Wednesday, June 13, 2007

English Officially Spoken...WHERE ???

Tooling around the net in what Globaloney slicers and Algoreans would call a "Xenophopic, Jingoistic attitude, I thought I might validate something a very wise young confidante had "laid on" me in a Bull Session.

"Why isn't OUR national, Official Language, when it is the official language in most of Sub-Sahara Afr ica, and the Pacific Ocean ?"

"Is it?" I exclaimed..."Is it, REALLY ? !!!"

"Oh, yassss! " he chuckled smugly..."Check Google, or just go straight to Wikipedia...."

So I did. And here's what I found:

A nation's official language is designated as having a unique legal status in the state, typically the language used by a nation's legislative bodies and official government business. NATIONAL language is one that uniquely represents the nation's identity or the nation and country. Some my be technically minority languages, but efficiency dictates their designation.
Here are the countries where English is the national OFFICIAL language:

Antigua and Barbuda
Australia (de facto)
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bhutan
Botswana (primarily)
Cameroon
Canada (along with French)
Domenica
Timor (working language)
Fiji (preferred over Figian and Hindustani)
Gambia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
India (only statewide, many local tomgues)
Ireland
Jamaica
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritius
Micronesia (except in Kosrae)
Nigeria you
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Rwanda
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Seychelle
Sierra LeĆ³ne
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa (Afrikaans also)
Swaziland
Tanzania
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Kingdom (de facto)

United States(de facto only – no official language nationwide but English OFFICIAL by statute in: Alabama, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, the Northern Mariannas Islands, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, the Virgin Islands, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.)

Zambia
Zimbabwe


I think the United States should join up. English has already eclipsed French as the de rigeur Diplomatic Tongue.

Now, let's make it a National thing.

It seems to be Infra Dig in the 21st century.