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
Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and Théberge is the first Commissioner from Western Canada and from outside Ontario and Quebec. In 2009, Commissionner Graham Fraser created the Award of Excellence – Promotion of Linguistic Duality. The prise is given annually by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to an individual or organization in Canada that is not subject to the federal "Official Languages Act" but that makes a difference by promoting linguistic duality in Canada or abroad, or by contributing to the development of official language minority communities. Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages