Official Languages of the World

Get your act together Bolivia, pick one language and stick with it.

Bolivia? Take a look at South Africa. Sheesh. Most of this is pretty easy until you get there. What a mess.

Mexico has 68 indigenous languages and Spanish. That's why we don't have an official language :)

Major minority*

Love this quiz!!! A leeetle more time would be helpful, but it's still awesome as is!

Should accept belarussian for belarus instead of belarusian and accept hindi for fiji hindi

I agree, also serb-croatian for all the options, I had to keep putting it in. Coratian, serb, and romanian

It is distantly related to Serbo-Croatian as an Indo-European language, though.

Yeah, I ran out of time too. I did get 66 of them though.

why are you being racist against the Sotho set of languages (SeSotho, SiPedi and SeTswana) :) I loved that part of the quiz, and almost aced it, apart from Venda, which is embarrassing cause I come form Zim and we have Venda at home, so I should have got it.

South Africa and Bolivia really need to narrow the field with their languages. South Africa should just have Afrikaans, Xhosa and Zulu, and Bolivia should have Spanish and Quechua. I also think that India has 28 languages, for the love of everything, just keep it to what you have here.

Leaving out English for South Africa? :-)

Why doesn't "Montenegrin" work with Montenegro even if it's in brackets in the table? Also I kept thinking about Quechua and Aymara: "Now how are they spelled in English?" because I know in my native language they're written "Ketšua" and "Aimara".

in serbian,croatian and montenegirin there are only a few words that they are different someone who speak serbian, can speak croatian, montenegerin, bosnian...

Language is not always about being really different from another language linguistically speaking. It's also a political thing. If you want to profile yourself as your own nation, you'll call your dialect a language and everybody else goes with that. Just look at Sweden/Norway/Denmark. Nobody contests that, but essentially Swedes often have an easier time understanding Danish than for example Finns from different parts of Finland have understanding each other. At least if they speak the old dialects. There's no clearcut differentiation between dialect and language, it's what we are taught and used to thinking that matters really. That and the borders of countries.

Great quiz!

Love the USA for not having an official language. The way it ought to be, and it makes it easy to guess. :)

It's a technicality, english is not the official language so not to pick favourites but then you are picking a De Facto favourite. Bolivia, South Africa and many others are doing exactly the same thing with the opposite approach, all their languages are official not to leave anyone out but spanish is de facto in Bolivia and specific provinces in South Africa have one language above all else, in any case Canada would be a good example English and French are official and every person in the country speaks one or the other or both and then all official communication is done in both.

Not everyone in Canada speaks French or English. And there are probably people in South Africa and Bolivia who do not speak any of the recognized official languages there, as well. Giving a language "official" status doesn't really accomplish anything, but it does give more weight to the protests of ornery racist nativists who love to say things like "learn the language or get out of the country!!" When the United States was formed there were many people living within its borders whose native language was German or Dutch or something else. There was no point in marginalizing those people by declaring that English was the most prestigious language and ethnicity of the country, just like there's no reason to publicly and officially marginalize speakers of Spanish, Chinese or Arabic today.

I live in Canada and know people who speak neither English nor French. Also I think we need to make Aboriginal languages official, (such as Cree and Ojibway), in my opinion. Or at least Inuktitut as that is what majority of Nunavummiut (people from Nunavut) speaks.

Sounds to me like kalbahamut has some sort of an axe to grind.

Bad baby: why would you assume that? English is my native language and I'm quite proficient at using it. I am sometimes slightly annoyed at the efforts of the historically ignorant nativists who seek to undermine the beauty of the country that was founded on ideas like equality, democracy, and pluralism... but their efforts have rarely done anything to negatively impact me personally and directly.

Also my family has roots in the United States going back 15,000+ years, to Cherokee who originally settled the land, to English and German farmers who colonized Virginia in the 16th century, and to the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth. Anyone glancing at me would assume I was "white."

But... I honestly don't know what you are implying so my guess work in responding to it could be totally off. A little help?

According to many Brits who have posted on this site, we don't speak English here anyway. :)

Those Brits are ignorant and suffering from an inferiority complex. British English has changed more than American English in the past 400 years.

^That's extremely debatable, I've seen reports suggesting the opposite, and also that both have changed equally. It's very difficult to know when you don't have a spoken record.

brandy: it's a fact.
Cao: I wasn't being rude and I didn't say what you said I said.
tshalla: you are usually not worth responding to, and your comment here is predictably obnoxious, but yes you caught me making a single character typo. Give yourself a pat on the back. 17th century.

