5 Countries With No Official Language

The presence of language in a society will require the country or government to acknowledge the particular language as an official national language to be used by the locals and in formal events.

Many countries will have their very own unique language that they use in their daily life and even some countries have more than just one national language. They also accept the languages used by the local minorities as a means of communication between the people.

ADVERT

Due to various factors such as history and segregation, there are some countries out there that are not willing to choose any language as a symbol of their identity. Here are the 5 countries around the world that do not have any official language.

1. Luxembourg

This tiny country in Europe is unique following its geographical location which is situated at a point of 3 different countries namely Belgium, France, and Germany. Because of that, the majority of the people in Luxembourg practice the use of more than just 1 language in the aspect of official matters and media due to the clash of the three languages.

Technically speaking, the spoken language of the Luxembourg people is known as Luxembourgish. However, if we were to look at linguistic research, this language is not recognized as one different language as there were too many similarities with the Germans.

French has become the language of choice for several agencies and government bodies. The media in Luxembourg prefer to use Germans while on air. Whereas the school in this country practices the use of all 3 languages at one time.

2. Mexico

Mexico was once under Spanish colonial rule which left a huge impact on their society that was formed from several different ethics. These ethnicities on the other hand have their very own unique language that they use.

Despite the use of their colonial language, Spanish is the main vocabulary of more than 90% of the Mexicans, the language is also seen as a threat to more than 62 types of indigenous languages resulting in no official language being acknowledged in the country.

ADVERT

This is a symbol of respect for their original traditions. What makes Mexico so unique is that even though the Spanish language is not their original language, Mexico has the most number of Spanish speakers in the world even more than Spain itself. This is the significant impact of colonialism on society.

3. Australia

Similar to Mexico, the presence of outsiders that ultimately conquered their regions has caused many conflicts in the language aspects between the outsiders and indigenous people.

In terms of the legislation, English is not the official language of Australia, instead, it is widely accepted in the official matters of the country. The development of English as their main spoken language has resulted in the presence of many family languages labeled Australian English.

Australian English is slightly different than standard English when we look at pronunciation, spelling, and phonetics due to the mix-up between the terms and dialects of the native inhabitants and the group of colonists.

73% of the people of Australia use Australian English and 12% remain using their own native language while the rest will be a mix of Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, and several other languages.

4. United States of America

Whether you realize it or not the US does not have any official language in the country's legislation. Despite the majority of the people there using English as their main language, it is still not the country's official language.

The reason why this situation remains as it is today is because of the influence of the leaders during those times who felt it was unnecessary to name one language as the country's official because of the use of other languages such as Germans among the people in that time.

ADVERT

The formation of the United States of America occurred without any declaration of an official language, but the states inside can name their own official language starting from 1981 after the urge of the people as activists believed that English should be placed as the official language of the country.

5. United Kingdom

Another English majority speaker country in the world does not have any official language as in reality the country does not state any official language in their legislation. In terms of its etymology, English refers to the official language of the English man.

But because of the change in the conquered colony of England that comprises Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and other regions, every region will have its own means of communication.

Due to that, there was no placement for an official language in the UK even though English is spoken by 98% of the residents with the remaining using Scottish, Welsh, and other languages that are rarely practiced to this day.

Also read: 7 Math Problems Worth 1 Million Dollars