This Controversial Map Shows All the 'Official' Languages in the World
The subreddit r/mapporn strikes again, and this time it’s causing some really controversial waves.
A tech savvy reddit user who goes by the name of ‘glikithvinayaka’ recently tested out her digital cartography skills and put together a map of the world, detailing its official languages.
For oodles of people across our wonderful planet, the official status of a language can be quite a touchy subject – especially if they’re from somewhere multilingual. By heck, India has 16 official languages! There aren’t too many places that can beat that.
The colourful piece of cartography shows all the world’s official languages, ranking each country by who has the most. And just what lingos are we talking about anyway?
Thanks to Indy 100 and the CIA World Factbook, here’s all the info easily condensed:
Countries with three official languages:
Belgium – Flemish, French and German
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian
Papua New Guinea – Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu and English
Rwanda – Kinyarwanda, French and English
Seychelles – Seselwa Creole, English and French
Vanuatu – Bislama, English and French
Countries with four official languages…
Austria – German nationwide; Slovene, Croatian and Hungarian, in the regions
Singapore – Mandarin, English, Malay and Tamil
Spain – Castilian Spanish nationwide; Catalan, Galician and Basque, in the regions
Switzerland – German, French, Italian and Romansh
Countries with five official languages…
Palau – Palauan, English, Sonsorolese, Tobian and Japanese
Countries with 11 official languages…
South Africa – Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and last, but not least, Zulu
Countries with 16 official languages…
India – Hindi, English, Bengali, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Kannada, Assamese, Sanskrit and Sindhi
Special shout out to this last country, which has no less than 37 (yep!) official languages…
Bolivia – Castillian Spanish, Aymara, Araona, Baure, Bésiro, Canichana (extinct), Cavineño, Cayubaba (extinct), Chácobo, Chimán, Ese Ejja, Guaraní, Guarasu’we (extinct), Guarayu, Itonama, Leco, Machajuyai-Kallawaya, Machineri, Maropa, Mojeño-Ignaciano, Mojeño-Trinitario, Moré, Mosetén, Movima, Pacawara, Puquina (extinct 18th century), Quechua, Sirionó, Tacana, Tapieté, Toromona, Uru-Chipaya (not a single language; only Chipaya is still spoken), Weenhayek, Yaminawa, Yuki, Yuracaré and finally… Zamuco
Strange how they have at least five extinct languages on the official list, no?
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