INFORMATION SHEET 5
LANGUAGE LIST BY COUNTRY AND PLACE
COUNTRY LANGUAGE
A
AFGHANISTAN:
Pashtu, Farsi, Dari, Hazaragi, other languages
Turkic and minor
ALBANIA:
Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect), Greek
ALGERIA:
Arabic, French, Berber dialects
ANDORRA:
ANGOLA:
ANTIGUA AND
BARBUDA:
ARGENTINA:
ARMENIA:
AUSTRALIA:
AUSTRIA:
AZERBAIJAN:
Catalán, French, Castilian, Portuguese
Portuguese, Bantu and other African languages
English, local dialects
Spanish, English, Italian, German, French
Armenian, Russian
English, Indigenous languages
German, Slovene, Croatian, Hungarian
Azerbaijani Turkic, Russian, Armenian, other
B
BAHAMAS:
BAHRAIN:
BANGLADESH:
BARBADOS:
BELARUS:
BELIZE:
BENIN:
English, Creole
Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu
Bangla, English
English
Belorussian (White Russian), Russian, other
English, Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib), Creole
French, Fon, Yoruba, tribal languages
BHUTAN:
Dzongkha, Tibetan and Nepalese dialects
BOLIVIA:
Spanish, Quechua, Aymara
BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA:
BOTSWANA:
BRAZIL:
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian (all formerly known as
Serbo-Croatian); written languages use Latin and
Cyrillic script
English, Setswana
Portuguese, Spanish, English, French
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
B
BRUNEI
DARUSSALAM:
BULGARIA:
BURKINA FASO:
Malay, English, Chinese
Bulgarian; secondary ethnic languages
French, Indigenous African (Sudanic) languages
BURUNDI:
Kirundi, French, Swahili
CAMBODIA:
Khmer, French, English
C
CAMEROON:
CANADA:
CAPE VERDE:
CENTRAL AFRICAN
REPUBLIC :
French, English; 24 major African language groups
English, French; Indigenous languages
Portuguese, Criuolo
French, Sangho, Arabic, Hansa, Swahili
CHAD:
French, Arabic, Sara, more than 120 languages and
dialects
CHILE:
Spanish
CHINA (PRC):
Cantonese, Mandarin, also local dialects (Daur,
Kalmyk-Oirat, Lu, Peripheral Mongolian, Central
Tibetan, Uyghur, Xibe, Zhuang)
COLOMBIA:
Spanish
COMOROS:
Arabic and French, Shikomoro (Swahili/Arabic
blend)
CONGO, REPUBLIC
OF :
CONGO (DRC):
COSTA RICA:
CÔTE D’IVOIRE:
CROATIA:
CUBA:
CYPRUS:
CZECH REPUBLIC:
French, Lingala, Monokutuba, Kikongo, many local
languages and dialects
French, Lingala, Kingwana, Kikongo, Tshiluba
Spanish, English
French, African languages (Diaula esp.)
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian (all formerly known as
Serbo-Croatian), Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak,
German, and other languages
Spanish
Greek, Turkish, English
Czech
Multicultural Language Services Guidelines
for Tasmanian Government Agencies
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
2
D
DENMARK:
DJIBOUTI:
DOMINICA:
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC:
Danish, Faeroese, Greenlandic (Inuit dialect),
German, English
French, Arabic, Somali, Afar
English, French patois
Spanish
E
EAST TIMOR:
ECUADOR:
EGYPT:
EL SALVADOR:
EQUATORIAL
GUINEA:
ERITREA:
Tetum, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesian, English,
other Indigenous languages, including Tetum,
Galole, Mambae, and Kemak
Spanish, Quechua, other Amerindian languages
Arabic, English, French
Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians)
Spanish, French, pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo
Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other
Cushitic languages
ESTONIA:
Estonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Finnish, other
ETHIOPIA:
Amharic, Tigrigna, Orominga, Guaragigna, Somali,
Arabic, English and 70 others
F
FIJI:
English, Fijian, Hindustani
FINLAND:
Finnish, Swedish, small Sami (Lapp), Russian
FRANCE:
French regional dialects (Provençal, Breton,
Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)
G
GABON:
THE GAMBIA:
GEORGIA:
GERMANY:
GHANA:
