Questions tagged [languages]
Questions about languages used by states or political organisations.
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Countries where in some parts of the territory they have a single official language different than the one spoken in the rest of the country?
Apart from Finland, Canada, India, South Africa, Denmark, Belgium and Switzerland, are there other countries where in some parts of the territory (like some kind of autonomous region) they have a ...
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3
answers
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How many Ukrainian language schools were still open in Crimea in 2021 compared to 2013?
Russia often complains about the treatment of Russian minorities abroad, especially in Ukraine. But how did they treat the Ukrainian minority themselves?
E.g. how many Ukrainian language schools are ...
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27
votes
3
answers
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views
Why is Turkey campaigning to get their name changed to Türkiye in English but not other languages?
The US Embassy recently announced the following:
The State Department will start spelling Turkey as "Türkiye" in
diplomatic and formal settings.
The name change was approved by the U.S. ...
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2
votes
1
answer
315
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What % of asylum seekers who entered the EU during the 2015 European migrant crisis are now fluent in the local language?
According to Wikipedia:
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into ...
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9
votes
1
answer
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Are there any jurisdictions in the US that require public school students to learn Spanish?
As the amount of Spanish-speaking Americans is increasing, do some towns, counties, or states mandate all public school students to learn at least some Spanish?
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12
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Are there countries in Europe where there's a 10% (or similar, but low) numeric threshold for minority language rights?
The ill-fated 2012 languages law in Ukraine (proposed by the Party of Regions, but eventually found unconstitutional by Ukraine's supreme court)
allowed the use of minority languages in courts, ...
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2
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2
answers
566
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Association referenda in Luhansk and Donetsk: What % of the population of the balloted areas are first-language Russian speakers?
Of the population of the areas of Ukraine, now occupied by Russia, where ballots are being conducted, what percentage speak Russian - as opposed to Ukrainian - as their first language?
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The status of Urdu in Pakistan versus the status of Hindi in India
How can we compare the status of Urdu in Pakistan, with the status of Hindi in India before and after 1971 (the split of Pakistan)?
The Internet says that Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, ...
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0
answers
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Are there any multi-country EU polls on the Russian-language policies of former Soviet republics that are either full EU members or EU associates?
Are there any multi-country EU polls (like those conducted by Eurostat or Pew, although not necessarily just by those orgs) on the topic of Russian-language policies in former Soviet republics that ...
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4
votes
1
answer
265
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Generally speaking, what is the basis on which a national language for a country is chosen?
This statistic says that 56% of Indian's don't speak Hindi, and this statistic says that only 10% speaks English but still English and Hindi are recognized by the government as official languages. ...
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22
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1
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Has any US state passed a law in a language other than English?
There is an interesting question on the Law stack exchange: "If Congress [of the United States of America] passed a bill written in Spanish, would it be valid?" (the answer appears to be '...
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6
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Besides the Philippines do any countries have bilingual presidential debates requiring two (or more) languages to know what the candidates are saying?
NOTE: I'm not a scholar of language and the only languages I have a working knowledge of are English, Math and Python. What is and isn't Filipino language has had a historical debate including legal ...
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votes
1
answer
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Why does the Govt. of Maharashtra not use Moḍi as the official script of the Maraṭhi Language?
The Moḍi script was extensively used to write Maraṭhi during the rule of the Maraṭha confederacy. But during the British rule, Balbodh (बाळबोध) replaced Moḍi(𑘦𑘻𑘚𑘲) for Maraṭhi documentation in the ...
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6
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What are some examples of Ur-Fascist Newspeak?
I'm a big proponent of Umberto Eco's definition of Fascism that he gives in his essay Ur-Fascism; I find it really helps break down the very nebulous and poorly defined - but unmistakeable - concept ...
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3
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How would the Crown change New Zealand's name to Aotearoa in order to help restore the status the Māori language?
CNN's Māori Party campaigns to change New Zealand's name to Aotearoa links to Maoriparty.org's petition Change our official name to Aotearoa.
The Crown is mentioned in two paragraphs of the petition's ...
