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Interestingly that's the approach Switzerland took by adopting "CH" as its country code/abbreviation: Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin. This was to avoid givin

Interestingly that's the approach Switzerland took by adopting "CH" as its country code/abbreviation: Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin. This was to avoid giving the appearance of favoring any of its four official languages (It would otherwise be "SE" in German, "CS" in French/Italian/Romanish).

iooi 7y ago
Thanks for sharing, that's very interesting. Does that decision have anything to do with Switzerland's reputation for neutrality?
- gumby 7y ago
  It's not a reputation but an actual policy. It's hard to untangle but the policy has more to being surrounded by other states (no ocean) and having big walls around it already, and being too small for geopolitical strength. The country was last invaded in the napoleonic wars.
- somacert 7y ago
  My understanding of Swiss neutrality (simplistic and very poor) is that the swiss mercenaries were too good and after they were finally defeated a ban on fielding mercenary companies was enforced and this lead naturally to the neutral stance Switzerland takes today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_mercenaries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_mercenaries Except the pope, being the pope got to keep his.
WalterBright 7y ago
India's official language is English. I recall a journalist asking an Indian official isn't that a sign of British oppression? The official replied that India is home to many native languages, and to avoid favoritism a foreign language was chosen, and since the bureaucracy was already familiar with English that was the logical choice.
- _delirium 7y ago
  Well, English is co-official with Hindi. Originally, Hindi was even supposed to be the only official language at a national level (states can have their own official languages). The Indian Constitution of 1950 declared Hindi as the sole official language, with English being used only temporarily for a 15-year transitional period. A number of politicians who pushed for this clause did see phasing out English as part of the decolonization process. But it's true that English usage alongside Hindi as co-official has been extended indefinitely due to non-Hindi-speaking regions preferring to use English over Hindi when dealing with the central government. The Constitution was amended in 1967 to remove the phase-out period, partly in response to some riots: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil_Nadu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil...

iooi 7y ago

Thanks for sharing, that's very interesting. Does that decision have anything to do with Switzerland's reputation for neutrality?

gumby 7y ago
It's not a reputation but an actual policy. It's hard to untangle but the policy has more to being surrounded by other states (no ocean) and having big walls around it already, and being too small for geopolitical strength. The country was last invaded in the napoleonic wars.
somacert 7y ago
My understanding of Swiss neutrality (simplistic and very poor) is that the swiss mercenaries were too good and after they were finally defeated a ban on fielding mercenary companies was enforced and this lead naturally to the neutral stance Switzerland takes today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_mercenaries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_mercenaries Except the pope, being the pope got to keep his.

WalterBright 7y ago

India's official language is English. I recall a journalist asking an Indian official isn't that a sign of British oppression? The official replied that India is home to many native languages, and to avoid favoritism a foreign language was chosen, and since the bureaucracy was already familiar with English that was the logical choice.

_delirium 7y ago
Well, English is co-official with Hindi. Originally, Hindi was even supposed to be the only official language at a national level (states can have their own official languages). The Indian Constitution of 1950 declared Hindi as the sole official language, with English being used only temporarily for a 15-year transitional period. A number of politicians who pushed for this clause did see phasing out English as part of the decolonization process. But it's true that English usage alongside Hindi as co-official has been extended indefinitely due to non-Hindi-speaking regions preferring to use English over Hindi when dealing with the central government. The Constitution was amended in 1967 to remove the phase-out period, partly in response to some riots: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil_Nadu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil...