7th official language of U.N.
As we all know, the 6 official languages of United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish. If U.N. organisation were likely to add a 7th official language in the list, which language do you think would most likely be a strong candidate? Portuguese? German? Italian? Japanese? Hindi/Urdu? or anything else?
(I guess that none of the 6 official languages would be dropped in order to make way for the 7th language, even if the 8th were considered to be added some day.)
None of them.
German is becoming a regional language: 93 million of speakers in Central Europe. Nowadays, German is not useful because the lingua franca of Europe, is English. The number of students is in regression Worldwide. Perhaps, this language is overestimated.
It can't be an official language of United Nations. The same for Italian and Japanese (regional languages).
Hindi-Urdu is the only one that is spoken by an incredible amount of people, but only in the North and Centre of India. When Hindi is the language of ALL India, can be a good candidate, but they should make Hindi the only official language of the country, because at this moment is partially overshadowed by English in the same country.
Portuguese is spoken by some 200 million people, but several factors detract from this campaign:
1. Four out of every five speakers of the Portuguese-speaking world live in just one country: Brazil
2. Other languages: if Portuguese is official in UNO with 200 million of speakers, Hindi, Malay-Indonesian, Urdu and Bengali, more spoken than Portuguese, would be also serious candidates.
3. There are yet 4 European official languages. The 7th should be Asian or African.
4. Portuguese is the first lingua franca nowhere.
In the Americas, Spanish and English are more spoken. In Europe, English, French, Spanish, German or Italian are more spoken and studied, and in Africa Arabic, English and French are the true lingua francas.
5. It is not studied in European Union, neither USA. I don't know why, but the most studied languages are English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Italian.
To: Guest Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:47 am GMT
None of them.
........................
Except them, which else do you think would most likely be a candidate? Thanks!
I think Hindi would be a good choice, but before that, Hindi should be the only one official language in India as Guest mentioned above.
or Urdu. Urdu is official in India and Pakistan. Hindi only in India. Urdu is spoken as first or second languages by +200 million people.
Malay-Indonesian is also an interesting candidate. It is spoken by +275 million people in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Timor and Thailand.
It is funny that almost all the candidates are more spoken than French.
If French is official, Hindi, Portuguese, Indonesian, Urdu and Bengali should be also official.
Brazilian Portuguese should be the 7th official language because
of its 200 millions of speakers.
In my view, only English should be used
Hindi may seem to be a good choice but it's used and spoken in only one country. I would say the Malay language should be considered. It's spoken by 175 million speakers in several countries in South East Asia......and also because I know the language well...:)
Saya Tiga Lapan!
Saya mendukung bahasa Melayu!
Bahasa Melayu akan menjadi bahasa resmi Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa!
It is funny that almost all the candidates have more non-native speaker than Spanish.
If Spanish is official, Hindi, Portuguese, Indonesian, Urdu and Bengali should be also official.
In the Americas, Spanish and English are more spoken. In Europe, English, French, Russian, German, Italian or Polish are more spoken and studied, and in Africa Arabic, English and French are the true lingua francas.
I don't know why, but the most studied languages are English, French, German, Russian, Italian, and Spanish.
Swahili should be added and promoted.
Here in Mozambique there are few people who use Swahili as their 1st language (including Mozambican dialects of Swahili: Kimwani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimwani
or Makwe), but most people from Central and Northern Mozambique understend Swahili or speak it as their 2nd language, even more than Portuguese (that is restricted to southern Mozambique around Maputo)...
They should actually remove French from the list, it's of no significant importance outside France anymore. Also in ex-francophone colonies French is declining fast in favour of English.
My 2 cents.
The problem of another candidates is English.
You can read this article:
"The spread of English across the globe is a seismic event in our species’ history. French is dying outside France. “Francophone” Africa is turning to English. Portuguese Africa is abandoning Portuguese. German made a small, temporary advance across emergent Eastern Europe but elsewhere outside Germany it is dead. Russian, which we once thought we would all have to learn, is finished. The Japanese are learning English, and developing their own pet variant.
China will resist, but Mandarin and Cantonese are not advancing beyond their native speakers. More of the world’s new Muslims are learning English than Arabic. Spanish alone is raising its status and reach — but among Americans, who have English already"
Times Online, January 15, 2005