NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Language code

A language code is a code that assigns letters or numbers as identifiers for languages. These codes are often used to organize library collections, to choose the correct localization and translations file in a computer file, and as a shorthand designation for forms. In communications, a code is a rule for converting a piece of information (for example, a letter, word, or phrase) into another form or representation, not necessarily of the same type. ...

1 Difficulty in Language Codes
2 Common Language Codes
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

Difficulty in Language Codes

Language codes attempt to classify within the complex world of human languages, dialects, and variants. Most language codes make some compromises between general enough to be useful and complete enough to enable specific dialects.

For example, most people in Central America and South America speak Spanish. Spanish spoken in Mexico will be slightly different than Spanish spoken in Peru. Different regions of Mexico will have slightly different dialects and accents of Spanish. A language code scheme might group these all as "Spanish" for choosing a keyboard layout, most as "Spanish" for general usage, or separate each dialect to allow regional specific idioms.

Common Language Codes

Some common language codes include:

Language Code	Source	Code for English	Code for Spanish
ISO 639	The original ISO standard, from 1967 to 2002 and now obsolete. It was replaced by ISO 639-1, ISO 639-2, and ISO 639-3. Sometimes used as a shorthand for the union of all 639 standard codes.	en - two letter code eng - three letter code enm - Middle English, ca. 1100-1500 ang - Old Engish, ca., 450-1100 cpe - other English-based Creoles and Pidgins EN - English or American two letter capital code (source: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm) ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ...	esl - three letter code spa - three letter code. Both esl and spa iare correct. ES - Spanish, two letter capital code
ISO 639-1	Two letter code system made official in 2002, containing 136 codes. Many systems use two letter ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2 three letter codes when no two letter code is applicable.	en (from List of ISO_639-1 codes) ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639 has three code lists. ...	es - Spanish including Castilian but not Catalan or Valencian
ISO 639-2	Three letter code system of 464 codes.	eng - three letter code enm - Middle English, ca. 1100-1500 ang - Old Engish, ca., 450-1100 cpe - other English-based Creoles and Pidgins (from List of ISO 639-2 codes) Castilian is a noun and adjective that refers to the region and former kingdom of Spain; in particular, it refers to the language of this region, and is therefore considered by many to be a synonym of Spanish, though with different nuances. ... Catalan IPA: (catalÃ IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of Sardinia. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639 has three code lists. ...	spa - Spanish, including Castilian but not Catalan or Valencian
ISO 639-3	An extension of ISO 639-2 to cover all known, living or dead, spoken or written langauages in 7,589 entries.	eng - three letter code enm - Middle Englissh, ca. 1100-1500 aig - Antigua and Barbuda Creole English ang - Old Engish, ca., 450-1100 svc - Vincentian Creole English others (From List_of_ISO_639-3_codes) Castilian is a noun and adjective that refers to the region and former kingdom of Spain; in particular, it refers to the language of this region, and is therefore considered by many to be a synonym of Spanish, though with different nuances. ... Catalan IPA: (catalÃ IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of Sardinia. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... These are lists of ISO 639-3 language codes Index: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z (Wikipedia:Babel) Â· Language Â· ISO 639 Â· ISO 639-2 (RA) Â· ISO 639-3 (RA) Language...	spa - Spanish language code for an Individual, Living language. spq - Spanish, Loreto-Ucayali ssp - Spanish sign language others
Old SIL Codes	Codes created for use in the publication, Ethnologue, listing languages. The publication now uses ISO 639-3 codes.		SPN
IETF_language_tag	An IETF best practice, currently RFC 4646 and RFC 4647 for language tags easy to parse by computer. The tag system is extensible to region, dialect, and private designations.	en - English, as shortest ISO 639 code. en-US - English as used in the United States (US is the ISO 3166-1 country code for the United States) en-US-x-fandom - English with private subtag (source http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt) IETF language tags are defined by BCP 47, which is currently RFC 4646 and RFC 4647, published in September 2006. ... ISO 3166-1, as part of the ISO 3166 standard, provides codes for the names of countries and dependent areas. ...	es - Spanish, as shortest ISO 639 code. es-419 - Spanish appropriate for the Latin America and Caribbean region using the UN region code
Verbix Language Codes	Constructed codes starting with OLD SIL codes and adding more information. http://www.verbix.com/languages/codes.asp

Verbix is a non-profit organization that aims to promote and protect linguistic diversity, who designed as its principal software an educational software program for computers that helps to find correct verb conjugation reference. ...

External links

Language Tags in HTML and XML
Language Identifiers in the Markup Context
RFC 4646
http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-lang-2or3

References

Categories: Language stubs | Languages | Identifiers

Results from FactBites:

MARC Code List for Languages (1726 words)
	The language codes are three-character lowercase alphabetic strings usually based on the first three letters of the English form or, in some cases, vernacular of the corresponding language name.
	Additional codes for individual languages are created from time to time when it becomes apparent that a significant body of literature in a particular language already exists, or when it is determined that the amount of material in a language is growing.
	Requests for new language codes are submitted to the ISO 639-2 maintenance agency, Library of Congress, (iso639-2@loc.gov) and balloted by the ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee.

Greek language - Facts, Information, and Encyclopedia Reference article (4029 words)
	Two main forms of the language have been in use since the end of the medieval Greek period: Dhimotikí (Δημοτική), the Demotic (vernacular) language, and Katharévousa (Καθαρεύουσα), an imitation of classical Greek, which was used for literary, juridic, and scientific purposes during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
	The ancient languages which were probably most closely related to it, Ancient Macedonian language (which in fact is a dialect of Greek) and Phrygian, are not well enough documented to permit detailed comparison.
	Greek is the official language of Greece where it is spoken by about 99.5% of the population.

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Common Language Codes

See also

External links

References

Difficulty in Language Codes