A working language is a language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

 that is given a unique legal status in a supra

Supra

Supra is an academic and legal citation signal used when a writer desires to refer a reader to an earlier-cited authority. For example, an author wanting to refer to a source in his or her third footnote would cite: See supra note 3...

-national company, society, state or other body or organization as its primary mean of communication. It is primarily the language of the daily correspondence and conversation, since the organization usually has members with various differing language backgrounds.

Most international organizations have working languages for their bodies. For a given organization, a working language may or may not also be an official language

Official language

An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...

.

Examples of common International organizations

• The United Nations
  United Nations
  The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
  
   has two working languages: English
  English language
  English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
  
   and French
  French language
  French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
  
  .
• The United Nations Secretariat
  United Nations Secretariat
  The United Nations Secretariat is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and it is headed by the United Nations Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. It provides studies, information, and facilities needed by United Nations bodies for...
  
   has two working languages: English and French; all Secretaries-General of the UN are consequently required (unofficially) to be fluent in both.
• The World Trade Organization
  World Trade Organization
  The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
  
   has three working languages: English, French and Spanish.
• The International Criminal Court
  International Criminal Court
  The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
  
   has two working languages: English and French.
• The Council of Europe
  Council of Europe
  The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
  
   has two working languages: English and French.
• The International Telecommunications Union has three working languages: English, French and Spanish.
• The European Commission
  European Commission
  The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
  
   has three working languages: English, French and German.
• The Free Trade Area of the Americas
  Free Trade Area of the Americas
  The Free Trade Area of the Americas , , ) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas but Cuba. In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal...
  
   has three working languages: English, French and Spanish.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization
  Shanghai Cooperation Organization
  The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or SCO , is an intergovernmental mutual-security organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan...
  
   has two working languages: Chinese and Russian.
• Mercosur
  Mercosur
  Mercosur or Mercosul is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people,...
  
   has two working languages: Portuguese and Spanish.
• NATO has two working languages: English and French.
• FIFA
  FIFA
  The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
  
   has four working languages: English, French, German and Spanish. Formerly, French was the sole official language of the organization. Currently, English is the official language for minutes, correspondence, and announcements.
• The African Union
  Languages of the African Union
  The languages of the African Union are languages used by citizens within the member states of the AU. The Union has defined all languages of Africa as official, and currently uses Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili...
  
   currently uses Arabic, English, French, Portuguese
  Portuguese language
  Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
  
  , Spanish and Swahili
  Swahili language
  Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
  
  .
• The Southern African Development Community
  Southern African Development Community
  The Southern African Development Community is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 15 southern African states...
  
   has four working languages: Afrikaans
  Afrikaans
  Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
  
  , English, French and Portuguese.
• The International Labour Organization
  International Labour Organization
  The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
  
   has three working languages: English, French and Spanish.
• The NAFTA has three working languages : English, French and Spanish.

Other Examples

• East Timor
  East Timor
  The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
  
   has Indonesian and English as working languages alongside its official languages (Tetun and Portuguese) and 15 other recognized local languages.
• Goa
  Goa
  Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
  
  has Marathi as working language but the Konkani is solely official in the state.