This page lists the ISO name and code representations of the most popular language locales.
1 Table of Language Locales
1.1 Notes
1.2 Conventions
1.3 Codes Reserved for Local Use
2 Normative References
Table of Language Locales
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list. Please refer to the official ISO web sites listed under the
Normative References section below.
For an explanation of the criteria that were followed for this table, see the section Conventions
below.
Language Name ISO 639-1 + ISO 3166-1 ISO 639-3
Abkhaz [Abkhazian] ab-GE abk
Acholi [Acoli] ach-UG ach
Afar aa-ET aar
Afrikaans af-ZA afr
Akan ak-GH aka
Albanian sq-AL sqi
Algonquin alg-CA alq
Amharic am-ET amh
Arabic (Egypt) ar-EG arz
Arabic (International) [Modern Standard] ar-XN arb
Arabic (Jordan) ar-JO ajp
Arabic (Saudi Arabia) ar-SA arb
Arabic (Sudan) ar-SD apd
Arabic (United Arab Emirates) ar-AE afb
Armenian hy-AM hye
Assamese as-IN asm
Azerbaijani az-AZ aze
Bali [Balinese] ban-IN ban
Balochi bal-PK bal
Bashkir ba-RU bak
Basque eu-ES eus
Belarusan [Belarusian] be-BY bel
Bengali (India) bn-IN ben
Bengali [Bangla] bn-BD ben
Bhojpuri bh-IN bho
Bislama bi-VU bis
Bosnian bs-BA bos
Breton br-FR bre
Bulgarian bg-BG bul
Burmese my-MM mya
Catalan ca-ES cat
Cebuano ceb-PH ceb
Chinese (Hong Kong) zh-HK yue
Chinese (Singapore) zh-SG cmn
Chinese [Simplified] zh(-Hans)-CN 1 cmn
Chinese [Traditional] zh(-Hant)-TW 1 cmn
Corsican (France) co-FR cos
Corsican (Italy) co-IT cos
Cree cr-CA cre
Creole (Haiti) ht-HT hat
Creoles and pidgins, English-based cpe
Croatian hr-HR hrv
Czech cs-CZ ces
Dagbani nic-GH dag
Danish da-DK dan
Dari fa-AF fas
Dhivehi [Maldivian] dv-MV div
Duala dua-CM dua
Dutch (Belgium) nl-BE vls
Dutch (The Netherlands) nl-NL nld
Dyula dyu-BF dyu
Dzongkha [Bhutanese] dz-BT dzo
Ebira [Igbira] igb-NG igb
Edo [Bini] bin-NG bin
Ejagham etu-NG etu
English (Australia) en-AU eng
English (Canada) en-CA eng
English (Ireland) en-IE eng
English (Jamaica) en-JM eng
English (Kenya) en-KE eng
English (Malawi) en-MW eng
English (New Zealand) en-NZ eng
English (Nigeria) en-NG eng
English (South Africa) en-ZA eng
English (United Kingdom) en-GB eng
English (United States) en-US eng
English (International) en-XN eng
Esperanto eo-XN epo
Estonian et-EE est
Ewe ee-GH ewe
Fanti fat-GH fat
Faroese fo-FO fao
Filipino [Pilipino] fil-PH fil
Finnish fi-FI fin
Flemish nl-BE vls
French (Algeria) fr-DZ fra
French (Belgium) fr-BE fra
French (Cameroon) fr-CM fra
French (Canada) fr-CA fra
French (DR Congo) fr-CD fra
French (France) fr-FR fra
French (Guinea) fr-GN fra
French (Ivory Coast) fr-CI fra
French (Luxembourg) fr-LU fra
French (Morocco) fr-MA fra
French (Switzerland) fr-CH fra
French (Togo) fr-TG fra
Frisian fy-NL fry
Ga gaa-GH gaa
Gaelic [Scottish] gd-GB gla
Galician [Gallegan] gl-ES glg
Georgian ka-GE kat
German (Austria) de-AT deu
German (Germany) de-DE deu
German (Liechtenstein) de-LI deu
German (Luxembourg) de-LU deu
German (Switzerland) de-CH deu
Greek el-GR ell
Greenlandic [Kalaallisut] kl-GL kal
Gujarati gu-IN guj
Hausa ha-NE hau
Hebrew he-IL heb
Hiligaynon hil-PH hil
Hindi hi-IN hin
Hindustani (Fiji) hi-FJ hif
Hiri Motu (Papua New Guinea) ho-PG hmo
Hmong hmn-LA hmn
Hungarian hu-HU hun
Icelandic is-IS isl
Igbo ig-NG ibo
Ilocano [Iloko] ilo-PH ilo
Indonesian [Bahasa] id-ID ind
Inuktitut (Nunavik) ike-CA-QC ike
Inuktitut (Nunavut) ike-CA-NU ike
Irish ga-IE gle
Isekiri [Itsekiri] its-NG its
Italian (Italy) it-IT ita
Italian (Switzerland) it-CH ita
Japanese ja-JP jpn
Javanese jv-ID jav
Jawe jaz-NC jaz
Kalanga kck-ZW kck
Kamba kam-KE kam
Kannada kn-IN kan
Kashmiri ks-IN kas
Kazakh kk-KZ kaz
Khmer [Cambodian] km-KH khm
K'iche' [Quiche] myn-GT quc
Kikuyu [Gikuyu] kik-KE kik
Kinyarwanda rw-RW kin
Kirghiz [Kyrgyz] ky-KG kir
Konkani kok-IN knn
Koongo [Kikongo] kg-CD kng
Korean ko-KR kor
Krio kri-SL kri
Kurdish, Central [Sorani] ku-IQ ckb
Kurdish, Northern [Kurmanji] ku-TR kmr
Lao lo-LA lao
Latin la-VA lat
Latvian lv-LV lav
Lingala ln-CG lin
Lithuanian lt-LT lit
Lombard roa-IT lmo
Lozi loz-ZM loz
Luba-Lulua [Tshiluba] lu-CD lua
Luganda lg-UG lug
Luo [Dholuo] luo-KE luo
Luxembourgish [Letzeburgesch] lb-LU ltz
Macedonian mk-MK mkd
Malagasy mg-MG mlg
Malay (Brunei) ms-BN msa
Malay (Malaysia) ms-MY msa
Malay (Singapore) ms-SG msa
Maltese mt-MT mlt
Mandinka [Mandingo] mnk-GM mnk
Manipuri [Meitei] mni-IN mni
Maori mi-NZ mri
Mapudungun arn-CL arn
Marathi mr-IN mar
Mina (India) myi-IN myi
Mohawk moh-CA moh
Mongolian mn-MN mon
Montenegrin srp-ME srp 2
Nama naq-NA naq
Navajo nv-US nav
Ndebele, Northern [Sindebele] nd-ZW nde
Ndebele, Southern nr-ZA nbl
Nepali ne-NP nep
Norwegian [Bokmål] nb-NO nob
Norwegian [Nynorsk] nn-NO nno
Nyanja ny-MW nya
Occitan oc-ES oci
Oromo om-ET orm
Orya [Oriya] or-IN ori
Pampanga (Philippines) pam-PH pam
Pangasinan pag-PH pag
Panjabi [Punjabi] pa-IN pan
Papiamento [Papiamentu] pap-AW pap
Pashto [Pushto] ps-AF pus
Persian 3 fa-IR fas
Polish pl-PL pol
Portuguese (Angola) pt-AO por
Portuguese (Brazil) pt-BR por
Portuguese (Mozambique) pt-MZ por
Portuguese (Portugal) pt-PT por
Pular fuf-GN fuf
Quechua qu-BO que
Romani, Vlax (Romania) rom-MK rmy
Romanian (Moldova) ro-MD ron
Romanian (Romania) ro-RO ron
Romansch rm-CH roh
Russian ru-RU rus
Saami [Lapp] se-NO smi
Samoan sm-WS smo
Sanskrit sa-IN san
Saraiki skr-PK skr
Scots sco-GB sco
Serbian [Cyrillic] sr-Cyrl-RS srp
Serbian [Latin] sr-Latn-RS srp
Shona sn-ZW sna
Shua shg-BW shg
