Most countries have an "official national language"; there are 14 countries in the world that have Spanish as their official language, and 6 more (and a US territory) that have Spanish as the de facto national language (*).
Here is the list of countries by continent (with their capital in parenthesis):
Europe
Spain (Madrid)
Equatorial Guinea (Malabo) in West Africa
North and Central America
Mexico (Mexico City) *
Costa Rica (San José)
Cuba (Havana)
Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo) *
El Salvador (San Salvador)
Guatemala (Guatemala City)
Honduras (Tegucigalpa)
Nicaragua (Managua) *
Panama (Panama City)
Puerto Rico (San Juan) *
South America
Argentina (Buenos Aires) *
Bolivia (La Paz)
Chile (Santiago) *
Colombia (Bogotá)
Ecuador (Quito)
Paraguay (Asunción)
Peru (Lima)
Uruguay (Montevideo) *
Venezuela (Caracas)
Normally, the main language is the official language in a country. In countries without an official language, such as the United States, the main language is called the national language.
An official language is a language that has been declared by a government to be the language of the governed nation. A national language is a language that is spoken by the majority of the people within a nation.
Many of the countries of the world have no official language, including: the U.S. Japan Mexico Argentina Chile Dominican Republic Nicaragua Uruguay Mauritania Mauritius Andorra
In most cases, I believe that it means the same thing. A national language would be the language spoken by most of the people; an official language would be the language designated by a government body as the national language and may be required to be taught in the schools. The official language is usually the language spoken by most of the people.
There are four continents that are home to countries whose official language (at least one official language) is Spanish. Europe: Spain North America: Mexico South America: many countries! Africa: Equatorial Guinea
Normally, the main language is the official language in a country. In countries without an official language, such as the United States, the main language is called the national language.
An official language is a language that has been declared by a government to be the language of the governed nation. A national language is a language that is spoken by the majority of the people within a nation.
Central America is composed of 7 different countries, each with its own official or national language. Most of the countries of central America are Spanish-speaking countries.
Many of the countries of the world have no official language, including: the U.S. Japan Mexico Argentina Chile Dominican Republic Nicaragua Uruguay Mauritania Mauritius Andorra
In most cases, I believe that it means the same thing. A national language would be the language spoken by most of the people; an official language would be the language designated by a government body as the national language and may be required to be taught in the schools. The official language is usually the language spoken by most of the people.
There are four continents that are home to countries whose official language (at least one official language) is Spanish. Europe: Spain North America: Mexico South America: many countries! Africa: Equatorial Guinea
There are 14 countries with Spanish as their official language, and 6 more where it is the national language, not including the US commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Three in Central America are Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras.
There are 29 countries that have french as their official language (francophone countries); Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo and Vanuatu.There are many capitals in those countries that would have french as an official language.
There are more than 200 countries, recognized or unrecognized, and several have more than one official capital. There are also state, regional, or provincial capitals in many countries. For an update list of national capitals, see the related link below.
Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, and Austria all list German as a national language.
English is a semi-official language in 56 countries around the world. This status may vary in terms of its use in government, education, and business, and some countries may have multiple official or national languages in addition to English.
The US, for one. In order to have a national language, it has to be written somewhere that an official national language exists. In the US there isn't any statement defining a national language. In addtion there are countries with more than one national language (Belgium, Switzerland for example).