Which language would you add/remove to/from the United Nations?

[sillygoose1]

For those who don't know, the six official languages are English, French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, and Arabic.

If I had to add one, I'd go with another Middle Eastern language such as Persian or maybe even Turkish. The reason being that Persian covers quite a decent spread of area and is probably the second most important language in the region. I would also add German just because of its importance in Europe and the world as an academic and manufacturing heavy region. Although, that may seem like just a bit too many European languages.

Personally, I wouldn't remove any.

[smallwhite]

What is THEIR choice based on?

[sillygoose1]

They don't really say how they come to choose them. I'm assuming it was based off of first the Allies main languages of WWII (English, French, Russian), then they chose the others to account for how many countries each was spoken in and by how many people.

"How were the official languages chosen?
Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish have been official languages since the founding of the United Nations in 1945 (General Assembly Resolution 2 (1) of 1 February 1946, Annex, paragraph 1). English and French have been the United Nations’ working languages since the same time. Arabic was added as an official language by a decision of the General Assembly in its resolution 3190 (XXVIII) of 18 December 1973."

[tarvos]

Kiribati. Just for funsies.

[rdearman]

Assembly language, because I for one welcome our Computer Overlords.

[Cavesa]

I would add an african unimported language. Perhaps Swahili or Hausa or another well spread one. I hope I won't break the rules by saying I trully believe part of the African problems comes from continuous too much interference both from Europe (+America) and Middle East (Yeah, the norhtern part of Africa basically is Middle East but you get the idea) and we'll live to see troubles coming from lots of Chinese interference (I wonder whether Mandarin will become an official or half official language somewhere in Africa, I wouldn't be surprised). I trully believe there should be one originally african language included on this list. Without that, it is basically a message "yeah, sure people from your continent can speak for themselves here, choose a conqueror whose language you're gonna use".

While I am, in general, not that much of an Esperanto fan (I really like and admire the community, I respect lots of things about it, I am not that excited with some of the ideas behind it), I think this is one of the places where Esperanto should be recognized.

For the fun of it, I'd love to see English banned from such an institution for at least a month or a year would be even better.
Perhaps the anglophone representants of the most priviledged countries and cultures on the planet would get some more insight into the struggles of others.

[Delodephius]

In an addition to the six already included: Portuguese, German, Swahili, Hausa, Japanese, Hindi-Urdu, Malay-Indonesian, Persian, Turkish.

[IronMike]

While I am, in general, not that much of an Esperanto fan (I really like and admire the community, I respect lots of things about it, I am not that excited with some of the ideas behind it), I think this is one of the places where Esperanto should be recognized.

Esperanto has had a relationship with UNESCO. Well, the language has through the offices of the Universal Esperanto Association. Esperanto was up for official language status in the League of Nations, but France vetoed it. UEA keeps an office at the UN to discuss the international language "problem" and to hold conferences and discussions about it.

[PeterMollenburg]

What is THEIR choice based on?

Control

[Expugnator]

Papiamento to replace French and Spanish (and why not English as well?).