If you look at the constitution of Vietnam (as one is want to do), you'll see that it names Vietnamese of the country's national language in no uncertain terms. So, what would we say is Vietnam's official language? While it's tempting to assume that it's the same, Vietnam doesn't technically have an official language. Conversely, Myanmar and Laos both have official languages but no national ones. So what exactly is going?
Moreover, what exactly is the difference between a nation language and an official language?
Let's start with official languages. The majority of country's that have name some language as being important normally refer to it as their official language or state language. Countries like Laos, Myanmar, Jamaica, New Zealand and Poland have one official language. Other countries, like Haiti, Morocco and Belarus have two.
So what is an official language?
Putting it plainly, the entire notion of an 'official language' is fairly inconsistent and varies from country to country.
For some nations, having an official ensures rights and services to its citizens in that language. For other countries, it just means that the language was written down and named in the constitution. The specifics depend on the nation and even the region within that nation.
Considering how little that answers the question, maybe it's better to look at some general trends you can find in official languages. Generally speaking, an nation's official language is the one it uses for legal proceedings, disseminating information, and providing public services. If you are Latvian citizen, then you can expect the parliamentary debates to be in Latvian, the country's official language.
So what about national languages? What are they?
This is where things get a bit more fuzzy, so please be ready for a lot of generalisations. Broadly speaking, a national language holds some sort of significance to a nation's culture, history and/or heritage.
In countries that experienced colonisation, this is normally one or more of the indigenous languages. In Malaysian consitution, both Malay and English are recognised as important, but Malay is named the national languag.
So now the big question remains -
What's the difference between a country's national language and its official one?
For some nations, theses two are one and the same. Article 3 of the Algerian Constitution names Arabic as both the national and the official language of country. In the same vein, the national and official languages may overlap. The Republic of Vanuatu, for example, recognises Bislama as the national language while using English, French as official languages as well as Bislama. In Ireland, Irish is both the national language as well as the first official language, while English is the second official language.
For many other countries, the national and official language are completely different. This is most common in post-colonial nations where the administrative language was brought by the colonizers and the national language is native to the region.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo uses French as the official and administrative language, while three autochthonous languages (Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba) are the national languages. The constitution of Pakistan names Urdu as the national language and declares that English can be used for official purposes although it never truly names English as official.
So to sum up, there are two important things to know.
- The official language is generally more used in government
- The national language generally holds some symbolic importance and connection to a countries history.
And in case it hasn't been stressed enough I want point out that these are trends rather than rules. So, in Vanuatu, citizens can get government services in any of the official languages while in Finland, citizens are guaranteed rights in either of the national languages.
So once more, what's the difference?
Like most good answer's this one defies simplicity. We can see tendencies and trends for national and official languages, but at the end of the day, what those actually mean in practice depends entirely on the country and how they implement their language laws.
Moreover, what exactly is the difference between a nation language and an official language?
Let's start with official languages. The majority of country's that have name some language as being important normally refer to it as their official language or state language. Countries like Laos, Myanmar, Jamaica, New Zealand and Poland have one official language. Other countries, like Haiti, Morocco and Belarus have two.
So what is an official language?
Putting it plainly, the entire notion of an 'official language' is fairly inconsistent and varies from country to country.
For some nations, having an official ensures rights and services to its citizens in that language. For other countries, it just means that the language was written down and named in the constitution. The specifics depend on the nation and even the region within that nation.
Considering how little that answers the question, maybe it's better to look at some general trends you can find in official languages. Generally speaking, an nation's official language is the one it uses for legal proceedings, disseminating information, and providing public services. If you are Latvian citizen, then you can expect the parliamentary debates to be in Latvian, the country's official language.
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| Riga |
This is where things get a bit more fuzzy, so please be ready for a lot of generalisations. Broadly speaking, a national language holds some sort of significance to a nation's culture, history and/or heritage.
In countries that experienced colonisation, this is normally one or more of the indigenous languages. In Malaysian consitution, both Malay and English are recognised as important, but Malay is named the national languag.
So now the big question remains -
What's the difference between a country's national language and its official one?
For some nations, theses two are one and the same. Article 3 of the Algerian Constitution names Arabic as both the national and the official language of country. In the same vein, the national and official languages may overlap. The Republic of Vanuatu, for example, recognises Bislama as the national language while using English, French as official languages as well as Bislama. In Ireland, Irish is both the national language as well as the first official language, while English is the second official language.
For many other countries, the national and official language are completely different. This is most common in post-colonial nations where the administrative language was brought by the colonizers and the national language is native to the region.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo uses French as the official and administrative language, while three autochthonous languages (Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba) are the national languages. The constitution of Pakistan names Urdu as the national language and declares that English can be used for official purposes although it never truly names English as official.
So to sum up, there are two important things to know.
- The official language is generally more used in government
- The national language generally holds some symbolic importance and connection to a countries history.
And in case it hasn't been stressed enough I want point out that these are trends rather than rules. So, in Vanuatu, citizens can get government services in any of the official languages while in Finland, citizens are guaranteed rights in either of the national languages.
So once more, what's the difference?
Like most good answer's this one defies simplicity. We can see tendencies and trends for national and official languages, but at the end of the day, what those actually mean in practice depends entirely on the country and how they implement their language laws.
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