The 6 Official UN Languages and What You Can Do with Them

The 6 Official UN Languages and What You Can Do with Them People interested in languages also tend to be people interested in the international scene.And as people interested in the international scene, the UN tends to be seen as a  softly lit castle glistening on the top of a far off hillside.Its the gold standard not only of diplomacy but of linguistic skills. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.Its  impressive in scale.  Its home to elite officials.And, for many of us, it  feels like were about as likely to gain access  (that is, real access) to it as a medieval peasant was to gain access to the kings throne.  But this is precisely why it holds such an attraction.Of course, the UN isnt full of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off, madly trying to translate a single speech into the roughly 6,500 languages of the world. No, instead there are just a handful of languages that everyone uses as diplomatic tools to get their messages across. What are the 6 official languages of the United Nations?As you m ost likely already gleaned from the title of this article, there are in fact six languages used officially at the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.For the most part, these languages being the official ones makes sense, since they include some of the most widely spoken languages in the world. However, theres also a clear political history behind the choice of these six languages.In 1946, just following the establishment of the UN, all of the current official languages except Arabic were adopted as official languages, and English and French were adopted as working languages.There are a couple things to unpack here. First of all, besides Spanish, all of these languages can be matched directly to permanent members of the Security Council who hold veto power (the U.S., Britain, China, Russia and France), which is to say that the languages that became official languages were the languages of the most politically influential and powerful nations in post -war period. Presumably Spanish was included because its the second most spoken language in the world by native speakers, though more detail than this is hard to come by.The second thing to notice here is that only English and French were included as  working languages  of both the General Assembly and the Security Council. The difference is that working languages are the languages of day-to-day professional exchanges  while the official languages are the languages in which  all official documents must be written.The other official languages of the UN were also gradually introduced as working languages to the General Assembly and Security Council, often coinciding with major political happenings. Russian became a working language of both the assembly and the council in 1968 and 1969 following the declaration of the Brezhnev Doctrine, a doctrine that asserted the right of the Soviet Union to intervene abroad, in November of 68.A few years later, Chinese also achieved the status of a working language, following on the heels of the Peoples Republic of China  being recognized as a permanent member of the Security Council and Richard Nixons visit to China in 1972 to ease tensions with the communist country.Arabic meanwhile managed to negotiate its way to being an official language by having the Arabic-speaking members of the UN agree to pay the costs of introducing the language for three years.What about all of the other languages?Okay, so maybe there are only six languages at the UN, but theyre such common and geographically diverse languages that most people in the world will speak at least one of them anyways, right? Not quite.If we look at a list of the total speakers for each of the six official languages  and add them up to get a rough estimate well see that UN official languages account for  less than half of the worlds population. Less than half of the people in the world can understand the documents and agreements being issued from the highest internationa l political body in the world.With half of the worlds population still out of the loop you would think there would be some push back. And there is.Hindi may be the most likely to gain status in the near future. With the fifth largest number of total speakers in the world, just ahead of Russian, it makes sense on paper. For those of a practical bent, money is also no obstacle as the Indian government has declared its willingness to cover the necessary expenses. The main reason for it not being included up to this point seems to be the relative isolation of the language, restricted as it is to the Indian subcontinent. One might be prone to believe that this is just a political exercise to extend Indias growing influence since the general impression of India is that its people have a high level of English fluency, but it has been reported that a full 72 percent of men and 83 percent of women in India speak no English whatsoever.Running down the list of possible candidates, theres also Bengali with 250 million speakers worldwide (and official support from West Bengal), Portuguese  (whose total number of speakers is sandwiched between Russian and Bengali and is more geographically diverse than either of these) and Turkish, though in this case theres only a vague desire to be a UN language rather than any coherent push towards official language status.Even the inclusion of all of these languages would still leave a broad swath of the worlds population outside of the scope of the official UN languages, but the inclusion of any one of them would  significantly change who has access to the primary documents of the UN.Become a UN linguist with your language skillsAll this talk of languages is great, of course, but why does it matter to you? Because this could be your job.To acquire a prized position among translators and interpreters youll first have to pass one of the UNs language competitive language examinations.  If you apply and manage to make it through the proces s, which takes several months, youll be put on a list and called up whenever they need someone to fill a position.However, this is just the general outline for applying to language-related positions. The specific job type that you end up targeting will determine any other requirements. For instance, if you want to be an interpreter of French, English Spanish or Russian you have to know not one but two other languages fairly well. Then on top of that there are the other formidable demands that are placed on UN interpreters, such as being able to translate subject matter on topics as diverse as finance and human rights on demand with little or no hesitation.And if you think translation (that is, translating the written word) might be easier since theres less pressure, just remember that translated documents are often cited by the media or incorporated into legislation. Not that this is a bad thing. Many of us would love to have that level of civic involvement and influence. But transl ation at the UN is certainly not for the faint of heart.If youve got the chutzpah to try out for the UN linguist team but you want to get your foot in the door first, consider participating in one of their internship programs.  Ability only goes so far sometimes and getting your dream job may be easier when you know a few people.Or become a language instructorMaybe youre not the greatest foreign language speaker. Native English speakers are notorious for being slow to pick up other languages and it certainly doesnt help that English is so widespread across the globe. If this is you, then take heart. Theres another way.When most native English speakers decide they want to travel around for a year or two or three, often times they choose to take up teaching English. Being such a global language, English is in demand just about everywhere. What most people dont consider is making this into an actual career path. Your adventurous summer of teaching in Italy, Thailand or Brazil could eas ily become the foundation of something much bigger.At the UN, language teachers are required to have  at least five years of experience along with an advanced degree related to language learning or linguistics.  Sure, that might sound like a lot, but you could spend those five years teaching in two or three different countries while you soak up the culture. And, of course, there would be few places better to actualize a desire to be an amazing teacher of English than the halls of the UN.If youre interested in the specifics of how people get to become language instructors at the UN,  take a look at some of these instructor profiles and see how they got started.And then enjoy the perksTo survive in the top-tier work environment of the UN, one undoubtedly needs to intrinsically enjoy ones job, whether as a language instructor or as a linguist. But if youre willing to weather some of the rougher aspects of the trade then youll have some nice goodies coming your way too.For starters, lin guists (which is to say translators and interpreters) are often able to enjoy the flexibility of freelance work while participating in a significant way in  international efforts at cooperation. Not to mention, youll get to learn some of the less common dialects of your chosen languages as you keep in contact with people from around the world.Then theres the continued opportunity to live abroad. While many people often picture the UN headquarters in New York City when they think of the UN, there are also UN offices in Geneva, Austria and Nairobi as well as regional commissions in Bangkok, Beirut, Santiago and Addis Ababa. Still not adventurous enough for you? As actual UN job postings indicate, theres always the potential for something more challenging (for instance, teaching English in Afghanistan).But of course, someone whos so strongly motivated by success and achievement that theyd want to work at the UN might not want to stop at working as an English teacher or linguist. Thankf ully, these jobs can serve as a springboard to something even greater. Although theres a requirement that one work for at least five years in the job youre hired for, either as a linguist or a teacher, after that period the path upward is wide open.The UN, that flaming beacon of internationalism and gold standard of linguistic skills, is not so far off or so impenetrable as the castle was for the peasant.Lay out a clear path, start your studying and youll be walking the UN hallways before you know it.