Talk:List of ISO 639 language codes

Opening heading
I started expanding this list, but I've decided that I don't see the point, since I was just copying from List of ISO 639-2 codes which already includes all these. Maybe it would be better to just maintain one list of ISO 639-1 and -2 codes. I would even support calling it simply the List of ISO 639 codes and let ISO 639-3 be mentioned at the top as the draft that it is. Cpastern 03:10, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Tobias Conradi (Talk) 21:32, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) it's a list by code (by 639-1) which List of ISO 639-2 codes is not.
 * 2) calling it List of ISO 639 codes is not correct once the 639-3 codes are official.
 * 3) 639-1 is only a small subset. makes the list more handy then 639-2 list
 * 4) list could be an easy transition list for people that want to switch from 639-1  or RFC 3066 to ISO 639-3.

Language codes/Conflicts
Below is a list of "conflicts" between 2 letter language codes and country codes. A conflict occurs when a country uses the same code as a language it does not actively use. Theoretically, country and language codes are orthogonal so the conflict does not exist, but practically, it could be a source of needless confusion.

It is a derived table. The 3-letter code is not necessary as I didn't think they're relevant to the "conflicts". I think we should start a new page to put this table.--Hello World! 03:30, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
 * The country code for the UK is GB, not UK. This is probably the only situation in which "GB" is an abbreviation for "United Kingdom" (instead of "Great Britain"). (212.247.11.153 21:59, 24 June 2007 (UTC))
 * put to List of unrelated alpha-2 codes in ISO 639 and ISO 3166. TalkChat (talk) 22:57, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Duplication of work
Why spend time recreating the whole table when there is already one in meta? AbelCheung 23:06, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Because we want to improve en:WP and it is not here. Furthermore the table you cite is not a table of ISO 639-1 codes. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 16:38, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Arabic Crossover
The end line of this page is still arabic, fixing appreciated. - Sox 207  23:34, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

removed Macedonian/Slovenian POV
Someone combined mk and sl, probably political POV (the usual claim that Macedonia or Macedonian doesn't really exist). Whatever the POV, and whatever similarity there might or might not be, the fact is that ISO codes them separately; this article documents the fact(s) of the ISO coding. Fixed. Robert Ullmann (talk) 05:34, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

"new" ISO 639-1 codes
For those watching this page: note that ISO is not assigning any more 2 letter codes. (To be precise, a 2 letter code will not be assigned to any language that already has a 3 letter code; since any language significant enough to have a 2 letter code is already coded in -3, it won't happen. Mind you, if ETs show up, we might need a code for Pan-Galactic or something ;-)

I've noted over the last months several separate attempts to "assign" new two letter codes by adding them here, to pages, to templates and pages in the wiktionary, etc. They are all bogus, and should be cleaned out. (Languages were Kadazandusun, Mazerandani, Gagauz, and Rusyn recently). Any additions/deletions from the list are almost certainly invalid. Robert Ullmann (talk) 12:57, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

List title
Why isn't the title of this list List of ISO 639? --Stefán Örvarr Sigmundsson (talk) 12:54, 11 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I'd rather suggest to change the lemma to List of ISO 639 language codes, please compare with the List of ISO 3166 country codes. Thus, the reader sees at first sight that one list is about language codes (in lower-case letters) and the other one on country codes (in upper-case letters). --Gunnar (talk) 10:38, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Copyright by ISO?!
I'm confused about the prices and copyright claim on the ISO website. For example: ISO 639-1:2002 lists the paper and PDF version of ISO 639-1:2002 for CHF 136, which is currently about US$ 120. ISO also has a copyright policy: "All rights reserved. The material on ISO Online is subject to the same conditions of copyright as ISO publications, and its use is subject to the user's acceptance of ISO's conditions of copyright for ISO publications, as set out below. Any use of the material, including reproduction in whole or in part to another Internet site, requires permission in writing from ISO.

All ISO publications are protected by copyright. Therefore and unless otherwise specified, no part of an ISO publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm, scanning, without permission in writing from the publisher."

- ISO

At the bottom of the page there is a link to a PDF document that explains some more stuff. Also International_Organization_for_Standardization states the copyright of ISO standards and also gives a list of free standards at Freely Available ISO Standards. ISO 639-1 is not one of them. Does Wikipedia own a general right or permission to reproduce the code lists?

Thinkstorm (talk) 13:23, 30 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I think your questions are answered by the Copyright FAQ ("Facts cannot be copyrighted.", "What should I do if I find a copyright violation on Wikipedia?", etc.). The pages that Avoid copyright paranoia links to may also be relevant. --DavidCary (talk) 05:26, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

Getting Browser-Language from ISO 639-1 Code in PHP/HTML
I had the problem to interpret the ISO 639-1 Codes to the language and to compare from different sources wether I found all codes. That others can save time and work I created an Excel-list of the codes in the first row and in the other rows I put the German, English and the translation of the actual language. You can get the list from my skydrive: cid-255ecac081b4c5f1.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/ISO|_639-1|_Codes.xls —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.42.126.240 (talk) 11:00, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Re-ordering of the table?
Placing the various ISO 639 codes within the middle of the table rather than at the extreme left-hand side is a visual improvement, but why is the table no longer sorted alphabetically on the ISO 639-1 key? Whoever has meddled with the ordering of the table has also overlooked the comment right at the head of the page, that the table data is sorted according to the ISO 639-1 code. Philip Legge User Email Talk 09:43, 7 February 2010 (UTC)
 * The user that appears to have made those changes (Buhay Tao) has been blocked. I'm guessing he or she was trying to make this page more general. I think its purpose was to give the ISO code info -- the language family has nothing to do with that. I also miss the sorting capability: without it, we can't do two-way lookups. I'm tempted to be bold and revert to the version of January 27, but I'll ask here first. Thoughts? --Auntof6 (talk) 12:55, 27 February 2010 (UTC)
 * i believe it should be sorted by 639-1 codes. RZuo (talk) 18:39, 27 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Not only do I think it should be sorted by 639-1 codes, I'd recommend moving the "ISO language name" column after the 639-3 code and before Notes. DRMcCreedy (talk) 02:33, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

Redirect to template?
Was there some discussion about redirecting this page to a template? I don't understand what sense it makes to do that, and I have reverted that change. --Auntof6 (talk) 20:01, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

No consensus to move. I'll add that this can not be moved since the article is not a template. Vegaswikian (talk) 22:00, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

List of ISO 639-1 codes → Template:ISO 639-1 language codes — This page is redundant. See ISO 15924. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tr33 swalow (talk • contribs) 16:36, 26 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Is there need for this data to be in a template? If so, then how about invoking the template from this page rather than doing away with this page altogether. For one thing, there is other information on this page, not just the table of language info. Also, what did you want us to look at on ISO 15924? --Auntof6 (talk) 21:04, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
 * I wanted to follow what was done on ISO 15924, where all information about the topic was done in one page rather than two. I already move all this page's contents to ISO 639-1. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tr33 swalow (talk • contribs) 21:22, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
 * I see, I didn't know about ISO 639-1. I still don't know why a template is needed, but I'd be OK redirecting this page to ISO 639-1, as opposed to redirecting it to the template--Auntof6 (talk) 22:46, 26 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Oppose This article transcludes the template, and why would you want a list article as a template? It will get deleted at WP:TFD as article masquerading as a template first time anyone notices. The redirect will also get deleted at WP:RFD as a CNR first time anyone notices. I see that you did a merge without attribution in the edit history, to ISO 639-1. You should just replace this with a redirect to the ISO 639-1 article then, and tag it with R from merge and add the mergedfrom template onto the talk page of ISO 639-1 76.66.200.95 (talk) 00:55, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
 * This article doesn't currently transclude the template -- the table on this page was duplicated to form the template. I still don't understand what use the template will be. --Auntof6 (talk) 02:30, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Ok, I got the articles mixed up, ISO 639-1 transcludes the template. In any case, the list should not be renamed, since that's not the function of templates (replicating articles). It should just be merged and be done with it. 76.66.200.95 (talk) 04:05, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Oppose. I can't see any reason to have a list -- let alone one of this size and complexity -- in Template space. I would have to think more about merging or deletion or what have you, but I can easily say I oppose the move. Cnilep (talk) 08:43, 29 September 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Second proposal for merging
I suppose that it could be better if we merge the pages. For example, ISO 639-1 language matrix could be added as a second paragraph to the List of ISO 639-1 codes (along with its reference), since the former isn't too much of an article, but more of a simple linear table/list. Also, instead of starting a wikiwar about it, why don't we also link to and [Template:ISO 639-1 language codes] in the same (merged) article. I believe that this is the optimal solution here. If you agree, I can merge the two articles in seconds. After the merging it's up to adminstrators to delete the matrix article... What do you think? --Ve4ernik (talk) 09:50, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

