Charter of the French Language the linguistic situation in Québec", promoting the official language, and conducting research. In 2016–17, the budget of the OQLF was . The office is frequently accused of abusing its powers, such as occurred in 2013 during the pastagate affair when an Italian restaurant was cited for having pasta, antipasti, calamari, and the like on its menu, instead of using French equivalents. The office also objects to the sale of "grilled cheese sandwiches", insisting that they be called , which literally translates to "melted cheese sandwich". Likewise, the Quebec language office objects to "on/off" switches and to the sale of "steaks",
Official language United States) have never declared official languages at the national level. Other nations have declared non-indigenous official languages. "The Philippines and parts of Africa live with a peculiar cultural paradox. Although the official languages [in Africa] may be French or English, these are not the languages most widely spoken by [the country's] residents." Worldwide, 178 countries have at least one official language, and 101 of these countries recognise more than one language. Many of the world's constitutions mention one or more official or national languages. Some countries use the official language designation to empower indigenous groups by giving them access