Official languages of the United Nations

The official languages of the United Nations are the six languages used in United Nations (UN) meetings and in which the UN writes all its official documents.^[1]

For the United Nations to select a language to be official, a majority of the 193 members need to vote in favor of it. Afterward, it is up to the respective country (or countries) of the new language to help financially support translation and interpretation services.^{[citation needed]}^[2]^{[better source needed]}

Five languages were chosen in 1946 as official languages around when the United Nations was founded:

Chinese^[3]
English (British English with Oxford spelling)^[4]
French
Russian
Spanish

(Modern Standard) Arabic was later voted to be an additional official language in 1973.

^ "Union Nation Official Languages". Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
^ Careers, Human Rights (21 September 2019). "What Are The Official UN Languages?". Human Rights Careers. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
^ Universal Declaration of Human Rights: translation into Chinese. Title Universal Declaration of Human Rights: translation into Chinese {...} Language(s) 中文 (Chinese){...}Alternate names: Beifang Fangyan, Guanhua, Guoyu, Hanyu, Huayu, Mandarin, Northern Chinese, Putonghua, Standard Chinese, Zhongguohua, Zhongwen
^ "Spelling (United Nations Editorial Manual Online)". Department for General Assembly and Conference Management. Retrieved 29 July 2023. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, twelfth edition, is the current authority for spelling in the United Nations.

[1] "Union Nation Official Languages". Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.

[2] Careers, Human Rights (21 September 2019). "What Are The Official UN Languages?". Human Rights Careers. Retrieved 11 May 2023.

[3] Universal Declaration of Human Rights: translation into Chinese. Title Universal Declaration of Human Rights: translation into Chinese {...} Language(s) 中文 (Chinese){...}Alternate names: Beifang Fangyan, Guanhua, Guoyu, Hanyu, Huayu, Mandarin, Northern Chinese, Putonghua, Standard Chinese, Zhongguohua, Zhongwen

[4] "Spelling (United Nations Editorial Manual Online)". Department for General Assembly and Conference Management. Retrieved 29 July 2023. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, twelfth edition, is the current authority for spelling in the United Nations.

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