of foreign traders,[125] and their languages were slowly embedded in Singapore's modern day linguistic repertoire.
Quadrilingual warning sign written in Singapore's four official languages; English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay.
Malay is the national language of the country, although English is mainly used. English serves as the link between the different ethnic groups and is the language of the educational system and the administration. The colloquial English used in everyday life is often referred to as Singlish.
The government of Singapore has been promoting the use of Mandarin, the official form of Chinese in Singapore as well as mainland China and Taiwan, with its Speak Mandarin Campaign among the Chinese population. The use of other varieties of Chinese, like Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hainanese and Hakka, has been declining over the last two decades, although they are still being used especially by the older generations of the Chinese population.
Thirteen options are provided in response to the question "Which two languages does (name) speak most often in this household?", namely the eleven official languages, sign language and "Other".[127]
Spain is openly multilingual,[128] and the constitution establishes that the nation will protect "all Spaniards and the peoples of Spain in the exercise of human rights, their cultures and traditions, languages and institutions.[129]
Spanish (español)—officially recognized in the constitution as Castilian (castellano)—is the official language of the entire country, and it is the right and duty of every Spaniard to know the language. The constitution also establishes that "all other Spanish languages"—that is, all other languages of Spain—will also be official in their respective autonomous communities in accordance to their Statutes, their organic regional legislations, and that the "richness of the distinct linguistic modalities of Spain represents a patrimony which will be the object of special respect and protection."[130]
The other official languages of Spain, co-official with Spanish are:
In the North African Spanish autonomous city of Melilla, Riff Berber is spoken by a significant part of the population. In the tourist areas of the Mediterranean coast and the islands, English and German are widely spoken by tourists, foreign residents, and tourism workers.
Sri Lanka
Both Sinhala and Tamil are the official and national languages of Sri Lanka. The Sinhala language is spoken by the Sinhalese people, who constitute approximately 74% of the national population and total about 13 million. It utilizes the Sinhala abugida script, which is derived from the ancient Brahmi script. The Rodiya language, a dialect of Sinhala, is spoken by the low-caste community of chamodi veddhas. The Veddah peoples, totaling barely 2500,[133] speak a distinct language, possibly a creolized form of an earlier indigenous language. The Tamil language is spoken by Sri Lankan Tamils, as well as by Tamil migrants from the neighboring Indian state of Tamil Nadu and by Sri Lankan Moors. Tamil speakers number around 5 million. There are more than 50,000 speakers of the Sri Lankan Creole Malay language, which is strongly influenced by the Malay language.
Suriname
Indian immigrants from British IndiaButcher market in Paramaribo with signs written in Dutch.
Dutch is the sole official language, and is the language of education, government, business, and the media.[76] Over 60% of the population speak Dutch as a mother tongue,[134] and most of the rest speak it as a second language.
In Paramaribo, Dutch is the main home language in two-thirds of households.[135] The recognition of "Surinaams-Nederlands" ("Surinamese Dutch") as a national dialect equal to "Nederlands-Nederlands" ("Dutch Dutch") and "Vlaams-Nederlands" ("Flemish Dutch") was expressed in 2009 by the publication of the Woordenboek Surinaams Nederlands (Surinamese–Dutch Dictionary).[136] Only in the interior of Suriname is Dutch seldom spoken.
Sranan, a local creole language originally spoken by the creole population group, is the most widely used language in the streets and is often used interchangeably with Dutch depending on the formality of the setting.[137]
Surinamese Hindi or Sarnami, a dialect of Bhojpuri, is the third-most used language, spoken by the descendants of South Asian contract workers from then British India. Javanese is used by the descendants of Javanese contract workers. The Maroon languages, somewhat intelligible with Sranan Tongo, include Saramaka, Paramakan, Ndyuka (also called Aukan), Kwinti and Matawai. Amerindian languages, spoken by Amerindians, include Carib and Arawak. Hakka and Cantonese are spoken by the descendants of the Chinese contract workers. Mandarin is spoken by some few recent Chinese immigrants. English, Spanish and Portuguese are also used. Spanish and Portuguese are spoken by Latin American residents and their descendants and sometimes also taught in schools.