GREECE:
GRENADA:
French, Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira,
Bandjabi
English, Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Serer-Sine,
Sarahole, Pulaar, Maninkakan, Mandjaque,
Mandingo, Jola-Fonyi, Creole
Georgian, Russian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Abkhaz
German
English, Indigenous languages (Brong Ahafo, Twi,
Fanti, Ga, Ewe, Dagbani)
Greek, English, French
English, French patois
Multicultural Language Services Guidelines
for Tasmanian Government Agencies
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
3
G
GUATEMALA:
GUINEA:
GUINEA-BISSAU:
GUYANA:
Spanish, Amerindian languages (23 officially
recognised Amerindian languages, including
Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and
Xinca)
French, Indigenous languages (Malinké, Susu,
Fulani)
Portuguese, Criolo, African languages
English, Amerindian dialects, Creole, Hindi, Urdu
H
HAITI:
HONDURAS:
HONG KONG SPECIAL
ADMINISTRATION
REGION (SAR):
HUNGARY:
Creole, French
Spanish, Amerindian dialects, English
Cantonese, Mandarin
Magyar (Hungarian), other
I
ICELAND:
INDIA:
INDONESIA:
Icelandic, English, Nordic languages, German
Hindi, English, Bengali, Gujarati, Kashmiri,
Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu,
Urdu, Kannada, Assamese, Sanskrit, Sindhi, and
1600+ dialects
Bahasa Indonesia, English, Dutch, Javanese, and
580+ languages/dialects
IRAN:
Farsi (Persian), Azari, Kurdish, Arabic
IRAQ:
Arabic, Kurdish, Assyrian Neo Aramaic
IRELAND:
English, Irish Gaelic
ISRAEL:
Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian
ITALY:
Italian, German, French, Slovene
J
JAMAICA:
JAPAN:
JORDAN:
English, Jamaican Creole
Japanese
Arabic, English
Multicultural Language Services Guidelines
for Tasmanian Government Agencies
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
4
K
KAZAKHSTAN:
KENYA:
KIRIBATI:
Kazak (Qazaq), Russian
English, Swahili, 25 ethnic group languages
English, I-Kiribati (Gilbertese)
KOREA, NORTH:
Korean
KOREAN, SOUTH:
Korean
KUWAIT:
KYRGYZSTAN:
Arabic, English
Kyrgyz, Russian
L
LAOS:
LATVIA:
Lao, French, English
Latvian, Russian
LEBANON:
Arabic, French, English
LESOTHO:
English, Sesotho, Zulu, Xhosa
LIBERIA:
English, tribal dialects
LIBYA:
Arabic, Italian, English
LIECHTENSTEIN:
German, Alemmanic dialect
LITHUANIA:
Lithuanian, Polish, Russian
LUXEMBOURG:
Luxermbourgish, French, German
M
MACEDONIA,
FORMER YUGOSLAV
REPUBLIC OF:
Macedonian (uses the Cyrillic alphabet), Albanian,
Turkish, other
MADAGASCAR:
Malagasy, French
MALAWI:
English, Chichewa
MALAYSIA:
Malay, Chinese, Tamil, English
MALDIVES:
Dhivehi, Arabic, Hindi, English
MALI:
MALTA:
MARSHALL ISLANDS:
MAURITANIA:
MAURITIUS:
French, African languages
Maltese, English
Marshallese, English
Arabic, Wolof, French
English, French, Creole, Hindi, Urdu, Hakka,
Bojpoori
Multicultural Language Services Guidelines
for Tasmanian Government Agencies
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
5
M
MEXICO:
MICRONESIA:
MOLDOVA:
Spanish, Indian languages
English, Chukese, Pohnpeian, Yapase, Kosrean
Moldovan (similar to Romanian), Russian, Gagauz
(Turkish dialect)
MONACO:
French, English, Italian, Monégasque
MONGOLIA:
Mongolian, Turkic, Russian, Chinese
MOROCCO:
Arabic, French, Berber dialects, Spanish
MOZAMBIQUE:
MYANMAR:
Portuguese, Bantu languages
The Myanmar language (formerly Burmese), Karen,
Chin, Rohingya
N
NAMIBIA:
Afrikaans, German, English, several Indigenous
languages
NAURU:
Nauruan, English
NEPAL:
Nepali, Newar, Maithali, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Tamang,
and others
THE NETHERLANDS:
Dutch, Frisian
NEW ZEALAND:
English, Maori
NICARAGUA:
NIGER:
NIGERIA:
NORWAY:
Spanish
French, Hausa; Songhai; Arabic
English, Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, 200+ others
Bokmål, Nynorsk (forms of Norwegian)
O
OMAN:
Arabic, English, Indian languages
