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A language code is a code that assigns letters or numbers as identifiers or classifiers for languages. These codes may be used to organize library collections or presentations of data, to choose the correct localizations and translations in computing, and as a shorthand designation for longer forms of language names.

• Difficulties of classification

• Common schemes

• See also

• References

• External links

Language code schemes attempt to classify the complex world of human languages, dialects, and variants. Most schemes make some compromises between being general and being complete enough to support specific dialects.

For example, Spanish is spoken in over 20 countries in North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Spanish spoken in Mexico will be slightly different from 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 region-specific variation.

| Scheme | Notes |

|---|---|

| Glottolog codes | Created for minority languages as a sci… |

| IETF language tag | An IETF best practice, specified by BCP… |

| ISO 639‑1 | Two-letter code system made official in… |

| ISO 639‑2 | Three-letter system of 464 codes. See:… |

| ISO 639‑3 | An extension of ISO 639‑2 to cover all… |

| Linguasphere Register code-system | Two-digit + one to six letter Linguasph… |

| SIL codes (10th–14th editions) | Codes created for use in the Ethnologue… |

| Verbix language codes | Constructed codes starting with old SIL… |

| Scheme | Examples for English |

|---|---|

| Glottolog codes | stan1293 – standard English macr1271 –… |

| IETF language tag | en – English, as shortest ISO 639 code.… |

| ISO 639‑1 | en |

| ISO 639‑2 | eng – three-letter code enm – Middle En… |

| ISO 639‑3 | eng – three-letter code enm – Middle En… |

| Linguasphere Register code-system | Within hierarchy of Linguasphere Regist… |

| SIL codes (10th–14th editions) | ENG |

| Verbix language codes | ENG |

| Scheme | Examples for Spanish |

|---|---|

| Glottolog codes | stan1288 – standard Spanish olds1249 –… |

| IETF language tag | es – Spanish, as shortest ISO 639 code.… |

| ISO 639‑1 | es – Spanish |

| ISO 639‑2 | spa – Spanish |

| ISO 639‑3 | spa – Spanish spq – Spanish, Loreto-Uca… |

| Linguasphere Register code-system | Within hierarchy of Linguasphere Regist… |

| SIL codes (10th–14th editions) | SPN |

| Verbix language codes | SPN |

• Accept-Language

• Codes for constructed languages

• Country code

• Flag icons for languages

• List of ISO 639-1 codes - codes for common languages

• List of ISO 639-2 codes - expanded 3 character code list of all languages coded by ISO

• Locale (computer software)

cite-note-rfc-11. "Information on BCP 47 » RFC Editor".

cite-note-22. "The Linguasphere Register in PDF". l’Observatoire linguistique (Linguasphere Observatory). Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

cite-note-33. Verbix language codes Archived 2009-04-01 at the Wayback Machine, Verbix

• List of usual language codes and its variants