Soldier4Christ
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« on: August 10, 2008, 12:33:09 PM » |
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Official languages? 'None' listed in U.S. But, says Olympics preview, English dominates from Antigua to Zimbabwe
The Olympics can be a time of learning about the countries of the world – especially some of the more obscure nations.
But, if you're tuned into coverage of the Summer Games in Beijing, you might be surprised by what you learn about less obscure countries as well – including theUnited States of America.
For instance, what’s the official language of the U.S.?
If your guess is English, you would be wrong.
English is the official language of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon (along with French), Canada, of course (along with French), the Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji (along with Fijian), Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Hong Kong (along with Chinese), India (along with several native tongues, Ireland (along with Gaelic), Kenya (along with a native tongue), Kiribati (along with I-Kiribati), Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar (along with French and a local tongue, Malta (along with Maltese), Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, New Zealand (along with two native languages), Nigeria, Pakistan (along with Urdu), Philippines (along with Filipino), Puerto Rico (along with Spanish), Rwanda (along with French and a local language), Saint Lucia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore (along with Tamil, Malay and Mandarin), Solomon Islands, Swaziland (along with a local language), Tanzania (along with Swahili and another local language), Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia and even Zimbabwe.
But there is the United States with no official language.
Surprised?
Interestingly, Great Britain is one of the countries that doesn't list an official language – though England surely invented English.
But, interestingly, the U.S. is the only nation with the notation "none" under official languages.
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