That was pretty much my impression on the issue, from conversations with several people who lived there. It's a huge country, and all of the regions have their

That was pretty much my impression on the issue, from conversations with several people who lived there. It's a huge country, and all of the regions have their own language, and it's rare for one of the regional languages to be understood more than 1 or 2 regions away. Picking any one region's language to be the Official National Language would piss off everyone in the other regions whose languages weren't chosen. English is understood moderately well everywhere and allows a universal national language without seeming to unduly favor any particular region.