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Information about Iso 639

ISO 639 is the set of international standards that lists short codes for language names.

ISO 639 consists of different parts, of which two parts have been approved and a third part that is in the final approval (FDIS) stage. The other parts are works in progress.
  • ISO 639-1: 2002 Codes for the representation of names of languages -- Part 1: Alpha-2 code List of ISO 639-1 codes
  • ISO 639-2: 1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages -- Part 2: Alpha-3 code List of ISO 639-2 codes
  • ISO 639-3: 2007 Codes for the representation of names of languages -- Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages List of ISO 639-3 codes
  • ISO/CD 639-4: 2007? Codes for the representation of names of languages -- Part 4: Implementation guidelines and general principles for language coding
  • ISO/DIS 639-5: 2007? Codes for the representation of names of languages -- Part 5: Alpha-3 code for language families and groups
  • ISO/CD 639-6: 2007? Codes for the representation of names of languages -- Part 6: Alpha-4 representation for comprehensive coverage of language variation

Use of ISO-639 codes

The language codes defined in the several sections of ISO-639 are used for bibliographic purposes and, in computing and internet environments, as a key element of locale data. The codes also find use in various applications, such as Wikipedia URLs for its different language editions.

Alpha-2 code space

"Alpha-2" codes (for codes composed of 2 letters of the basic Latin alphabet) are used in ISO 639-1. Thus, there are distinct Alpha-2 codes. This is clearly insufficient to cover all languages, which led to the creation of ISO 639-2 and the use of Alpha-3 codes.

Alpha-3 code space

"Alpha-3" codes (for codes composed of 3 letters of the basic Latin alphabet) are used in ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 and will eventually be used in ISO 639-5. Mathematically, the upper limit for the number of languages and language collections that can be so represented is .

The common use of Alpha-3 codes by three parts of ISO 639 requires some coordination within a larger system.

Part 2 defines four special codes mul, und, mis, zxx, a reserved range qaa-qtz (20 × 26 = 520 codes) and has 23 double entries (the B/T codes). This sums up to 520 + 23 + 4 = 547 codes that cannot be used in part 3 to represent languages or in part 5 to represent language families or groups. The remainder is 17,576 – 547 = 17,029.

There are somewhere around six or seven thousand languages on Earth today[http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=family]. So those 17,029 codes are adequate to assign a unique code to each language, although some languages may end up with arbitrary codes that sound nothing like traditional name(s) of that language.

Alpha-4 code space

"Alpha-4" codes (for codes composed of 4 letters of the basic Latin alphabet) is proposed to be used in ISO 639-6. Mathematically, the upper limit for the number of languages and dialects that can be so represented is .

See also

External links

International Organization for Standardization (Organisation internationale de normalisation), widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations.
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A language code is a code that assigns letters or numbers as identifiers for languages. Often used language codes include those of ISO 639, particularly ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2. Internet standards commonly use IETF language tags, which are based on ISO 639.
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See Language (journal) for the linguistics journal.


A language is a system of symbols and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.
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ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. It consists of 136 two-letter codes used to identify the world's major languages. These codes are a useful international shorthand for indicating languages.
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<noinclude>ISO 639 has three code lists. The following is a list of ISO 639-1 language codes, including the ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 codes where they exist. The data is sorted by 639-1 code.
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ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as "Alpha-3" codes. There are 464 language codes in the list.
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Artificial (Other)
asm as Assamese অসমীয়?
ast   Asturian; Bable asturianu
ath   Athapascan languages
aus   Australian languages
bar   Austro-Bavarian boarisch
map   Austronesian (Other)
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ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. It extends the ISO 639-2 alpha-3 codes with an aim to cover all known natural languages. The standard was published by ISO on 5 February 2007[1].
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The following is a complete overview of all codes in the draft code table for ISO/FDIS 639-3. A normative list of current ISO 639-3 identifiers is available for download from the ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Web site.
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ISO 639 is the set of international standards that lists short codes for language names.

ISO 639 consists of different parts, of which two parts have been approved and a third part that is in the final approval (FDIS) stage. The other parts are works in progress.
..... Click the link for more information.
ISO/DIS 639-5, titled "Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 5: Alpha-3 code for language families and groups", is an international-standard being developed by ISO/TC 37/SC 2. The CD was issued on 23 February, 2005 with voting terminating on 05 July, 2005.
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ISO/DIS 639-6, titled "Codes for the representation of names of languages -- Part 6: Alpha-4 representation for comprehensive coverage of language variation", is an international-standard being developed by ISO/TC 37/SC 2. The latest WD was issued on 08 May, 2005.
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locale is a set of parameters that defines the user's language, country and any special variant preferences that the user wants to see in their user interface. Usually a locale identifier consists of at least a language identifier and a region identifier.
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Uniform Resource Locator (URL) formerly known as Universal Resource Locator, is a technical, Web-related term used in two distinct meanings:
  • In popular usage, many technical documents, it is a synonym for Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);

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ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. It consists of 136 two-letter codes used to identify the world's major languages. These codes are a useful international shorthand for indicating languages.
..... Click the link for more information.
ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as "Alpha-3" codes. There are 464 language codes in the list.
..... Click the link for more information.
ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as "Alpha-3" codes. There are 464 language codes in the list.
..... Click the link for more information.
ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. It extends the ISO 639-2 alpha-3 codes with an aim to cover all known natural languages. The standard was published by ISO on 5 February 2007[1].
..... Click the link for more information.
ISO/DIS 639-5, titled "Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 5: Alpha-3 code for language families and groups", is an international-standard being developed by ISO/TC 37/SC 2. The CD was issued on 23 February, 2005 with voting terminating on 05 July, 2005.
..... Click the link for more information.
<noinclude>ISO 639 has three code lists. The following is a list of ISO 639-1 language codes, including the ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 codes where they exist. The data is sorted by 639-1 code.
..... Click the link for more information.
Artificial (Other)
asm as Assamese অসমীয়?
ast   Asturian; Bable asturianu
ath   Athapascan languages
aus   Australian languages
bar   Austro-Bavarian boarisch
map   Austronesian (Other)
..... Click the link for more information.
The following is a complete overview of all codes in the draft code table for ISO/FDIS 639-3. A normative list of current ISO 639-3 identifiers is available for download from the ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Web site.
..... Click the link for more information.
A language code is a code that assigns letters or numbers as identifiers for languages. Often used language codes include those of ISO 639, particularly ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2. Internet standards commonly use IETF language tags, which are based on ISO 639.
..... Click the link for more information.
A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language. As with biological families, the evidence of relationship is observable shared characteristics.
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lists of languages:
  • List of languages by name
  • List of languages by writing system
  • List of languages by number of native speakers
  • Ethnologue list of most spoken languages

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: Top - 0–9 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
Afrikaans:
  • South Africa (with English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu)
Albanian:

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ISO 3166 is a three-part geographic coding standard for coding the names of countries and dependent areas, and the principal subdivisions thereof, published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
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ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, defines two sets of codes for a number of writing systems (scripts). Each script is given both a four-letter code and a numeric one.
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writing system is a type of symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.

General properties

Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that one must usually understand something of the
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IETF language tags are defined by BCP 47, which is currently RFC 4646 and RFC 4647. These language tags are used in a number of modern standards, such as HTTP[1], HTML[2], XML[3] and PNG[4].
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