Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in the context of "Advanced learner's dictionary"

There are six official languages used in United Nations (UN) meetings and in which the UN writes and publishes all its official documents. In 1946, five languages were chosen as official languages of the UN: English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese. In 1973, Arabic was voted to be an additional official language. As of 2025, the official languages of the United Nations are:

• English (British English with Oxford spelling), in Latin alphabet;
• French (Metropolitan French – français métropolitain / langues d'oïl) in Latin alphabet;
• Spanish (Peninsular Spanish – español peninsular / castellano) in Spanish alphabet;
• Russian (Moscow Russian – московское произношение moskovskoye proiznosheniye) in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet;
• Chinese (Standard Mandarin – 中文 zhōngwén / 普通话 pǔtōnghuà) in Simplified Chinese characters;
• Arabic (Modern Standard Arabic – العربية al-ʿarabiyyah / الفصحى al-fuṣḥá) in Naskh / Arabic abjad.

According to the UN Charter each of these six languages is equally authoritative although English and French have traditionally received preferential status and are the only two official and working languages of the UN Secretariat. It is an unspoken rule that the UN Secretary General and other high ranking United Nations officials must be fluent (at least C1 – Advanced fluency level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages / CEFRL) in at least English and French. The UN has struggled to provide parity of all 6 languages as the English language has become the dominant world language in the digital age.

The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (abbreviated CALD), commonly referred to as the Cambridge Dictionary, is a British dictionary of the English language. It was first published in 1995 under the title Cambridge International Dictionary of English by the Cambridge University Press. The dictionary has over 140,000 words, phrases, and meanings. It is suitable for learners at CEF levels B2–C2.

The Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year, by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, has been published every year since 2015. The Cambridge Word of the Year is led by the data – what users look up – in the world's most popular dictionary for English language learners. In 2022, the Cambridge Word of the Year was "homer", caused by Wordle players looking up five-letter words, especially those that non-American players were less familiar with. In 2021, the Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year was "perseverance". In 2020, it was "quarantine" due to the lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.