Back لغات رسمية في الأمم المتحدة Arabic Llingües oficiales de la ONX AST BMT-nin rəsmi dilləri Azerbaijani БМО-ның рәсми телдәре Bashkir Афіцыйныя мовы ААН Byelorussian জাতিসংঘের দাপ্তরিক ভাষা Bengali/Bangla Llengües oficials de l'ONU Catalan زمانە فەرمییەکانی نەتەوە یەکگرتووەکان CKB Amtssprachen der Vereinten Nationen German Oficialaj lingvoj de la Unuiĝintaj Nacioj Esperanto

Official languages of the United Nations

The official languages of the United Nations, are the six languages used in United Nations (UN) meetings and in which the UN writes and publishes all its official documents.[1] In 1946, five languages were chosen as official languages of the UN: English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese[2]. In 1973, Arabic was voted to be an additional official language. As of 2025,[3] the official languages of the United Nations are:

According to the UN Charter each of these 6 are equally authoritative[10] although English and French have traditionally received preferential status and are the only two official and working languages of the UN Secretariat.[11] It is an unspoken rule that the UN Secretary General and other high ranking United Nations officials must be fluent (at least C1 - Advanced fluency level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL)) in at least English and French. The UN has struggled to provide parity of all 6 languages as the English language has become the dominant world language in the digital age.

Multiple UN Secretary Generals, including Kofi Annan and Ban Ki Moon and Antonio Guterres have worked to improve multilingualism within the UN. This work has culminated in additional funding for the UN Translation Service, the creation of the Coordinator for Multilingualism role, UN Language Days, and starting in 2018, the UN News website providing translations into non-official languages such as Portuguese, Swahili, Hindi, and Urdu in addition to the official languages.[12] These and many of the non-official languages used by the United Nations often represent the Southern Hemisphere (Global South). Rule 57 allows the General Assembly or any subcommittee to utilize any language other than the languages of the Assembly.[13] As of 2025, the United Nations and UNESCO has not formally ratified the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights.[14]

  1. ^ "Union Nation Official Languages". Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  2. ^ Universal Declaration of Human Rights: translation into Chinese. Title Universal Declaration of Human Rights: translation into Chinese {...} Language(s) 中文 (Chinese){...}Alternate names: Beifang Fangyan, Guanhua, Guoyu, Hanyu, Huayu, Mandarin, Northern Chinese, Putonghua, Standard Chinese, Zhongguohua, Zhongwen
  3. ^ "What are the official languages of the United Nations?". Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  4. ^ "Spelling (United Nations Editorial Manual Online)". Department for General Assembly and Conference Management. Retrieved 29 July 2023. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, twelfth edition, is the current authority for spelling in the United Nations.
  5. ^ "Note on the Introduction of Russian as an Official Language of the Executive Committee EC/SC.2/80". United Nations. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  6. ^ "UN Chinese Language Day". Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  7. ^ "ISO 639-3". SIL Global. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  8. ^ "UN to drop traditional Chinese characters: report". Pinyin News. 24 March 2006. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  9. ^ "World Arabic Language Day". United Nations. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  10. ^ "Official languages of the United Nations". Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  11. ^ "Official languages of the United Nations". Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  12. ^ "Minimum standards of multilingualism for United Nations websites".
  13. ^ "Official languages of the United Nations". Retrieved 23 May 2025.
  14. ^ "The Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights – twenty years on".
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