Too many official languages?
In this country, despite our multicultural make up, we have only one Official Language for our 60 or so million inhabitants. That language is, unless you’re from Barnsley, English. The minority languages recognized on these shores are Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Lowland Scots and Cornish and rather suprisingly do not include any Asian langugaes, despite a long history of immigrants from that area.
Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu are all spoken here, as well as many others, and, although there are no official figures detailing numbers of speakers, I hazard a guess that they would be more numerate than their Welsh counterparts, so why no inclusion as an official language of this country?
An official language is labeled as such for one of a few reasons: either to preserve under represented languages in their respective contemporary societies - Maori, in New Zealand, for example - or as the language in which a countries legal, parliamentary and administrative affairs are conducted.
But which country leads the way when it comes to official languages? Well, South Africa has eleven official languages (and incredibly, therefore, there are eleven official names for the country), all of which are listed here with the name used for each language,and the name of speakers of that language, in brackets:
Afrikaans (Afrikaans), English, Ndebele (isiNdebele), Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa), Sotho (Sesotho), Swati (siSwati), Tsonga (Xitsonga), Tswana (Setswana), Venda (Tshivenḓa), Xhosa (isiXhosa), Zulu (isiZulu).
And just for you reference, the official names for South Africa are:
Republiek van Suid-Afrika (Afrikaans)
Republic of South Africa (English)
IRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika (IsiNdebele)
IRiphabliki yaseMzantsi Afrika (IsiXhosa)
IRiphabliki yaseNingizimu Afrika (IsiZulu)
Rephaboliki ya Afrika-Borwa (Sepedi)
Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa (Sesotho)
Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa (Setswana)
IRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika (SiSwati)
Riphabuḽiki ya Afurika Tshipembe (Tshivenda)
Riphabliki ra Afrika Dzonga (Xitsonga)
Do you live in a country with a lingua franca, such as Arabic in areas of North Africa? Would you you prefer all the languages of your country to be officially recognised?
November 25th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Well I’m not British, I’m Irish however I am aware the reason why Immigrant languages are not generally recognised in any country, because if you make a small number of immigrant languageas co-official languages, then where would it stop. How would any country decide what immigrant language might meet the criteria to become a co-official language. If you make Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu co-official languages, then shouldn’t you also have to make Polish co-official, and whatabout Italian and French taking into account the large number of Italian and French communities in the UK. The various immigrant communities are constantly coming and going and are not stable communities yet whereas the UK’s indigenous languages are stable communities.
The reason why, the indigenous languages of the UK, such as Irish-Gaelic, Scot-Gaelic, Manx-Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish and Lowland Scots are co-official is because they have been around for 2,000-3,0000 years and have every right to be recognised as co-official and access to funding for education and media.
Should any of the immigrant communities still be around in even 500 years then maybe then these languages could become co-official.
November 25th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I agree with Daniel. Generally, countries have multiple official languages because there are multiple ethnic/linguistic groups that have been living in a certain place for generations (e.g. South Africa, Luxembourg, India, etc.). If immigration in the UK is anything like it is here in the US, the immigrants’ children usually assimilate completely into the greater society. They may consider themselves Mexican-American, Indian-American, Japanese-American, etc. but their connections to their parents’ countries are usually limited to a few yearly festivals and “ethnic” foods. Other than that, they’re locals and prefer to speak English.
I believe that the host countries should act like good hosts and try to make their guests, or immigrants, feel welcome and accepted. I also think that immigrants should act like good guests and try not to make too many demands on their hosts. If both sides did that more then we’d have less problems over all, linguistic or otherwise.
November 27th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I find your Barnsley comment/ totally inappropriate. As a translations company you should be showing some respect to the regional and social varieties of a language.
Let’s begin loving our own language first and then we can start thinking about co-official languages.
November 27th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Hi Anon,
I never meant to upset anyone and if I didn’t live in Barnsley I would nave have put this comment.
I know most Barnsley-ites are more than proud of their distinctive twang!
I am!