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2
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Colonial languages as medium of government office, higher education & research
Take for instance India (English), Pakistan (English), Morocco (French), Algeria (French), etc. One thing they all have in common is they use the colonial languages in their higher education and ...
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2
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220
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Are there checks and regulations to ensure interview translations on US TV news are accurate?
US television news outlets sometimes:
interview people who speak a language other than English, then
record a translation over their words.
And most people seem to trust that the translations are ...
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0
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1
answer
902
views
Why is Esperanto recognized by the United Nations?
I read how Esperanto is recognized by the United Nations and is popular in certain parts of the world. The United Nations has also begun presenting the The UNESCO Courier, its widest ranging ...
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4
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1
answer
709
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Why is French a diplomatic language for the Holy See?
I was reading about the government for the Holy See and found out that French is used as a diplomatic language for the nation. This seems rather odd to me since the nation is closest to Italy (to the ...
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1
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Does Ludovic Orban (the current Romanian PM) speak Hungarian?
According to Wikipedia, Ludovic Orban, the current PM of Romania (and who apparently has no relationship with Hungary's Viktor Orban), is of mixed Hungarian and Romanian ethnicity. Does Ludovic Orban ...
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2
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2
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292
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Why is/was the National Liberal Party of Romania opposed to Catholic & Hungarian school when they support a German-minority president?
According to the only snippet on this I found in English, from March 20, 2018:
The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) has admitted on Monday the PNL and PMP notification regarding the draft law ...
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6
answers
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Will Brexit effect a linguistic change across EU?
I was reading the requirements for the ongoing "Horizon 2020" EU grants. It explicitly indicates that the vehicular language for these grants is English. Not only the application must be written in ...
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Is this a Maori interlocution at the beginning of Chlöe Swarbrick's speech? What is its significance?
At the beginning of a speech that became notorious for an entirely different reason, MP Chlöe Swarbrick appears to say something unintelligible in English, which I presume could be a Maori ...
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7
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Why does Canada require bilingualism in a lot of federal government posts?
In Canada, having fluency in English and French is mandatory (In some important government jobs like prime minister). This is considering that the group of French people in Canada is just about 20% of ...
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1
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Why isn't English the official language of the US but it is necessary to know it to become a citizen?
I know that English is not the official language of the United States. However, according to this UCIS page on the naturalization test,
To become a naturalized U.S. citizen, you must pass the ...
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3
votes
1
answer
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Legal restrictions on minority languages in media and the web
The draft law on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the national language adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on April 25 obliges all print media to have the Ukrainian version.
According ...
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10
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2
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Can people use the Maori language instead of English for New Zealand citizenship?
New Zealand’s government say Māori (Te Reo) is another official language beside English. Can people use Māori instead of English for the citizenship language test?
From the Wikipedia article on Māori:...
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What dictates the order of languages used by the UN?
In the image below, what dictates the order of the languages on the top banner (e.g. why English and then French?
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Are EU Parliament speeches re-translated to minimize "lost in translation"?
According to this article a Romanian minister speech was particularly hard to translate, so the various (real-time?) translations were quite different:
English
Let me tell you that the fact that I ...
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5
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2
answers
303
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How does European Commission deal with EU countries language subtleties / local context?
This is somehow a follow up of this question that suggests that European Union should have reacted to a controversial declaration made by an ex-Romanian Prime Minister.
I have noticed that European ...
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3
answers
278
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Why don't EU countries use language tests to help select/educate refugees?
If I were the leader of an EU country, I would state in a news broadcast that if refugees want to live in my country, they must learn our language first, and I would give high priority to refugees ...
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Why wouldn't EU recommend Baltic states and Ukraine to give Russian language the official status?
As known, Russian language is widely spoken in states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, which are EU members, and Ukraine, which has signed the association with EU, being native up to 50% of citizens by ...
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0
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348
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Why did German in South-Tyrol survive better than French in Aosta Valley? [closed]
The Italian regions of South-Tyrol and Aosta Valley have in common that although they're both part of modern Italy, they are, at least historically, places where the language spoken was not Italian. ...
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3
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1
answer
606
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Does Pete Hoekstra, the US Ambassador to the Netherlands, speak Dutch?
The language abilities of an ambassador, and his/her choice of language, can be a reflection of his/her qualifications and/or the face he/she chooses to present to the country to which they are ...
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3
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What are the benefits for Ireland to have a separate language, rather than exclusively relying on English?
Wikipedia has a nice summary of the current status of the Irish language:
A comprehensive study published in 2007 on behalf of Údarás na Gaeltachta found that young people in the Gaeltacht, despite ...
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1
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460
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Does the EU acknowledge that the lack of a common language is a large trade barrier within the Union?
The cornerstone of the EU is ensuring complete economic integration of its members through the freedom of movement of goods, services and people. But there is one big issue that is seemingly ignored ...
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1
answer
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Why do people make the mistake of calling it a "job market?" [closed]
A market means that in a specific location (or via an online platform) by a consumer's own will, they can directly exchange money for goods and services while the market is operational. If someone is ...
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0
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To what extent should a country be able to decide what it is called in other languages? [duplicate]
What are the arguments for and against the proposition that a country should have the right to determine what it is called in a foreign language, and that speakers of that language should heed the ...
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1
answer
990
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How proficient is Leo Varadkar in the Irish language?
The Irish language, and official support for it, is a major political issue in Ireland (and has been so since the inception of Irish nationalism). This includes politicians' abilities to use the Irish ...
user15034
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Why doesn't the US suppress the use of Spanish, similar to how France enforces its official language?
Looking at the Spanish language distribution in the US one can see that English is slowly losing its dominant status in the southern parts:
So why don't American politicians attempt to restrict the ...
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Do any non-anglophone countries plan to introduce English as an official language?
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 ...
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10
votes
1
answer
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How do leaders cross the language barrier during phone calls?
Recently, the American president spoke on the phone with leaders from around the world. Some are from English-speaking countries, but many are not, including Vladimir Putin. For such important and ...
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1
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Will English be dropped as an official/working language of the EU after Brexit?
English is currently one of the 24 official languages of the European Union (EU), and one of the three “working” languages alongside French and German.
Will the United Kingdom leaving the EU (Brexit) ...
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1
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1k
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If Puerto Rico votes to become USA's 51st state, what effect would it have on Spanish being the primary official language?
Currently, Spanish is the main official language of Puerto Rico:
P. Rico Senate declares Spanish over English as first official language
The Puerto Rican Senate approved a bill Thursday declaring ...
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5
votes
2
answers
295
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How does the Flemish government attempt to reduce the francisation of the Flemish rim/Brussels Periphery?
In recent centuries, Brussels has shifted from being majority Dutch-speaking to majority French-speaking. Brussels is officially a bilingual city but surrounded by Flanders. Flanders is officially ...
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votes
1
answer
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What influences a country having or not having an official language?
What influences a country having, or not having, an official language?
Politifact mentions that there are 14 countries without an official language:
There are 196 nations, according to infoplease....
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3
votes
1
answer
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What is the political goal for an independent country to deny a common language with a bigger neighbour?
I do not see the point in claiming there are separate languages named "Montenegrian", "Moldavian" or "Macedonian" when those were actually made up during the communism era and didn't exist before the ...
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2
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1k
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Who decides on state names in foreign languages?
The questions really is just that: who decides what a state or country is called in foreign languages?
As an example, the official title of Germany is "Bundesrepublik Deutschland" which is usually ...
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1
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Which are more numerous in the EU? Native English speakers or native French speakers?
Which one is more numerous in the EU (minus the UK)? native English speakers or native French speakers ?
After Brexit, what will be the main language of the EU? Would it be one? Or more than one?
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How many people are necessary and for how long to form an Ethnic Minority?
Everything is in the title.
For instance in Switzerland, the Romansh are considered an ethnic minority, even though only 36'000 people speaks the language (or I should say the languages since it is ...
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