Talk:Languages of the African Union

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[edit] kiSwahili

Is it possible to provide some reference for the status of kiSwahili in the African Union? Why are you referring particularly to kiSwahili is if it wasn't covered from the term African languages? It seems that there was an effort to promote the language in the "OAU 1st Conference of African Ministers of Culture 1986, Port-Lous Mauritius. (...) This conference adopted two important documents: (...) Resolution N° 16 on the adoption of Kiswahili as an OAU working language. (...) Unfortunately: * the resolution on the use of kiswahili has never been implemented by the OAU, nor by any other African intergovernmental organization;" [1]. Probably, we have to distinguish what is going on in paper and in practice. In paper, all African languages (kiSwahili included) and Arabic, English, French and Portuguese are working languages. In practice, only Arabic, English, French and Portuguese are working languages - see for example the languages available in the official site of the AU. So, there was an effort to do the same for Kiswahili, but in vain.--Michkalas 22:48, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] South Africa does not have the most official languages in the world

I am fairly sure that India has the largest number of official languages in the world and not SA, although SA does have quite a few. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.101.1.161 (talk) 09:55, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

True. It also says so in Languages of South Africa--Michkalas 13:04, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Criteria for Languages of AU states?

What is the criteria for languages mentioned in the section Languages of AU states? Is it legal status, importance in terms of number of speakers, or something else? It could very easily be turned into an extensive listing of African languages. TIA... --A12n 17:44, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

If the Article 25 of the Constitutive Act of African Union is taken literally, every single language spoken in Africa should be included. There is no apparent restriction to only official or officially recognised languages. --Michkalas 20:22, 7 March 2007 (UTC)