Passport - Languages

Languages

An international conference on passports and through tickets, held by the League of Nations in 1920, recommended that passports be issued in French, historically the language of diplomacy, and one other language. Nowadays, the ICAO recommends that passports be issued in English and French, or in the national language of the issuing country and in either English or French. Many European countries used their national language and additionally the three most spoken languages in Europe, i.e. French, German, and English.

Some unusual language combinations are:

  • Passports issued by member states of the European Union bear all of the official languages of the EU. These are not printed in each location, however. Two or three languages are printed at the relevant point, followed by numbers which refer to the passport pages on which translations into all the remaining languages appear (illustration—right).
  • The United States passport and the Barbadian passport are tri-lingual: English, French and Spanish. United States passports were traditionally English and French, but began being printed with a Spanish message and labels during the Clinton administration, in recognition of Puerto Rico's Spanish-speaking status. Only the message and labels are in multiple languages, the cover and instructions pages are only printed in English.
  • In Belgium, all three official languages (Dutch, French, German) appear on the cover, in addition to English on the main page. Which of the official languages appears first depends on the official residence of the holder.
  • The face page of the older, pre- EU- version of the Hungarian passport ("Útlevél" in Hungarian) is in Hungarian only. Inside, there is a second, Hungarian-English bilingual, page. The personal-information page offers Hungarian, English, and French explanations of the details. An additional page, which has explanations in English, French, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Arabic, was later on also added.
  • The first page of a Libyan passport is in Arabic only. The last page (first page from western viewpoint) has an English equivalent of the information on the Arabic first page (western last page). Similar arrangements are found in passports of some other Arab countries.
  • Indian passports are in Hindi and English.
  • Iraqi passports are in Arabic, Kurdish and English.
  • New Zealand passports are in English and Maori.
  • Pakistani passports are in Urdu, English, Arabic and French.
  • Swiss passports are in five languages: German, French, Italian, Romansh and English.
  • Macau SAR passports are in three languages: Chinese, Portuguese and English.
  • Norwegian passports are in the two forms of the Norwegian language, Bokmål and Nynorsk, and in English.

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Famous quotes containing the word languages:

    “I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.”
    —Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

    “People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can’t pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They speak in languages we once classified as “exotic” but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.”
    —Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)

    “It is time for dead languages to be quiet.”
    —Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972)