EDIT: Merging complete. Discuss. --Ve4ernik (talk) 06:30, 14 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I think it was a bad idea. Not a official sources are used to compile these listings (latvian if full of mistakes, I don't know about other languages). Should be removed. --Kikos (talk) 09:15, 14 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Maybe you are right for the current time, but in the future (when the language matrix article is more polished), I still think that the articles should be merged as explained above. --Ve4ernik (talk) 13:58, 18 February 2011 (UTC)
 * No! Such matrix is not part of ISO . --Kikos (talk) 15:22, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Why the colors?
The left side of this table has all kinds of colors - green, red, yellow, black. What are they for? Can someone please add a legend or something or remove the colors? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.83.3.210 (talk) 14:41, 12 April 2011 (UTC)
 * The colors represent the language groups in the column next to it. Green = Indo-European, yelllow = Afro-Asiatic, black = constructed, etc. SiBr4 14:29, 3 July 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by SiBr4 (talk • contribs)
 * I was wondering as well. Could someone please add al legend for those colors?--Sajoch (talk) 12:35, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Can we include languages with no ISO 639-1 code?
I'd like to include Ancient Greek, which has 639-2 and 639-3 codes (both "grc"), but no 639-a code that I can find. --Auntof6 (talk) 17:12, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Slavic language names
The word "language / tongue" is integral to the names of Slavic languages, e.g. język polski, Russian, Slovak, etc., just as it is for Austronesian languages, like Malay?

I can say the "English language" or el "idioma español", but that does not make the word itself part of the name in ordinary usage.

Varlaam (talk) 17:04, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

The Chinese languages
The various spoken Han Chinese languages do not appear in the list?

I see Zhuang, but Zhuang is an ethnic minority language from Guangxi.

Varlaam (talk) 17:07, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Chinese (Han yu) has the ISO 639-1 code zh. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.180.169.99 (talk • contribs) 09:28, 2 July 2013


 * "List of ISO 639-1 codes" (version of 12:02, 30 May 2013) has a limited number of languages listed in the section "Partial ISO 639 table".
 * —Wavelength (talk) 19:51, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

Capitalization
In the native language heading, some items are not capitalized. Is this the preferred presentation in each native language? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fulldecent (talk • contribs) 18:11, 3 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes. In certain languages, for example French, language names are uncapitalized (anglais, français, etc.). --SiBr4 14:35, 3 July 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by SiBr4 (talk • contribs)

Why aren't all known languages listed?
I was looking for the code for the Lango language of Uganda and it's not listed, yet the first line of the article reads, "ISO 639 is a standardized nomenclature used to classify all known languages". If it's for all known languages, why are all languages listed? Is it because there are too many, or because the codes have been established only for major languages, or something else? DBlomgren (talk) 11:03, 19 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I believe this is a question you should ask the relevant technical committee members at ISO, not the people here who just describe the content of ISO 639, or part 1 respectively. --Gunnar (talk) 10:52, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Pontic Greek missing
The Pontic Greek is missing in this table. The 3 letter code is PNT, but no clue the 2-letter code. 85.58.233.13 (talk) 13:52, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

Duplicate 2-letter code
Both Slovak and Saraiki list sk as their 2-letter code. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.210.68.138 (talk) 16:08, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

Rendering error: cu as Chamorro
I'm not sure if this should go here, but there seems to be a bug in the wiki which renders "cu" as Chamorro instea of Old Church Slavonic: e.g. lang-cu (Чрьнори́зьць Хра́бръ) vs lang-chu vs lang-ch (Чрьнори́зьць Хра́бръ)

--BerislavLopac (talk) 15:51, 4 December 2017 (UTC)


 * I think you are at the wrong page to solve this issue. This is the Wikipedia page about the ISO 639-1 code, not concerning the internal implementation of the ISO 639-1 code. I would recommend going to Template_talk:ISO_639_name or Template talk:Lang — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dondville (talk • contribs) 17:41, 4 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing this out, . This was due to a typo in a recent edit to Template:lang-cu: the whole family of lang-xx templates are currently being switched over to Lua, so occasional hiccups like this are almost inevitable. I've fixed that now, although it might take several days until the change gets propagated to all articles that lang-cu is used on. If you'd like a certain article to display properly immediately, you can just make a null edit to it. – Uanfala (talk) 21:20, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

Is there an ISO 639-1 code "fl" for Filipino?
I am unable to find confirmation that there is an ISO 639-1 code "fl" for Filipino. No such code is mentioned by the Library of Congress, nor by SIL, and a Wikipedia search for ISO 639:fl yields no positive result either. (To be sure, our article Filipino language can be retrieved via ISO 639:fil.)

If no one else can confirm its existence "fl" must be removed from this list, otherwise it must be added to the template of the language article. Love —LiliCharlie (talk) 01:07, 22 September 2018 (UTC)


 * I just checked the IANA Language Subtag Registry which contains all ISO 639-1 codes and has a stability policy that guarantees that no code will ever be deleted even after withdrawel from the ISO standard it was taken from. Again, no such code. I'm going to remove Filipino from the list now. Love —LiliCharlie (talk) 19:01, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Proposal to remove table column for language family
The table of language codes features two columns for the language family. Is this really necessary? I see it as mostly chartjunk that distracts from the purpose of the table, which is to list languages with their codes. If this really must be kept, then it ought not to be the first column of the table. Also, the column with the color codes is garish and makes no sense to anyone who's not a language wikipediaholic. – Uanfala (talk) 11:34, 12 July 2019 (UTC)
 * The language family isn't part of ISO 639-1 so I'm on the side of removing it. DRMcCreedy (talk) 22:08, 19 July 2019 (UTC)


 * +1. Another reason is that the label "Language family" is misleading: "Algonquian" is merely a subfamily of the Algic languages, and "Creole" and "Constructed" are not terms that group genealogically related languages at all. Love —LiliCharlie (talk) 22:53, 19 July 2019 (UTC)


 * -1. Grouping languages by family is useful. If you don't know all the languages, seeing the family of a language you've never heard of without having to click is also helpful. Akeosnhaoe (talk) 04:31, 26 March 2021 (UTC)


 * The first thing I noticed when I saw this page was the absurd listing of language family in the table. This is completely irrelevant to ISO 639-1. For that matter, the endonym is, too. There are a few cases where the endonym is useful to explain the acronyms, but even that isn't helpful when the language name is given in its native script. Yes, Հայերեն starts with hy in Armenian, but that's only useful for someone who already knows how to read Armenian, and thus probably knows the word for Armenian in Armenian.
 * The consensus seems clear. Only one editor has objected to removing the language family. --Macrakis (talk) 21:19, 19 March 2022 (UTC)
 * consensus
 * general agreement, characterized by the absence of sustained opposition to substantial issues by any important part of the concerned interests and by a process that involves seeking to take into account the views of all parties concerned and to reconcile any conflicting arguments
 * Note 1 to entry: Consensus need not imply unanimity.
 * [SOURCE: ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004, 1.7]
 * Ergo: Consensual agreement means that any vetos because of conflicting opinions have gone silent after a phase of reconciliation. Gunnar (talk) 11:56, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Language Family color
There are color-definition inconsistencies with the page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_family. Should colors on this page (if kept) be adjusted to match? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.90.160.93 (talk) 00:28, 10 January 2022 (UTC)
 * I made the colors match. Akeosnhaoe (talk) 15:31, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Discrepancy with the linked source at loc.gov
Just notifying the editors of a discrepancy with the source.

The source is linked as: https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php

Comparing this page with that, at the time of writing there are 184 codes there, and 183 here. The one present there which seems to be missing here is bh, "Bihari". 88.97.99.237 (talk) 16:54, 6 March 2023 (UTC)

No different ISO 639 parts anymore
Since the latest edition, published in November 2023, there are no different parts, but the whole series has been merged into a single document, which contains different sets. --Gunnar (talk) 11:48, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

Unknown language name. Try to send me its two-letter or three-letter ISO code instead of the ISO language name.
Unknown language name. Try to send me its two-letter or three-letter ISO code instead of the ISO language name. 2409:40F2:104B:D5BD:8000:0:0:0 (talk) 19:14, 4 June 2024 (UTC)