Office language / General administrative law

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An office language is the language, in which the authorities (government, courts) of a state can communicate with one another and with the population and turn with the citizens and inhabitants to the administrative mechanisms. A country can have several office languages at the same time. Contrary to the office language school language designates a language, which is used in instruction at the schools of a country.

Office languages are common also at international authorities, like the UN and the European patent office.

What becomes the office

Always the office languages do not reflect the actual native languages of the inhabitants of a country.

In Europe, Asia or America usually the most frequently spoken language of a country is also simultaneous its office language; like that German is the office language of Germany and Portuguese the office language of Brazil. In Africa against it usually colonial languages are office language, like that French in Mali or English in Zambia. This language politics often favour the dominant elite, which knows, contrary to the common people as only class the office language. With the bearing languages until today as only those new Zealand Sign LANGUAGE as office language one defined.

Only in few cases (Switzerland with four office languages, South Africa with eleven) all common languages of a country are also office languages. Like that is not about in Germany also over two million native speakers (of it nearly half of German nationality) strongly represented Turkish an office language just as little office language in France is as of Alsace. This tendency is justified with the necessity for the national unit and administrative additional expenditure (training of all officials and expression of all forms in several languages), leads however in practice to a social devaluation of the speakers of such non--office languages.

A compromise is that minority languages receive the status of an office language only on regional level (so German in South Tyrol, Sorbisch in the Lausitz) or in case of the Austrian bearing language country-wide.

Office languages in individual countries

Not all states specified their office language officially.

Germany

In Germany the office language in different laws is arranged. For the administrative authorities of the federation "§ 23 exp. specify 1 administrative proceedings law (VwVfG) the German language as office language. For federation and national fiscal authorities the definition of the German takes place as office language after "§87 tax code (AO 1977), for social agencies after "§19 I social legislation X (SGB X). In accordance with "§184 Judiciary Act (GVG) is the court language the German. It is considerable that the linguistic usage of the German legislator deviates here of the colloquial importance of the word "office language", as it is described above to that extent, "office language" and "court language" are conceptually differentiated. Because of "§126 Patent Act is German also the language of the patent office and the patent court. The legal term "office language" does not seize, again deviating of the common importance, the language of the legislator. In the absence of a regulation in the Basic Law such is not at all fixed. All laws, which became to issue in the Federal Republic of Germany, are however written on German.

The office language of the authorities of the Lands of the Federal Republic is regulated by the administrative proceedings laws of the Lands of the Federal Republic. By the European Charter of the regional and minority languages authorities of individual Lands of the Federal Republic are obligated, also in the regional languages of Lower Saxony (colloquially called Niederdeutsch), Friesisch, to correspond to Danish and/or Sorbisch (Wendisch).

Austria

In Austria German is fixed as office language. The minority languages are fixed in the Austrian convention 1955 and in numerous regulations over the exact regions.

Minority languages as office languages are (arranged according to number of speakers):

Croatian (in castle country and Steiermark)
Slovenian (in
Hungarian in four municipalities of the castle country

Further under minority languages in Austria

Switzerland

In Switzerland four office languages exist:

German
French
Italian

Office languages of the EEC and European Union

Supported by Art.270 of the EGV the advice of the European union (Council of Ministers) ordered without prejudice to rules of procedure of the European Court of Justice (regulation of the advice for the regulation of the language question) that office languages and working languages of the organs of the EEC

Danish
German
English
Estnisch
Finnish
French
Greek
Italian
Lettisch
Litauisch
Maltese
Netherlands
Polish
Portuguese
Swedish
Slowakisch
Slovenian
Spanish (Kastilisch)
Czech
Hungarian

are. Each member state and each person, which are subjected to a member state, can arrange a language for the correspondence with organs of the community. The answer is to be given in the same language. Documents are, which the EEC at member states or to a member state subjected a person arranges to draw up in the language of this state. Verodnungen and which address themselves to the public, are to be communicated in all office languages; the Official Journal of the European Union appears in all office languages. The organs can add themselves for the internal communication communication working languages.

The USA

In the USA some Federal States specified English as office language, which legislation of the United States themselves however has it never into this status raised. Since however the condition and all laws on English are present, it can be quite regarded as official language. The statement often belonged, German would be in 18. Century almost office language of the USA become, is a legend - the so-called mill mountain legend. In some Federal States, as e.g. in new Mexico and Puerto Rico is fixed to Spanish apart from English also as the second office language.

India

In India 21 regional office languages exist (apart from the 2 supraregional office languages Hindi and English):

Asamiya
Bengali
Bodo
Dogri
Gujarati
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
Maithili (since 2003)
Malayalam
Marathi
Meitei
Nepali
Oriya
Punjabi
Sanskrit
Santali
Sindhi
Tamil
Telugu
Urdu

South Africa

South Africa has 1994 eleven official national languages, which are considered all among themselves as equal since the end of the apartheid in the year: