A working language (also procedural language) is a language that is given a unique legal status in a supra-national company, society, state or other body or organization as its primal 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. Supra (Latin for above) is a legal citation signal used when a writer desires to refer a reader to an earlier-cited authority. ...

Most international organizations have working languages for their bodies. For a given organisation, a working language may or may not also be an official language. An official language is a language that is given a unique legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ...

Examples

• The United Nations has six official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish), and the Economic and Social Council three working languages (French, Spanish and English).
• The European Commission has three working languages: English, German and French.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has two working languages: Chinese and Russian.
• NATO has two working languages: French and English.
• The Southern African Development Community has three working languages: English, French and Portuguese
• FIFA has four working languages: English, Spanish, German and French
• East Timor has two working languages: Indonesian and English.
• Eritrea has three working languages: Tigrinya, Arabic and English.