Switzerland
Languages of Switzerland, red German, blue French, green Italian, yellow Romansh
From 1850 until 2000, Switzerland had a census every 10 years. Beginning in 2010, they switched to a yearly system which used a combination of municipal citizen records and a limited number of surveys.[138] Data on the main language spoken by citizens and non-citizen residents has been collected since at least 1970. Of the four official languages, German is the most commonly spoken, with 64.94% of the total population speaking it in 1970 and 63.67% in 2000. French was spoken by 18.09% in 1970 and 20.38% in 2000, while Italian was 11.86% in 1970 and 6.46% in 2000. The fourth national language, Romansh was spoken by just 0.8% in 1970 and 0.48% in 2000. In the 2000 census, English (1.01%), Spanish (1.06%), Portuguese (1.23%), Serbian and Croatian (1.42%) and Albanian (1.30%) were all spoken by significantly more residents than Romansh.[139]
Selected languages from the 1970 to 2000 census are given in the following table:[139]
People in Ukraine (when it was still a part of the Russian Empire) were enumerated by native tongue in the 1897 Russian Empire Census.[142] In addition to the Soviet Union enumerating people by ethnicity for its entire existence,[143]Ukraine also enumerated people by ethnicity and native language in its only post-Soviet census in 2001.[144]
Native language of the population of Ukraine according to the 2001 census.[145]
Data on language spoken at home and English-speaking ability of individuals age five and older are currently collected in the American Community Survey (an ongoing statistical survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly, or 3 million per year).
A variety of questions on language use were asked in the censuses from 1890 to 1970.[146][147] These correspond to the different political purposes and policies for which the data were used. For example, early 20th century questions about mother tongue were used to assess the ethnic or racial background of the population, while the current purpose is to calculate the size of the Limited English Proficient population.[148]
The following three-part question on language spoken at home and English speaking ability was asked on the census long form in 1980, 1990, and 2000, and is the same question asked in the American Community Survey.[146] The data are used for enforcing the Voting Rights Act, determining Department of Education funding for English Language Learners, and implementing language access policies.
a. Does this person speak a language other than English at home?
Yes
No
b. What is this language? (For example: Korean, Italian, Spanish, Vietnamese)
c. How well does this person speak English?
Very well
Well
Not well
Not at all
The coding operations used by the Census Bureau puts the reported answers from the question "What is this language?" into 382 language categories of single languages or language families. These categories represent the most commonly spoken languages other than English at home in the U.S. Due to small sample counts, data tabulations are not generally available for all 382 detailed languages. Instead, the Census Bureau collapses languages into smaller sets. These sets of languages were originally developed following the 1970 Census and are grouped linguistically and geographically.[citation needed]
As of 2014[update], the simplest collapse recodes the 382 language codes into four major language groups: Spanish; Other Indo-European languages; Asian and Pacific Island languages; and All Other languages. A more detailed collapsing puts the 382 codes into 39 languages and language groups.[149]
People in Vietnam were enumerated by ethnicity in 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009 and 2014.[151]
Yemen
Ethnoreligious composition of Yemen in 2002.
Yemen enumerated its population by ethnicity in 1994.[citation needed] The BritishColony of Aden (which is within Yemen's current borders) enumerated its population by ethnicity in 1946 and 1955.[citation needed]
↑ Though not declared official de jure, the Spanish language is the only one used in the wording of laws, decrees, resolutions, official documents and public acts.
↑ English is also the primary language of the disputed Falkland Islands.
↑ Many elder people also speak a macaronic language of Italian and Spanish called cocoliche, which was originated by the Italian immigrants in the late 19th century.
↑ It gave origin to a mixture of Spanish and German called Belgranodeutsch.
Related Research Articles
The demographics of Malaysia are represented by the multiple ethnic groups that exist in the country. The official estimate of 2024 Malaysia's population is about 34,100,000 people. According to the 2020 census, is 32,447,385 including non-citizens, which makes it the 43rd most populated country in the world. Of these, 5.72 million live in East Malaysia and 22.5 million live in Peninsular Malaysia. The population distribution is uneven, with some 79% of its citizens concentrated in Peninsular Malaysia, which has an area of 131,598 square kilometres (50,810.27 sq mi), constituting under 40% of the total area of Malaysia.
Russian is an East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is the native language of the Russians. It was the de facto and de jure official language of the former Soviet Union. Russian has remained an official language of the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and is still commonly used as a lingua franca in Ukraine, Moldova, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and to a lesser extent in the Baltic states and Israel.
Spanish or Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain, and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries, as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico.
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, officially named Filipino, is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of two official languages, alongside English.
The United States does not have an official language at the federal level, but the most commonly used language is English, which is the de facto national language. In addition, 32 U.S. states out of 50 and all five U.S. territories have declared English as an official language. The majority of the U.S. population (77.5%) speaks only English at home as of 2023. The remainder of the population speaks many other languages at home, most notably Spanish, according to the American Community Survey (ACS) of the U.S. Census Bureau; others include indigenous languages originally spoken by Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and native populations in the U.S. unincorporated territories. Other languages were brought in by people from Europe, Africa, Asia, other parts of the Americas, and Oceania, including multiple dialects, creole languages, pidgin languages, and sign languages originating in what is now the United States. Interlingua, an international auxiliary language, was also created in the U.S.
