The United Nations only has six official languages despite having 193 member countries. Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, English, Russian and French are used on all official U.N. documents. Excepting Arabic and Spanish, the others represent the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (the U.S., U.K., China, France and Russia).
The U.N. treats official documents in a similar way. Until a document is available in all six official languages, it is not published.
One of the special issues that arises often at the U.N. is the fact that it’s home to 193 member nations, each of which has its own unique cultural norms. Naturally, people do and say things differently in different countries.
What may be polite in one country may be offensive in another. To help avoid international incidents, the U.N. gives up to 10,000 people special language lessons each year.
For example, one lesson teaches how to interrupt people gracefully. Classes also teach four levels of politeness, from very wordy to very direct.
Credit : Wonderopolis
Picture Credit : Google