Really. If they knew what they were talking about they wouldn't say it and wouldn't be ignorant. If they weren't insecure then they wouldn't so eagerly grasp at this fallacious idea that Americans don't speak proper English, as a way of making themselves feel better. There's no other explanation. I didn't say British culture was inferior. But those in the UK or Europe who come here or elsewhere and routinely spit out hateful remarks directed at Americans (with no basis in fact) are obviously suffering from some such complex. It's textbook. You are reading in to my comment an implication that said complex is warranted, presumably because Americans are culturally superior, which is not something I believe.

Modern Icelandic is closer to what English was over 1000 years ago than modern English (either British or American) is. We still call the language that has developed since then in England "English". This is the strongest argument I see for American English not being called "English", but it is still pretty weak because US and UK English are orders of magnitude closer than either is to Icelandic. They aren't different languages, though I think it is fair to call them different dialects of the same language. And no doubt inferiority complexes play a role too.

Since leaving this comment the quiz author has filled in English as a "de facto" official language of the United States, which I don't think was really necessary.

Is there a button we can press so that we can ‘like’ a quiz?

Oh, there it is! Five stars!

Great quiz! I'm wondering if Gaelic is acceptable for Irish.

Isn't Gaelic associated more with Scotland than Ireland? Or is that Celtic?

Both Scottish and Irish are Gaelic languages (along with Manx). It wouldn't be proper to refer to either language as Gaelic.

I would vote for accepting just Gaelic for both Irish and Scottish then.

Anyone catch the palindrome? Nauruan! Go Nauru!

Underrated comment

palindromes are great, lets make them all that way in our new language englishsilgne

in serbian=serbian, croatia=croatian, bosnia=croatian, serbian. there is no serbo croatian language. it does not egzist since 1991.

serbian works as an answer for most but if you type in Serbian alone you won't get Montenegrin.

There are languages that are different because they are different. Then, there are languages that are different for political reasons. Serbocroatian is one of those. Before Yugoslavia broke up, these languages were considered to be one language. It was only after Yugoslavia broke up that they were considered separate languages. That is a fallacy to assume that they are separate languages because of politics. However, Serbian is typically written in Cyrillic where Croatian is written in Latin, yet Hindi and Urdu are considered separate languages: spoken, they are the same language (with dialectal differences), but Urdu is written in Arabic and Hindi is written in Devanagari. Using that logic, it's not a fallacy to assume that Serbian and Croatian are separate languages.

agree with dwo. Student of linguistics here. These languages were invented only to try and create an artificial difference between people who were at war with one another. Realistically, they are the same language. It would be like if the United States had a 2nd civil war, and those in the south declared that they spoke Confederalese and then decreed that all Southern dictionaries excise words like "pop" in favor of "soda," etc... a ridiculous and cynical exercise in the politics of war, not a natural evolution that would produce a truly distinct language.

Yes Hindi is written in Devanagari, but Urdu is written in Shahmukhi not Arabic!

sam.. that's kind of my point though (because the Croats want it to). The differences are artificial and engineered. It's a false evolution of two dialects of the same language. My analogy to Northern/Southern American English was a hypothetical situation in which something similar *could* happen... not something that *has* happened.

Sorry, Bobcat, but soda is definitely used in this part of the Upper South and in the Mid-South where we lived for a while. My college roommates from Michigan and Chicago thought I wanted an ice cream soda when I suggested we get a soda. They were calling it Coke back in the 1970s, but I have cousins in Michigan who still call it pop. I am noticing that the younger generations seem to prefer Coke as the generic word now, regardless of region. My late father-in-law, who grew up in the Ozarks, called it Co-cola.

I forgot to add that when I was a girl in southern Missouri in the 1950s and '60s, everyone called it "sodie" as in, "Let's go to the store and get us a sodie." But when talking about a specific brand, cola was usually attached - Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, RC Cola, Lotta Cola, etc.

kalbahamut, it's a bit more complicated than that. While today's differences are in big part due to conscious political efforts, Serbian and Croatian are not a result of the recent wars. They are two distinct language standards that existed long before Yugoslavia (ok not that long, modern standardization dates to 19th century, but anyway...) Serbo-Croatian is still one language of course.

Alright if you say so. My knowledge of the subject is limited, and a lot of it I got from Chris Hedges who is often full of crap.

I missed Tok Pisin even though I know I read something about how it evolved.

Got Tok Pisin and guessed Motuan (which should be accepted) but missed Hiri Motu

Since when is 'Irish' a language? Gallic, sure! Irish? Um....

It only recognises English and Hindi at an official level, because yay diversity.

What happened to Australia? I'm sorry

Australia speaks English and so does the US (with some others like French, Spanish, etc.), Mexico, and apparently they count Canada but not his poor brother? How mean..

Got 86 of them

It's funny how many of these you can get right just by adding an "ish" or "n" or "i" somewhere. Or even easier: Typing in the name of the country itself. Interesting quiz though, like it.

Or even 'ian'.