Pakistan is a multilingual country with over 70 languages spoken as first languages. The majority of Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family.
Of the languages of France, French is the sole official language according to the second article of the French Constitution. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France.
There are some 130 to 195 languages spoken in the Philippines, depending on the method of classification. Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages native to the archipelago. A number of Spanish-influenced creole varieties generally called Chavacano along with some local varieties of Chinese are also spoken in certain communities. The 1987 constitution designates Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog, as the national language and an official language along with English. Filipino is regulated by Commission on the Filipino Language and serves as a lingua franca used by Filipinos of various ethnolinguistic backgrounds.
A national language is a language that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. The term is applied quite differently in various contexts. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country may be referred to informally or designated in legislation as national languages of the country. National languages are mentioned in over 150 world constitutions.
The languages of Singapore are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, with the lingua franca between Singaporeans being English, the de facto main language. Singaporeans often speak Singlish among themselves, an English creole arising from centuries of contact between Singapore's internationalised society and its legacy of being a British colony. Linguists formally define it as Singapore Colloquial English. A multitude of other languages are also used in Singapore. They consist of several varieties of languages under the families of the Austronesian, Dravidian, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan languages. The Constitution of Singapore states that the national language of Singapore is Malay. This plays a symbolic role, as Malays are constitutionally recognised as the indigenous peoples of Singapore, and it is the government's duty to protect their language and heritage.
The main languages spoken in Eritrea are Tigrinya, Tigre, Kunama, Bilen, Nara, Saho, Afar, and Beja. The country's working languages are Tigrinya, Arabic, English, and formely Italian.
The languages of Taiwan consist of several varieties of languages under the families of Austronesian languages and Sino-Tibetan languages. The Formosan languages, a geographically designated branch of Austronesian languages, have been spoken by the Taiwanese indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Owing to the wide internal variety of the Formosan languages, research on historical linguistics recognizes Taiwan as the Urheimat (homeland) of the whole Austronesian languages family. In the last 400 years, several waves of Han emigrations brought several different Sinitic languages into Taiwan. These languages include Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Mandarin, which have become the major languages spoken in present-day Taiwan.
Afghanistan is a linguistically diverse nation, with upwards of 40 distinct languages. However, Pashto and Dari are two of the most prominent languages in the country, and have shared official status under various governments of Afghanistan. Dari, as a shared language between multiple ethnic groups in the country, has served as a historical lingua franca between different linguistic groups in the region and is the most widely understood language in the country. Pashto is also widely spoken in the region; but the language does not have a diverse multi-ethnic population like Persian, and the language is not as commonly spoken by non-Pashtuns. Persian and Pashto are also "relatives", as both are Iranian languages.
Slovenia has been a meeting area of the Slavic, Germanic, Romance, and Uralic linguistic and cultural regions, which makes it one of the most complex meeting point of languages in Europe. The official and national language of Slovenia is Slovene, which is spoken by a large majority of the population. It is also known, in English, as Slovenian. Two minority languages, namely Hungarian and Italian, are recognised as co-official languages and accordingly protected in their residential municipalities. Other significant languages are Croatian and its variants and Serbian, spoken by most immigrants from other countries of former Yugoslavia and their descendants. Slovenia is ranked among the top European countries regarding the knowledge of foreign languages. The most often taught foreign languages are English and German, followed by Italian, French, and Spanish.
The indigenous languages of Malaysia belong to the Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian families. The national, or official, language is Malay which is the mother tongue of the majority Malay ethnic group. The main ethnic groups within Malaysia are the Malays, Chinese and Tamils, with many other ethnic groups represented in smaller numbers, each with its own languages. The largest native languages spoken in East Malaysia are the Iban, Dusunic, and Kadazan languages. English is widely understood and spoken within the urban areas of the country; the English language is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary education. It is also the main medium of instruction within most private colleges and private universities. English may take precedence over Malay in certain official contexts as provided for by the National Language Act, especially in the states of Sabah and Sarawak, where it may be the official working language. Furthermore, the law of Malaysia is commonly taught and read in English, as the unwritten laws of Malaysia continue to be partially derived from pre-1957 English common law, which is a legacy of past British colonisation of the constituents forming Malaysia. In addition, authoritative versions of constitutional law and statutory law are continuously available in both Malay and English.
