Talk:List of countries and territories where English is an official language

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject English Language, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to the English language on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.English LanguageWikipedia:WikiProject English LanguageTemplate:WikiProject English LanguageEnglish Language
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.

Lists Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Lists, an attempt to structure and organize all list pages on Wikipedia. If you wish to help, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.ListsWikipedia:WikiProject ListsTemplate:WikiProject ListsList
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Archives

Archive 1

Indonesia

Why there is no indonesia in this article despite having english language as working language? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2404:8000:1027:85F6:9446:99E9:3FE0:4A98 (talk) 13:25, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

What sources can we look at to verify that English is a (the?) working language there? —C.Fred (talk) 13:27, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Country number

The number of countries with english as official languagae is 58 not 59. I look at the official languages table is 54 for the non native while the 4 countries are core anglospehere table.2404:8000:1027:85F6:116B:228E:BC1E:341A (talk) 12:20, 5 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Canada

Shouldnt Canada be in orange since there is two official languages ? 2001:18C0:527:A000:3448:74D3:1DCF:D439 (talk) 12:10, 17 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. In the table, English is said to be co-official with French and the map should reflect this. 2606:6D00:1BD:C000:E188:653D:947B:F91A (talk) 16:57, 20 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Timor-Leste

I am adding Timor-Leste to the list because:

a) The constitution of Timor-Leste (http://timor-leste.gov.tl/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Constitution_RDTL_ENG.pdf) states that Portuguese and Tetum are official languages and English and Indonesian are official working Languages.

B) The University of Laval (https://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/asie/timor-1_situation.htm) states that 85% of the population speaks Tetum, 45 % speaks Indonesian, 30% speaks Portuguese, and 15% speaks English & Hamid, Nguyen and Baldauf (https://books.google.com.br/books?id=Tee9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA113&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false) state that 77.8% of the population speaks, reads and writes Tetum, 55.6 % speaks, reads and writes Indonesian, 39.3% speaks, reads and writes Portuguese, and 22.3% speaks, reads and writes English.

I am adding it to the "Countries where English is a de jure official language" list, but feel free to make the necessary adaptations and color to the map "Nations in which English is an official language (de facto or de jure)".

KennedyBroseguini — Preceding undated comment added 14:42, 20 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Kuwait

Why isn't Kuwait added in the defacto table with UAE and Qatar? On Kuwait page English is added as lingua franca but it isn't added here Onlyloss73 (talk) 17:24, 19 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Somaliland

Somaliland also has English as an official language, along with Arabic and Somali. - (161.29.255.92 (talk) 09:38, 2 April 2024 (UTC))[reply]

English Speaking Caribbean Islands

Jamaica, along with other English-speaking Caribbean islands, has English as its official language, with English-based Creole also commonly spoken. To describe it as only "English-based Creole" is misleading. English is the primary language used for academic instruction and formal communication, while English-based Creole is commonly spoken in informal settings.

[1][2][3]Jamaican English Islander876 (talk) 18:56, 17 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Edit warring on changing the status of the United States

I haven't made any edit yet but there seems to be a lot of people interested in reverting any changes to the section on the United States. I'm not sure why. The definition of "de jure" is defined as the laws and official policies of the country. Presidential executive orders are official policies of the United States. Ergo, it is correct to say that English is now the de jure official language of the United States. Where is the issue here? Ergzay (talk) 07:06, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There are active WP:RFCs at both Talk:United States and Talk:Languages of the United States about this. There is not at all currently a consensus that an executive order changes the de jure or official status of the language. My own !vote on both RFCs is to wait a bit until there is more clarity before changing related WP articles. CAVincent (talk) 07:33, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@CAVincent Yes I found those slightly after posting this and added comments over there. It's worth noting that the American Bar Association considers Executive orders to have the force of law, which makes them de jure Quoting the American Bar Association, emphasis mine.

Both executive orders and proclamations have the force of law, much like regulations issued by federal agencies, so they are codified under Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which is the formal collection of all of the rules and regulations issued by the executive branch and other federal agencies.

Ergzay (talk) 07:42, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the discussions may well result in changing WP articles to say that English is now the official language of the US. Again, I'd like to wait a few days to see a consensus emerge. CAVincent (talk) 07:47, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This is absolutely ridiculous. It is the law! Executive orders are laws! English is the legal official language of the U.S. as of two days ago. We do not need consensus for objective fact. Tableguy28 (talk) 16:15, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It is probably best to make such arguments at the open RfCs, rather than splitting the discussion here too. CMD (talk) 02:50, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]