08 February, 2007 - Published 16:36 GMT

World Service language timeline

Below is a list that represents all of the 69 languages that the World Service has broadcast since 1932.

English
Started: 19/12/1932

Arabic
Started: 03/01/1938

Portuguese for Brazil
Started: 14/03/1938

Spanish American
Started: 14/03/1938

Portuguese for Africa
Started: 04/06/1939

Romanian
Started: 15/09/1939

Turkish
Started: 20/11/1939

Hindi
Started: 11/05/1940

Burmese
Started: 02/09/1940

Persian
Started: 28/12/1940

Cantonese
Started: 05/05/1941

Mandarin
Started: 05/05/1941

Tamil
Started: 30/05/1941

Bengali
Started: 10/11/1941

Russian
Started: 07/10/1942 Ended: 26/05/1943
Restarted: 24/03/1946

Urdu
Started: 03/04/1949

Indonesian
Started: 30/10/1949

Vietnamese
Started: 06/02/1952

Sinhala
Started: 10/03/1942 Ended: 30/03/1976

Hausa
Started: 13/03/1957

Swahili
Started: 27/06/1957

Somali
Started: 18/07/1957

French for Africa
Started: 20/06/1960

Albanian
Started: 12/11/1940 Ended: 20/01/1967

Nepali
Started: 07/06/1969

Pashto
Started: 15/08/1981

Serbian
Started: 29/09/1991

Ukrainian
Started: 01/06/1992

Kinyarwanda
Started: 08/09/1994

Azeri
Started: 30/11/1994

Uzbek
Started: 30/11/1994

Kyrgyz
Started: 01/04/1995

Macedonian
Started: 06/01/1996

Polish
Started: 07/08/1939 Ended: 23/12/2005

Hungarian
Started: 05/09/1939 Ended: 31/12/2005

Greek
Started: 30/09/1939 Ended: 31/12/2005

Czech
Started: 31/12/1939 Ended: 28/02/2006

Bulgarian
Started: 07/02/1940 Ended: 23/12/2005

Slovenian
Started: 22/04/1941 Ended: 23/12/2005

Slovak
Started: 31/12/1941 Ended: 20/12/2005

Thai
Started: 27/04/1941 Ended: 05/03/1960

German
Started: 27/09/1938 Ended: 30/03/1999

Finnish
Started: 18/03/1940 Ended: 31/05/1997

French (for Europe)
Started: 27/09/1938 Ended: 31/03/1995

Yugoslav (Serbo Croat)
Started: 15/09/1939 Ended: 28/09/1991

Malay
Started: 02/05/1941 Ended: 31/03/1991

Portuguese (for Europe)
Started: 04/06/1939 Ended: 10/08/1957

Japanese
Started: 04/07/1943 Ended: 31/03/1991

Italian
Started: 27/09/1938 Ended: 31/12/1981

Maltese
Started: 10/08/1940 Ended: 31/12/1981

French (for Canada)
Started: 02/11/1942 Ended: 08/05/1980

Hebrew
Started: 30/10/1949 Ended: 28/10/1968

Afrikaans
Started: 14/05/1939 Ended: 08/09/1957

Danish
Started: 09/04/1940 Ended: 10/08/1957

Norwegian
Started: 09/04/1940 Ended: 10/08/1957

Dutch (for Europe)
Started: 11/04/1940 Ended: 10/08/1957

Marathi
Started: 01/03/1942 Ended: 03/09/1944

Austrian (German)
Started: 29/03/1943 Ended: 15/09/1957

Croatian
Started: 29/09/1991 Ended: 31/01/2006

Belgian (Flemish & French)
Started: 28/09/1940 Ended: 30/03/1952

Kazakh
Started:01/04/1995 Ended: 16/12/2005

Greek (for Cyprus)
Started: 16/09/1940 Ended: 03/06/1951

French (for SE Asia)
Started: 28/08/1944 Ended: 03/04/1955

Luxembourgish
Started: 29/05/1943 Ended: 30/05/1952

Dutch (for Indonesia)
Started: 28/08/1944 Ended: 02/04/1945

Chinese (Hokkien)
Started: 01/10/1942 Ended: 07/02/1948

Icelandic
Started: 01/12/1940 Ended: 26/06/1944

Gujerati
Started: 01/03/1942 Ended: 03/09/1944

Welsh (for Patagonia)
Started: 1945 Ended: 1946