Thailand is home to 51 living indigenous languages and 24 living non-indigenous languages, with the majority of people speaking languages of the Southwestern Tai family, and the national language being Central Thai. Lao is spoken along the borders with the Lao PDR, Karen languages are spoken along the border with Myanmar, Khmer is spoken near Cambodia and Malay is spoken in the south near Malaysia. Sixty-two 'domestic' languages are officially recognized, and international languages spoken in Thailand, primarily by international workers, expatriates and business people, include Burmese, Karen, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese, among others.
The usage of Chinese by the Chinese diaspora and their descendants has been determined by a large number of factors, including their ancestry, their migrant ancestors' "regime of origin", assimilation through generational changes, and official policies of their country of residence. The general trend is that more established Chinese populations in the Western world and in many regions of Asia have Cantonese as either the dominant variety or as a common community vernacular, while Mandarin is much more prevalent among new arrivals, making it increasingly common in many Chinatowns, though still not dominant.
References
↑ "Article Sixteen of the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan". 2004. Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2012. From among the languages of Pashto, Dari, Uzbeki, Turkmani, Baluchi, Pashai, Nuristani, Pamiri (alsana), Arab and other languages spoken in the country, Pashto and Dari are the official languages of the state.
↑ "Population". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
↑ Leclerc, Jacques (5 April 2009). "Algérie: Situation géographique et démolinguistique". L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde. Université Laval. Archived from the original on 24 January 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2010. "Mais tous les arabophones d'Algérie parlent l'arabe dialectal ou l'arabe dit algérien (ou ses diverses variétés) pour communiquer entre eux. Autrement dit, à l'oral, c'est l'arabe algérien qui sert de langue véhiculaire, mais à l'écrit, c'est l'arabe classique."
↑ United Nations Statistics Division: Demographic and Social Topics: Population: Statistics: Demographic Yearbook: Introduction: United Nations Demographic Yearbook: Statistics: Population Censuses' Datasets (1995 – Present): Ethnocultural characteristics: Population by language, sex and urban/rural residenceArchived 2018-08-09 at the Wayback Machine . Select filters: Country or Area—>Azerbaijan, Year—>2009, Area—>Total+Urban+Rural, Sex—>Both Sexes+Male+Female, Apply Filters.
1 2 P. W. Martin and G. Poedjosoedarmo (1996). An overview of the language situation in Brunei Darussalam. In P. W. Martin, C. Ozog & G. Poedjosoedarmo (Eds.), Language use & language change in Brunei Darussalam (pp. 1–23). Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Center for International Studies. p. 7.
↑ A. C. K. Ozog (1996). The unplanned use of English: The case of Brunei Darussalam. In P. W. Martin, C. Ozog & G. Poedjosoedarmo (Eds.), Language use & language change in Brunei Darussalam (pp. 156–166). Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Center for International Studies.
↑ K. Dunseath (1996). Aspects of language maintenance and language shift among the Chinese community in Brunei. In P. W. Martin, C. Ozog & G. Poedjosoedarmo (Eds.), Language use & language change in Brunei Darussalam (pp. 280–301). Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Center for International Studies ISBN0896801934.
↑ Languages of ChinaArchived 2012-12-09 at archive.today – from Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
↑ "Implementation of the Charter in Cyprus". Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
↑ Ammon, Ulrich; Dittmar, Norbert; Mattheier, Klaus J.; Trudgill, Peter, eds. (2006). "Greece and Cyprus". Sociolinguistics: an international handbook of the science of language and society / Soziolinguistik: ein internationales Handbuch zur Wissenschaft von Sprache und Gesellschaft. Handbooks of linguistics and communication science / Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft. Vol.3 (2nded.). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp.1881–1889. ISBN9783110184181.
↑ "Cyprus"(PDF). Euromosaic III. Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 November 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
↑ For historical practice of recording nationality and language in censuses see "Historie sčítání (History of censuses)". Archived from the original on 31 October 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2014. on the Czech Statistical Office website.
↑ "Iceland and the Rest of the World". The Reykjavík Grapevine. p.1. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014. Icelandic towns were essentially turning Danish; the merchant class was Danish and well off Icelanders started speaking their language.
↑ Lewis, Paul M. (2009). Languages of PhilippinesArchived 2013-01-25 at the Wayback Machine . Ethnologue: Languages of the World (16th ed.). Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
↑ Dixon, L.Q. (2009). "Assumptions behind Singapore's language-in-education policy: Implications for language planning and second language acquisition". Language Policy. 8 (2): 117–137. doi:10.1007/s10993-009-9124-0. S2CID143659314.
↑ Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009). "Languages of Singapore". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
↑ "Language Use: About". United States Census Bureau. U.S. Department of Commerce. Archived from the original on 25 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
Lewis, M. Paul; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2014). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (17thed.). Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics International.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
