Official language to the government in their native languages. In countries that do not formally designate an official language, a "de facto" national language usually evolves. English is the most common official language, with recognized status in 51 countries. Arabic, French, and Spanish are also widely recognized. An official language that is also an indigenous language is called "endoglossic", one that is not indigenous is "exoglossic". An instance is Nigeria which has three endoglossic official languages. By this the country aims to protect the indigenous languages although at the same time recognising the English language as its lingua franca. Around 500 BC,
Official languages of Puducherry are: As of 2001, number of people speaking in each official languages are, Official languages of Puducherry French was the official language of Puducherry under the Treaty of Cession 1956. The Pondicherry Official Language Act, 1965 without mentioning French added the Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu as the official languages along with English. French was the official language of the "Établissements français dans l'Inde" (French India) and it remained as de jure official language of Pondicherry U.T by the "Article XXVIII" of Traité de Cession which states that, As of today, still the official gazette of Puducherry is published with French;