The United Nations has a large number of countries. However, business negotiations and correspondence of this organization are carried out in only a few specific languages. Such official UN languages, the list of which is relatively small, are not chosen by chance. They were the result of a careful and balanced approach.
Six languages
Only a few world languages are recognized as official languages of the UN. Many factors influenced their choice, including prevalence. There are six official languages of the UN. These include, of course, the Russian language. The choice in favor of English and Chinese is obvious - a huge number of people all over the planet speak these languages. In addition to the above, the status of the official language received Arabic, Spanish and French. All these languages are official in more than a hundred countries of the world, they are spoken by more than 2 800 million people.
Historical moments
The history of the official languages of the UN began after the end of World War II. The UN Charter, concluded in the USA on 06/26/1945, was originally signed in five language versions. Among them was absent Arabic. This is evidenced by Article 111 of this document, which also states that all copies, regardless of the language of writing, are authentic.
In 1946, the General Assembly approved the rules that required all languages to be treated equally and that five languages should be used in all UN subordinate bodies. Moreover, the UN official languages listed were considered official, and English and French were considered working languages. A year later, the organization ruled out the requirement that the official languages of the UN, the list of which then consisted of only five positions, should have the same status in other organizations.
In 1968, the status of a worker received the Russian language - one of the official languages of the UN.
In 1973, Chinese was additionally recognized as the working language. Arabic was also added as an official language, and it also became the working language of the General Assembly. In this way, all official languages simultaneously became working languages.
In 1983, all six official languages of the UN became recognized by the Security Council. In this organization, they also became official, and at the same time workers.
It is noteworthy that all UN secretaries general had practical knowledge of English and French.
Use of languages
The official languages of the United Nations are used at all kinds of meetings and gatherings of this largest organization. In particular, they are used during the General Assembly and the meeting of the heads of the Security Council. The above languages are also used in the conduct of the Economic and Social Council.
The meaning of this status is that any member of the UN has the right to speak any of these official languages. However, this does not in any way limit his right to use another language. If a representative of a country does not speak the official language, then simultaneous interpreters will translate into the official one. In addition, the task of simultaneous translators is to translate from one official language to the other five.
UN Documentation
Office work in the organization is also conducted in all six languages. Moreover, if a document is translated, for example, into only four languages, and the other two are not translated, then such a document will not be published without having been interpreted in all official languages. The authority of the texts is the same - no matter what the language of its presentation.
Parity of languages
At one time, the UN leadership was criticized due to its tendency to use the English language, and, accordingly, for insufficient attention to other official languages. The UN member countries, whose population is spoken in Spanish, in 2001 raised this issue with Secretary General Kofi Annan. At that time, K. Annan explained this imbalance between the six languages by the fact that the organization’s budget does not allow to properly take into account all the subtleties and nuances of translation into each language. However, he took note of this appeal and said that the situation should be corrected, paying attention to the sufficient use of each official language.
This controversial moment was resolved in 2008-2009, when the General Assembly approved a resolution according to which the Secretariat was entrusted with the task of maintaining parity between all official languages. Particular attention was required to be paid to the translation of information subject to public dissemination.
On 8 June 2007, the United Nations issued a resolution on the management of the human resources working in it. Moreover, the document deliberately emphasized the high importance of the equality of all 6 official languages without exception.
On October 4, 2010, the Secretary-General prepared a report on multilingualism, and after about six months, the General Assembly asked him to provide guarantees that all official and working languages of the UN will be equal, that they will be created the necessary conditions for their normal functioning. At the same time, a resolution was adopted by the body of the international community, which noted that the development of the UN official website (from the side of multilingualism) is proceeding at a slower pace than previously envisaged.
UN Specialized Agencies
It is known that the UN also has independent organizations or institutions that carry out their activities autonomously. Such departments include, for example, UNESCO, the Universal Postal Union and others. It is noteworthy that other languages can be considered official languages in these independent UN bodies. So, in the Universal Postal Union, only French is used, it is the only official language. At UNESCO, on the contrary, nine languages are officially recognized, among them Portuguese and Italian, as well as Hindi. The International Fund for Agricultural Development has only four languages that are officially used by its members. It is Arabic, Spanish, French and English.
Language Coordinator
As early as 1999, the General Assembly addressed the Secretary-General by adopting a resolution requesting the creation of a post of senior official of the Secretariat and appointment to it. This official was charged with coordinating all issues related to multilingualism.
On December 6, 2000, Federico Riesco of Chile was the first to be appointed to this position. The next coordinator for multilingualism was Miles Stoby Guyana, who was appointed on September 6, 2001.
Shashi Terur was appointed coordinator in 2003 by Kofi Annan. In parallel, he was also involved as the Deputy Secretary General, dealing with communications and public information.
Kiyo Akasaka from Japan is currently the multilingual coordinator. Like Shashi Terur, he combines his work with the post of head of the public information department.
Language days
Since 2010, the UN celebrates the so-called language days, each of which is designed for one of the 6 official languages of the UN. This initiative was supported by the Department of Public Information in order to highlight the linguistic diversity of the organization, as well as to gain knowledge and information about the importance of intercultural communication. Each day of a certain language is associated with some significant historical event that occurred in the country of that language.
- Arabic - December 18 - the date of the definition of Arabic as the official language of the United Nations.
- Russian - June 6 - the date of birth of A.S. Pushkin.
- English - April 23 - the date of the birth of Shakespeare.
- Spanish - October 12 - is considered in Spain as "Columbus Day."
- Chinese - April 20 - in honor of Tsang Jie.
- French - March 20 - the day of the creation of the International.
Parallel to the European Union
The European Union is another large multilingual organization consisting of several countries. Each of these countries, of course, has its own language. Therefore, in this union there is a main rule that all languages of the participating countries are equal. All documentation and record keeping should be conducted in these languages, appropriate translations should be made. At the same time, as the Union grew and other states (northern Scandinavian and Eastern European) were included in it, these new members did not require the European Union to give their language official status, justifying it with knowledge of any of the main languages. Such in the union are considered English, German, Italian, French and Spanish. Indeed, this position of the new members of the organization is confirmed by the fact that almost all diplomats have good knowledge in at least one of the listed languages. Most new members prefer to speak English. In addition, it should be noted that in the European Union the most ardent supporters of multilingualism are the French.
Use of official languages in other international organizations
Other international organizations, for example, specializing in trade, in sports, as well as others, tend to use the English language, but along with this, frequent use of the French language is noted, in many communities it is official.
International organizations of a regional scale mainly use the language that is characteristic of their ethnic or religious composition. For example, Arabic is used in Muslim organizations, and in the main part of non-Muslim Africa, either French or English is used as official languages (the colonial past left a great influence).
