The sole official language of Enderron is English. The federal government also recognises three minority languages: Chinese, Dutch and Japanese. The language policies of Enderron's prefectures vary; several prefectural governments have also instituted or legislated their own language policies.
Until the 1960s, English was the only language in which most government services were provided for most of the country; several cities with significant populations of linguistic minorities, such as Shirakawa, offered more multilingual services for practical purposes. The Royal Commission on Multilingualism in the 1960s recommended that the Government of Enderron and the prefectural governments offer more services in languages other than English, to better accommodate linguistic minorities, especially Dutch speakers, who had been subject to numerous assimilationist and anti-Dutch policies throughout Enderron's colonial history.
Since that time, the prefectures have begun to offer more and more services in Dutch, and in other languages besides English, including Chinese, Japanese and other immigrant languages. Various amendments to the constitution have included a right of minority-language education that has resulted in policy changes in all of the prefectures. Tojima, considered at the time to be the most multilingual prefecture due to its significant Japanese-speaking minority, was the first to adopt official multilingualism in some form, under the Tojima People's Party government of Nobuyuki Nakahara from 1966 to 1970. In 1972, Dutch was given recognised minority language status at the federal level, followed by Chinese and Japanese in 1993. Across Enderron, there is no requirement that businesses use a particular language, but English predominates.
At the federal level, Enderron remains officially monolingual, but increasingly de facto accommodating of minority languages, especially the recognised minority languages of Chinese, Dutch and Japanese. Of the 18 prefectures, 7 are officially monolingual, while the other 11 are officially multilingual. All four languages are official in two prefectures: Avalon and Wentworth.
Jurisdiction | Official language (date) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dutch | Chinese | Japanese | |||
Avalon | (2008) | (2008) | (2008) | ||
Cooksland | (1991) | ||||
Greenberg | (1984) | ||||
Flinders | |||||
Janszoon | (1979) | ||||
Kaigan | (2002) | (2002) | |||
Lawrencia | |||||
Longshan | (1983) | ||||
Miranda | (2011) | (1994) | |||
New Colorado | (1976) | ||||
New Plymouth | |||||
New Surrey | |||||
Plymouth | |||||
Sierra | |||||
Sylvania | |||||
Tojima | (1967) | ||||
Wentworth | (1979) | (1999) | (1999) | ||
Westhaven | (1975) |