Official language after unifying the country in 221 BC. Classical Chinese would remain the standard written language for the next 2000 years. Standardization of the spoken language received less political attention, and Mandarin developed on an "ad hoc" basis from the dialects of the various imperial capitals until being officially standardized in the early twentieth century. According to an undated chart by the American pro-English-only organization known as U.S. English, 178 countries have an official language at the national level. Among those, English is the most common with 67 nations giving it official status. French is second with 29 countries, Arabic is
Official languages of the United Nations are third language speakers. Hindi is the lingua franca of the majority of Indians in the subcontinent, along with Pakistan (as Urdu), Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, with its importance as a global language increasing day by day. Hindi is the fourth most-spoken first language in the world, after Mandarin, Spanish and English. In 2007, it was reported that the government would "make immediate diplomatic moves to seek the status of an official language for Hindi at the United Nations". According to a 2009 press release from its Ministry of External Affairs, the Government of India has been "working actively"