Which of the following is/are not an official language(s) of the United Nations? 1. Arabic 2. German 3. Spanish 4. Chinese Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct — D, 2 only. The United Nations has six official languages — Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish — so of the four names printed, three are official and only German is not. Arabic, Spanish and Chinese all appear on that list, which knocks out every option that includes them. Five of the six were settled in 1946 when the General Assembly adopted its first rules of procedure; Arabic joined in 1973. English and French additionally serve as the working languages of the Secretariat, a narrower category that a question of this kind sometimes confuses with official status.

• (a)1 and 3 only — Names Arabic and Spanish, both of which are official languages of the United Nations. Spanish has been on the list since 1946 and Arabic since 1973.
• (b)1 and 4 only — Names Arabic and Chinese. Chinese was one of the original five in 1946 and Arabic was added later, so neither can be the exception.
• (c)1 and 2 only — Half right, and that is the trap. German does not belong on the list, but Arabic does, and an item asking which are not official punishes a pairing that mixes the two.

Official languages at the United Nations are those in which the organisation's documents and records are published and in which delegates may speak with interpretation provided. There are six: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Working languages are a smaller set used for day-to-day business inside the Secretariat, and there the number falls to two, English and French.

The examiner has chosen four names of which three are official, so the whole item turns on spotting the single intruder rather than on recalling the full list. German is the intruder every time in Indian papers, and Hindi is its close rival — a language spoken by hundreds of millions and campaigned for, but never adopted. Germany has funded a German Translation Section at the UN for decades that renders key documents into German, which is exactly the sort of arrangement that makes people think the language is official when it is not. Nothing here has changed since the 2023 exam; the count has stood at six for more than fifty years.

• The six official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
• Five were adopted in 1946; Arabic became the sixth in 1973 by General Assembly resolution.
• English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat.
• German is not an official UN language, though a German Translation Section funded by German-speaking countries translates important documents.
• Hindi is not an official UN language either, and appears in exam options for the same reason German does.

• Assuming Hindi or German is official because of the number of speakers or the funding a country provides.
• Confusing working languages, of which there are two at the Secretariat, with official languages, of which there are six.
• Misreading a 'which is NOT' stem and selecting the languages that are official.

Asked as a negative statement item — three of the four names are genuinely official, so the question rewards reading the stem carefully as much as knowing the list.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following became an official language of the United Nations only in 1973?

  • (a)Russian
  • (b)Arabic
  • (c)Chinese
  • (d)Spanish

  Answer(b) Arabic — the other five were settled in 1946, and Arabic was added by a General Assembly resolution in 1973 to make six.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The working languages of the United Nations Secretariat are

  • (a)English and French
  • (b)English and Spanish
  • (c)English, French and Russian
  • (d)All six official languages

  Answer(a) English and French — a narrower category than the six official languages, and used for the Secretariat's internal business.