Hello quizmaster, I'd just like to say that Romansh is only a NATIONAL language of Switzerland, but not an OFFICIAL one! (it is co-official only at regional level in Graubunden Canton, like german in South Tyrol or Catalan in Catalonia). Even many people in Switzerland think it is an official language at national level, but it isn't. Source: I live in Switzerland

Ah sorry Zefyrinus, I've realized now that this is not a Quizmaster's game! Very nice game by the way

I repeat that Romansh it is NOT an official language of Switzerland at national level. The fact that they allow Romansh people communicating to federal units in Romansh does not make it an official language. Only German, French and Italian are fully official and equivalent at national level, and every law must be translated into the three. I repeat that Romansh has the same relevance as REGIONAL LANGUAGES do in other countries. Here a link from the Swiss parliament that unfortunately is not available in English: http://www.admin.ch/opc/fr/classified-compilation/20062545/index.html And I repeat that also many Swiss people make confusion on this topic and I get often contradicted.

Info about East Timor is not accurate. The official languages of the country do include Tetum, but not English, although it is widely spoken, due to the proximity to Australia. Portuguese is an official language, even if spoken by a minority of the population. Actually, considering East Timor's National Educational Programme, Portuguese is expected to be spoken by almost 70% of the population within a generation.

Portugal has two official languages. Portuguese, obviously enough, but also Mirandese, spoken by 35000 people. The official languages of Spain include Spanish, incorrectly named for it should be Castellan (Castellano); Catalan; Basque; Galician and also Tenerifan, spoken in Tenerife.

Enjoyed this one, but I needed more time. My brain doesn't work as fast as it used to when I was young and carefree.

ITA. The time on this is sillier than the countries quiz.

I took it again and I still missed a few due to time running out. Another minute would really help.

You complain about South Africa... look at the caveats

i always figured that the official language of Australia was english..........i mean...thhats what everyone speaks

Now I have something to memorize after the capitals. I hope you are working on something for once I get these to slide off my tongue....has to take us around the world and be very difficult, like countries and then capitals were the first time we tried. Thank you so much! They say use it or lose it, and you've taken 50 years off the age of my brain as I'm memorizing something new everyday. I read deeper things too but the memorization really makes the blood flow to the dead parts up there! :)

Great idea! Is that quiz in the making?

Absolutely correct, cyninoregon. This site should be mandatory for everyone over 50.

Oh, and I forgot to add my thanks to Zefyrinus and QM, too.

please can you add Pedi or SiPedi for Northern Sotho, as that is it's other (indigenous) name. I was having a hard time with it. Also, as a favour, Ukrainean, and Belarussian. I would appreciate that.

Act on the status of the Icelandic language and Icelandic sign language. Article 1: "Icelandic is the national language of the Icelandic people and the official language in Iceland."

Love this quiz! I would love to see a yellow-box version :D

It's funny how former British colonies in Africa with barely any English speakers use English as their official language while the US with the largest English speaking population in the world doesn't.

Please accept Belarussian for Belarusian and Ukranian for Ukrainian. I made those mistakes.

I think Ndebele should be accepted for Southern Ndebele.

Please accept Pashtu for Pashto.

Should accept Hindi (or Hindustani) for India, Pakistan and Fiji.

Got all of them on about my fourth try!

could you accept Belorussian for Belarusian? That's how I was educated when I was younger.

Can you please accept Belarussian?

I have a big issue with US not having an official language. English is the only language in which all legislation is published and the language used at courts, among other things. There's such thing as customary law. Otherwise I would expect to see "Nauru ... none" in the capitals quiz, there's a much stronger case for this one.

Fair enough, I guess I wasn't able to word it so neatly in my head before :)

Slovenian should be accepted as well for Slovene.

See above - September 2013.

I see, I thought I had read all comments. I'll add correction there.

Kicking myself because I put Afrikaan, forgetting the s. It's interesting because you can just add "ian" to most countries to get a language.

can you accept belarussian (instead of with 1 s)?

I missed japenese, but got guarani.

Various spellings of Belarusian should be accepted, I have seen Belarussian and Belorussian used before and only guessed those two. Motuan should be accepted for Hiri Motu as it is the English name for the language, I guessed Motuan first. Also, a note about Slovak/Slovene and the addition of -ian: I believe Slovakian is a correct equivalent but Slovenian isn't, but I'm not 100% sure.

Slovene and Slovenian are both commonly used as adjectives and nouns.

Surprised so many people missed Quechua/Aymara, Malagasy, Amharic, Tigrinya, and Guaraní... I thought those were all common knowledge, especially Amharic, Quechua, and Aymara

You thought wrong

you've got to be joking

I got Aymara, but forgot Mongolian! hahah!!

Romansh is also an official language of Switzerland.

Wait, English isn't an official language of the UK? What's that all about?

Not on paper.

102/114. I almost missed Seychellois Creole after typing just "Seychellois"; accept that also? The Creole portion isn't needed for "Seselwa"

So neither Haitian nor Creole work for Haiti (both which I tried). Can we make one or both of these work?

I agree, Hatian Creole should work. I got lucky...I tried Creole and, when that didn't work, I put the cursor in front of Creole and began typing 'Hatian' but it accepted it at Haiti.

Did it again this time...typed Hatian, Creole, and Hatian Creole. Dang i's!!!

I finally learned...Haitian Creole!!! Haitian...

Love the work you put into this quiz! Would enjoy it more if you allowed a little more time.

According to wikipedia Chile has no official language and it just ranks Spanish as a national language.

Yeah, that got me too. Does seem a little harsh, but sure.

I just did further research and Ethiopia in their constitutions states that there is no official languages either.

I tried Seychelles Creole, surely that should be accepted? I also tried Nepalese instead of Nepali.

Thanks! Absolutely love this quiz, by the way!

Please accept "North Sotho" for "Northern Sotho"

Not that it matters, but correct me if I'm wrong, in New Zealand, isn't English not considered an official language. When I went there a few months ago, I was told that there are only 2 official languages (Māori and NZ Sign Language), and that English, despite being the most widely spoken language, isn't formally designated as an official language. So if you're including English for New Zealand, you might as well include English for Australia, UK, US, Spanish for Mexico, etc. for the sake of consistency or otherwise remove English as an official language of NZ. Plus, should English be removed as an official language, it would probably confuse many people, and waste their time trying to figure out how to type 'English', which is always entertaining. +1 for accepting Seychellois

English is acknowledged as an official language of New Zealand - see here.

Of course it's an official language ...

India should be removed because India too nor has any official languages. Hindi is the most spoken language and English is used for official works, but they are not our national language. There are 22 recognized languages of India, if possible put all the 22 languages.

Nice quiz you made! Also a little question, how did you make a question have more than one answer? I've always had that dbout. One expample of this is South Africa.

Nice to see Swaziland now listed as eSwatini, its new name, thought it was a typo at first!

eSwatini in English is "Land of the Swazi." I vote we just stay with Swaziland for English language quizzes...

Nothing nice about it. Quizmaster has a predilection for tampering with quizzes unnecessarily.

I think when this quiz got changed, English must have somehow been removed from New Zealand.

Sign languages are fully different languages from spoken languages. You don't have to be able to read a spoken language in order to understand and communicate with a sign language. I don't doubt that almost all sign language users can read another dominant language of their country, though. I was wondering the same thing as someone2018 too, like maybe the government keeps a video archive of laws signed in NZSL.

According to wikipedia, English is also an official language of Botswana alongside with Tswana.

I agree

So English is not an official language in New Zealand but Maori and Sign Language are? What's up with that?

Te Reo Maori was recognised as an official language in 1987, and NZ Sign Language achieved the same status in 2006. But there is currently no legislation that recognises English as an official language. Parliament is currently considering a draft bill to make it so, as it seems a bit daft.

Fascinating! And I was so sure that I'd found an error in the quiz. Thanks for the info!

When you try Pushtu, Pushtan, Pushti, Pushto, Pashtu, Pashtan, Pashti, and then give up... dang!

Can you accept Creole?

Can you just accept Creole? That doesn't seem any more generous than some of the other type=ins for this quiz.

Hey Quizmaster, NZ parliament passed a bill in February this year officially recognizing English as an official language of New Zealand

Is the offical name Eswatini or Swaziland?

at least until other countries recognize it, can we still call "eSwatini" by the name "Swaziland"?

Indeed, it's JetPunk policy to use the common English name as far as I know, so Swaziland should be the name used on this quiz. By the way, Israel is in the process of removing the official status of Arabic, though I'm not sure whether that law change has been completed yet. So maybe that can wait.

Do you think that people should petition their government to specify official languages just because of the colour their skin happens to be?

That's debatable :) The shortest history of English language: "It was invented by the French"

Argentina has not got an official language. Instead of that, they use Spanish as de facto language.

Got 85. Japanese escaped my mind both times I played though. :(

It was easy until I got to south Africa. TOO many languages.

A lot of things has been changed now in 2019. Arabic is no longer an official language of Israel anymore but a "recognized language" and South Korea has now its sign language as one of its official languages like New Zealand does. You guys need to look up to things.

Bhutanese should be accepted for Dzongkha, I think.

Thank you for including de facto official languages now! There's not much practical (or even legal) difference between de jure and de facto official languages.

No, it is a regional language.

Where's Igbo? Also what about Punjabi?

Not official on national level

I tried Haitian and Creole separately, surely one of them must work