Multilingual Policy in International Organizations: a Case Study of the United Nations

Abstract

The role of language in a worldwide organization that brings virtually all sovereign states of the world together is immeasurable. The United Nations occupies this enviable position and ultimately communication in such organization is paramount for the collective action. This study sought to look into multilingualism in the international organizations, a case study of the United Nations. In light of this the study approached the general objective through three specific ones. The study employed two theories, affordance theory and individual rational theory. The affordance theory postulates that the environment to a large extent dictates the amount of affordance favouring specific language(s) in an organization. This could be attributed to the factors that led to the UN ending up with the six official languages out of the many in the world. On the other hand the individual rational theory states that human beings are rational in nature and will choose what satisfies their needs. The study used a mixed method approach which allows the use of both the primary and secondary data for the research. The data was collected from UNEP through questionnaires which were filled by the respondents. While tracing the history and development of multilingualism, the study established that the UN has only six official languages in its language policy namely Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The number is quite low considering the fact that there are almost 7,000 different languages in the world. However, a number of historical factors expounded clearly the considerations taken before the choice of these languages were arrived at by the UN general Assembly through various resolutions. English and French were chosen as the organization working languages since as early as the days of the League of Nations the two languages were already a pair used widely as the languages of diplomacy as well as in other various spheres of life such as trade, science and were widely taught in school all over the world. The study established that there is a discrepancy between the UN language policy and its actual application. The multilingual policy is clearly spelt out in the various resolutions however the research reveals that the implementation of the policy is yet to come to fruition. In the case of UNEP the language of documents received from the UN headquarters is largely in English and a smaller percentage in French. Furthermore, meetings within the organization are conducted in English. However the employees confirmed that it least affects their working because majority of them are proficient in the language. Language parity is yet to be achieved since English receives more prominence closely followed by French the rest receiving the least attention. It came out clearly that the language policy should be adhered to. The UN should also make considerations for provisions for additional languages into its language policy to make it more representative. Languages such as German, Portuguese and Swahili topped the list of suggested languages. The study therefore anticipates the full implementation of the multilingual policy in the UN organization