How It's Used

"Portuguese officials hope it can advance an old ambition of getting Portuguese adopted as an official language at the United Nations, which currently has six."

—Barry Hatton,"As spelling changes, Portugal feels the empire striking back," Associated Press, April 26, 2008.

"Putonghua [Mandarin Chinese], among six official languages used by the United Nations, is becoming increasingly important in the world.

"Xianggang Putonghua Yanxishe, which was established in 1976, aims to promote Putonghua education in Hong Kong. Its members believe that the best way to promote Putonghua is from primary school education upwards."

—Tong Pui-chi, "The younger the better for Putonghua converts Teacher's Voice Tong Pui-chi," The South China Morning Post, May 15, 2009.

"The world body has six official languages -- English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. English and French are the daily working languages of the organization, though English is more frequently used than French."

—no author, "Bangladesh calls for Bengali to be official UN language," Agence France Presse, September 26, 2009.

Links

Related on eAlmanac
The Eleven Official Languages of South Africa

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on the United Nations
United Nations discussion of their official languages