List of official languages by institution
This is a list of official languages for significant regional and international institutions. Different organisations sometimes refer to their principal languages of administration and communication as "working languages", whilst others refer to these as being "official". No distinction is made here, except where an organization itself, distinguishes between its official and working languages.
International
Institutions |
Languages |
Commonwealth of Nations |
English |
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) |
English, French, Spanish, German |
International Criminal Court (ICC) |
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.[1] (English and French are working languages.[1]) |
International Labour Organization (ILO/OIT) |
English, French and Spanish. |
International Monetary Fund (IMF) |
English (Conferences also have simultaneous interpretation into Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.) |
International Olympic Committee (IOC/CIO) |
French, English (at all Sessions, simultaneous interpretation must also be provided into German, Spanish, Arabic and Russian languages). |
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) |
English, French and Spanish. |
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) |
French and English (Conferences also have simultaneous interpretation into Arabic and Spanish.) |
Latin Union |
Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian and Catalan. |
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/OCDE) |
English and French. |
Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) |
Spanish and Portuguese. |
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC/OCI) |
Arabic, English and French. |
United Nations (UN/ONU) |
Under the Charter, the official languages are Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish as well as Arabic which was added in 1973.[2]See also: Official languages of the United Nations. |
Universal Postal Union (UPU) |
French (official) and English (working). Other languages translated: Arabic, Chinese, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. |
World Bank (WB) |
English (Conferences also have simultaneous interpretation into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.) |
World Rugby |
English, French and Spanish. |
World Trade Organization (WTO/OMC) |
English, French and Spanish. |
Regional
Most active institutions mentioned
Institutions |
Languages |
African Union (AU/UA) |
Arabic, French, English and Portuguese See also: Languages of the African Union |
Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) |
Arabic |
Arab League |
Arabic |
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) |
English |
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) |
English (working language) |
Benelux |
Dutch and French.[3] |
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) |
English, French and Dutch. |
Central American Common Market (CACM) |
Spanish |
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) |
English, French and Portuguese. |
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) |
Russian |
Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) |
Portuguese |
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) |
Arabic |
Council of Europe |
English and French. |
East African Community (EAC) |
English, French and Swahili. |
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS/CEDEAO) |
English, French and Portuguese. |
Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) |
French |
Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) |
|
European Union (EU/UE) |
Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish. (English, French and German are the selected working languages of some internal EU bodies, such as the European Commission). See also: Languages of the European Union |
Francophonie |
French |
Mercosur |
Portuguese and Spanish. |
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) |
English, Spanish and French. |
Nordic Council |
Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. |
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO/OTAN) |
English and French. |
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) |
English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. |
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) |
English |
Organization of American States (OAS/OEA) |
Spanish, English, Portuguese and French. See also: The official languages of the Organization of American States |
Pacific Islands Forum |
|
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) |
Chinese and Russian. |
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) |
English |
Southern African Development Community (SADC) |
English, French and Portuguese (working languages)[4] |
Union of South American Nations (Unasul-Unasur) |
Dutch, English, Portuguese and Spanish. |
See also
References
External links