Managing Language Codes
Language codes are the two-letter codes used to define a document's language. They are specifically useful when internationalizing documents. Language codes are standardized by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and are case-insensitive.
Table 3.4 defines the standardized language codes available for use in HTML and XHTML.
Table 3.4 ISO 639 Two-Character Language Codes
Language |
Code |
Language |
Code |
Abkhazian |
AB |
Lithuanian |
LT |
Afan (Oromo) |
OM |
Macedonian |
MK |
Afar |
AA |
Malagasy |
MG |
Afrikaans |
AF |
Malay |
MS |
Albanian |
SQ |
Malayalam |
ML |
Amharic |
AM |
Maltese |
MT |
Arabic |
AR |
Maori |
MI |
Armenian |
HY |
Marathi |
MR |
Assamese |
AS |
Moldavian |
MO |
Aymara |
AY |
Mongolian |
MN |
Azerbaijani |
AZ |
Nauru |
NA |
Bashkir |
BA |
Nepali |
NE |
Basque |
EU |
Norwegian |
NO |
Bengali; Bangla |
BN |
Occitan |
OC |
Bhutani |
DZ |
Oriya |
OR |
Bihari |
BH |
Pashto; Pushto |
PS |
Bislama |
BI |
Persian (Farsi) |
FA |
Breton |
BR |
Polish |
PL |
Bulgarian |
BG |
Portuguese |
PT |
Burmese |
MY |
Punjabi |
PA |
Byelorussian |
BE |
Quechua |
QU |
Cambodian |
KM |
Rhaeto-Romance |
RM |
Catalan |
CA |
Romanian |
RO |
Chinese |
ZH |
Russian |
RU |
Corsican |
CO |
Samoan |
SM |
Croatian |
HR |
Sangho |
SG |
Czech |
CS |
Sanskrit |
SA |
Danish |
DA |
Scots Gaelic |
GD |
Dutch |
NL |
Serbian |
SR |
English |
EN |
Serbo-Croatian |
SH |
Esperanto |
EO |
Sesotho |
ST |
Estonian |
ET |
Setswana |
TN |
Faroese |
FO |
Shona |
SN |
Fiji |
FJ |
Sindhi |
SD |
Finnish |
FI |
Singhalese |
SI |
French |
FR |
Siswati |
SS |
Frisian |
FY |
Slovak |
SK |
Galician |
GL |
Slovenian |
SL |
Georgian |
KA |
Somali |
SO |
German |
DE |
Spanish |
ES |
Greek |
EL |
Sudanese |
SU |
Greenlandic |
KL |
Swahili |
SW |
Guarani |
GN |
Swedish |
SV |
Gujarati |
GU |
Tagalog |
TL |
Hausa |
HA |
Tajik |
TG |
Hebrew |
HE |
Tamil |
TA |
Hindi |
HI |
Tatar |
TT |
Hungarian |
HU |
Telugu |
TE |
Icelandic |
IS |
Thai |
TH |
Indonesian |
ID |
Tibetan |
BO |
Interlingua |
IA |
Tigrinya |
TI |
Interlingue |
IE |
Tonga |
TO |
Inuktitut |
IU |
Tsonga |
TS |
Inupiak |
IK |
Turkish |
TR |
Irish |
GA |
Turkmen |
TK |
Italian |
IT |
Twi |
TW |
Japanese |
JA |
Uigur |
UG |
Javanese |
JV |
Ukrainian |
UK |
Kannada |
KN |
Urdu |
UR |
Kashmiri |
KS |
Uzbek |
UZ |
Kazakh |
KK |
Vietnamese |
VI |
Kinyarwanda |
RW |
Volapuk |
VO |
Kirghiz |
KY |
Welsh |
CY |
Kurundi |
RN |
Wolof |
WO |
Korean |
KO |
Xhosa |
XH |
Kurdish |
KU |
Yiddish |
YI |
Laothian |
LO |
Yoruba |
YO |
Latin |
LA |
Zhuang |
ZA |
Latvian; Lettish |
LV |
Zulu |
ZU |
Lingala |
LN |
|
|
NOTE
Source: http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/iso639a.html.
For more information on ISO 639 language codes, please see the International Standards Organization Web site, http://www.iso.org.