Question map
Which of the following is not one of the official languages of the United Nations ?
Explanation
The United Nations currently recognizes six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish [t1][t2]. These languages are used for official documents, interpretation, and translation within the organization [t2][t7]. Arabic was the most recent addition, becoming an official and working language of the General Assembly in 1973 [t4]. While Hindi is the official language of the Indian Union and is spoken by a significant global population, it is not currently an official language of the UN [c1][t10]. For a language like Hindi to achieve official status, it requires a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly with a two-thirds majority and involves significant financial contributions for translation and interpretation services [t6][t10]. Therefore, among the given options, Hindi is the only language that does not hold official status at the United Nations.
Sources
- [1] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/yarlagadda-roots-for-official-language-status-to-hindi-at-un/article68532577.ece
- [2] https://www.un.org/en/our-work/official-languages
- [3] Democratic Politics-II. Political Science-Class X . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 2: Federalism > Language policy > p. 20