The
languages of the Commonwealth of Nations are languages used by people within the member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Commonwealth has 33 official languages across its 18 member states, of which one (English) has been designated the “Official Procedural Language” and the remaining 32 are classed as “Official Regional Languages.” English is therefore used as the primary language of Commonwealth institutions and there is an assumption that all Commonwealth-related meetings will take place in English unless otherwise agreed. In practice, English is also the language of government and commerce in all of the Commonwealth member states. The Official Regional Languages have a special status within the Commonwealth, with all Commonwealth laws, regulation and judicial decisions being required to be translated into each language and translators for each language being available at Commonwealth events and institutions.
The actual use and spread of the Official Regional Languages varies greatly, with Palauan being spoken by fewer than 20,000 people whereas Urdu and Punjabi, each with over 100,000,000 speakers, are the Commonwealth’s
de facto second and third languages. The most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth is English, which is understood by 95% of all adults. Nevertheless, the Commonwealth encourages its citizens to be multilingual and speak two languages in addition to their native language. A number of Commonwealth funding programs actively promote language learning and linguistic diversity. Furthermore, a variety of smaller regional languages and dialects receive differing degrees of official protection without receiving the status of an Official Regional Language.
However, while the Commonwealth actively promotes the use of the regional languages, actual figures for each language’s use can be unreliable. Many people contend that figures given are artificially inflated by regional governments. Furthermore, many contend that actual use of the language is virtually non-existent, with people who never speak it outside of school being classed as "bilingual speakers." Some critics and Anglosceptics argue that certain of the regional languages are functionally extinct and kept alive only by Commonwealth largess. Defenders of the Commonwealth’s language policy argue back that such arguments are often tinged by a degree of Anglo-chavanism and do not appreciate the Commonwealth’s linguistic and ethnic melting pot.
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