Can You Translate That, Please?

A country's official language is the language used by the government for conducting business and for its official communications and documents. Not every country has an official language, but many do.

Some countries have more than one official language, in recognition of languages spoken by indigenous people or different ethnic groups within the country, or because a particular language is seen as useful for communicating with large numbers of people and with representatives of other nations.

There is no requirement that individuals use the official language for personal conversations. For example, French is the official language of France, but when my husband and I traveled there, we spoke English to each other in public (and sometimes to local people, if they spoke English). Nobody yelled "Parlez Français!" at us, and we didn't get arrested or deported. Our experience was similar in Germany, where the official language is German, and in Italy where it is Italian (although I do speak a little Italian, which seemed to please people).

Some countries have ten or more official languages, and may also try to accommodate many additional languages and dialects used by different groups, as well as whatever it is the tourists are speaking.

• List of official languages by country