Official Languages Act

Official Language Act or Official Languages Ordinance may refer to:

• one of several acts passed in Sri Lanka, including
  • the Official Language Act No. 33 of 1956 (Ceylon), commonly known as the Sinhala Only Act, which replaced English with Sinhala as the official language of the country,
  • the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act No. 28 of 1958 (Ceylon), which allows Tamil in education, public service entrance exams and administration in the Northern and Eastern provinces,
  • the Official Languages Act of 1987 (Sri Lanka) passed to make Tamil an official language of the country, and
  • the Official Languages Commission Act No. 18 of 1991 (Sri Lanka) passed to establish the Official Languages Commission of Sri Lanka;
• the Official Languages Act (Canada) passed to enshrine official bilingualism;
• the Official Languages Ordinance passed in Hong Kong in 1974 to bring the English and Chinese languages to equal status as official languages of the territory;
• the Official Languages Act, 1963 passed to indefinitely extend the status of English as an official language of India;
• the Official Languages Act 2003 passed to promote the provision of state services in Irish;
• the Official Languages Act of 1890 (Manitoba), which formed part of language policy in Manitoba but was struck down;
• the Official Languages Act (New Brunswick);
• the Official Languages Act (Northwest Territories);
• the Official Languages Act (Nunavut), which constitutes one of the two acts of the Legislative Assembly which make up language policy in Nunavut; and
• the Official Language Act (Quebec), passed to ensure that French retained its primary status.

See also

• Use of Official Languages Act, 2012

• National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012