Is there currently a country (or have there been such countries in the past) where the government is planning to introduce English as the official language, despite the fact that the local population is not Anglophone and has never been under Anglophone colonial rule?
asked Apr 2, 2017 at 18:34
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2Singapour comes to mind.– BregaladApr 2, 2017 at 19:04
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2@Bregalad Singapore wasn't a British colony per se but it was a British trading post for many decades.– JonathanReezApr 2, 2017 at 19:07
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2Imperial Japan after the Meiji Restoration comes to mind history.stackexchange.com/questions/119/…– Andrew GrimmApr 2, 2017 at 21:32
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3Singapore was a British colony– Dylan CzenskiApr 3, 2017 at 3:45
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Some have suggested it for Sweden, but it's a fringe view.– liftarnApr 3, 2017 at 7:03
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2 Answers
Rwanda is such a country, having made the switch from French, the colonial language under Belgian rule, to English, in 2008.
The country has also joined the Commonwealth of Nations, despite never having been subject to the British crown.
I'm unaware of any country with current plans to follow in Rwanda's footsteps.
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4Rwanda didn't "switch" from French to English: they "added" English as national language. Rwanda did so because of the huge amount English-speaking Ugandese refugees during the 2nd half of the 20th century. Apr 3, 2017 at 13:25
Tonga's official languages are Tongan and English. Tonga was under British influence for a long time, but it was never a British colony, having become a protectorate only, though it later joined the Commonwealth of Nations. The Tongan monarchy was never abolished.
answered Apr 3, 2017 at 13:15