P
PAKISTAN:
PALAU:
PALESTINIAN
TERRITORIES:
PANAMA:
Punjabi, Sindhi, Siraiki (Punjabi variant), Pashtu,
Urdu, Balochi, Hindko, Brahui, English, Burushaski,
and others
Palauan, English
Arabic, Hebrew, English, French
Spanish, English
Multicultural Language Services Guidelines
for Tasmanian Government Agencies
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
6
P
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
PARAGUAY:
PERU:
THE PHILIPPINES:
POLAND:
PORTUGAL:
English, Tok Pisin (Melanesian Creole English), Hiri
Motu, and 717 distinct Indigenous languages
Spanish, Guaraní
Spanish, Quéchua, Aymara, and other Indigenous
languages
Filipino (based on Tagalog), English, regional
languages: Tagalog, Ilocano, Cebuano, others
Polish
Portuguese
Q
QATAR:
Arabic, English
R
ROMANIA:
RUSSIA:
RWANDA:
Romanian, Hungarian, German
Russian, others
Kinyarwanda, French, English
S
ST. KITTS AND NEVIS:
ST. LUCIA:
ST. VINCENT/THE
GRENADINES:
SAMOA:
SAN MARINO:
SÃO TOMÉ AND
PRÍNCIPE:
SAUDI ARABIA:
SENEGAL:
SERBIA AND
MONTENEGRO:
SEYCHELLES:
SIERRA LEONE:
SINGAPORE:
SLOVAKIA:
English
English, Patois
English, French patois
Samoan, English
Italian
Portuguese
Arabic, English widely spoken
French, Wolof, Serer, other ethnic dialects
Serbian, Albanian (once known as Serbo-Croatian);
written language uses Latin and Cyrillic script
English, French, Seselwa (a creole)
English, Mende, Temne, Krio
Malay, Chinese (Mandarin), Tamil, English
Slovak, Hungarian
Multicultural Language Services Guidelines
for Tasmanian Government Agencies
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
7
S
SLOVENIA:
SOLOMON ISLANDS:
SOMALIA:
Slovenian; Serbo-Croatian
English, Solomon Pijin (an English pidgin), 60
Indigenous Melanesian languages
Somali, Arabic, English, Italian
SOUTH AFRICA:
Xhosa, Zulu, English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Sesotho
sa Leboa, Sesotho, Swati, Xitsonga, Setswana,
Tshivenda
SOUTH SUDAN:
English, Arabic, Dinka, Nuer, Zande
SPAIN:
SRI LANKA:
SUDAN:
SURINAME:
SWAZILAND:
SWEDEN:
SWITZERLAND:
SYRIA:
Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque
Sinhala, Tamil, English
Arabic, English, Dinka, tribal dialects
Dutch, Surinamese (lingua franca), English widely
spoken
English, Swazi
Swedish
German, French, Italian, Romansch
Arabic, Kurdish, French and English widely
understood
T
TAIWAN:
TAJIKISTAN:
Chinese (Mandarin)
Tajik, Russian, Uzbek
TANZANIA:
Swahili, English, local languages
THAILAND:
Thai (Siamese), Chinese, English
TOGO:
TONGA:
TRINIDAD:
French, Ewé, Mina (south), Kabyé, Cotocoli (north),
and many dialects
Tongan (an Austronesian language), English
Tobago English, Hindi, French, Spanish
TUNISIA:
Arabic, French
TURKEY:
Turkish, Kurdish
TURKMENISTAN:
TUVALU:
Turkmen, Russian, Uzbek
Tuvaluan, English
Multicultural Language Services Guidelines
for Tasmanian Government Agencies
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
8
U
UGANDA:
English, Swahili, Luganda, Ateso, Luo
UKRAINE:
Ukrainian
UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES:
UNITED KINGDOM:
UNITED STATES:
URUGUAY:
UZBEKISTAN:
Arabic, English as a second language
English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic
English, sizable Spanish-speaking minority
Spanish
Uzbek, Russian, Tajik, other
V
VANUATU:
VATICAN CITY:
VENEZUELA:
VIETNAM:
Bislama (a Melanesian pidgin English), English,
French
Latin, Italian, and various other languages
Spanish, various Indigenous languages in the
remote interior
Vietnamese, French, English, Khmer, Chinese
W
WESTERN SAHARA
REGION:
Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic
Y
YEMEN:
Arabic
ZAMBIA:
English, local dialects
Z
ZIMBABWE:
English, Ndebele, Shona
Multicultural Language Services Guidelines
for Tasmanian Government Agencies
Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania
Department of Premier and Cabinet
9