Sign Language, British sgn-GB bfi
Sindhi sd-PK snd
Sinhala [Sinhalese] si-LK sin
Sissano sso-LS sso
Slovak sk-SK slk
Slovenian [Slovene] sl-SI slv
Somali so-SO som
Sotho, Northern [Pedi, Sepedi] nso-ZA nso
Sotho, Southern [Sesotho] st-LS sot
Spanish (Argentina) es-AR spa
Spanish (Bolivia) es-BO spa
Spanish (Chile) es-CL spa
Spanish (Colombia) es-CO spa
Spanish (Costa Rica) es-CR spa
Spanish (Dominican Republic) es-DO spa
Spanish (Ecuador) es-EC spa
Spanish (Guatemala) es-GT spa
Spanish (International) es-XN spa
Spanish (Latin America) es-XL spa
Spanish (Mexico) es-MX spa
Spanish (Panama) es-PA spa
Spanish (Peru) es-PE spa
Spanish (Puerto Rico) es-PR spa
Spanish (Spain) es-ES spa
Spanish (United States) es-US spa
Spanish (Uruguay) es-UY spa
Spanish (Venezuela) es-VE spa
Sundanese su-ID sun
Susu sus-GN sus
Swahili sw-KE swa
Swati [Swazi] ss-SZ ssw
Swedish (Finland) sv-FI swe
Swedish (Sweden) sv-SE swe
Sylheti syl-BD syl
Tagalog tl-PH tgl
Tajik tg-TJ tgk
Tamazight [Berber] ber-MA tzm
Tamil (India) ta-IN tam
Tamil (Malaysia) ta-MY tam
Tamil (Singapore) ta-SG tam
Tamil (Sri Lanka) ta-LK tam
Tatar tt-RU tat
Telugu te-IN tel
Tetela tll-CD tll
Tetum tet-TL tet
Thai th-TH tha
Tibetan bo-CN bod
Tigre tig-ER tig
Tigrinya [Tigrigna] ti-ER tir
Timne [Themne] tem-SL tem
Tiv tiv-NG tiv
Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea) tpi-PG tpi
Tsonga ts-ZA tso
Tswana [Setswana] tn-BW tsn
Turkish tr-TR tur
Turkmen tk-TM tuk
Tuvaluan [Tuvalu] tvl-TV tvl
Twi tw-GH twi
Uighur [Uyghur] ug-CN uig
Ukrainian uk-UA ukr
Urdu (India) ur-IN urd
Urdu (Pakistan) ur-PK urd
Uzbek uz-UZ uzb
Valencian ca-ES-V cat 4
Venda ve-ZA ven
Vietnamese vi-VN vie
Welsh cy-GB cym
Wolof wo-SN wol
Xhosa xh-ZA xho
Yiddish yi-IL yid
Yoruba yo-NG yor
Zulu zu-ZA zul
Notes
The use of the script subtags Hans and Hant is unnecessary when the language code zh for Chinese is
followed by the region code (CN for China and TW for Taiwan, respectively).
srp is the code for Serbian: ISO has not yet defined a separate code for Montenegrin.
The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has delivered a pronouncement in favor of "Persian"
and has rejected any usage of the word "Farsi." (See Persian or Farsi?.)
cat is the code for Catalan: ISO does not have a separate code for the Valencian variant of the Catalan
language. (In fact, a request to create a new code was rejected by ISO in 2006.)
Conventions
Language names are taken from from ISO 639-3 or from the Ethnologue, 15th edition.
Names in square brackets indicate alternative names for that language.
Names in round brackets indicate the country.
When an ISO 632-1 code does not exist, then the ISO 632-2 code is used instead. When the ISO 632-2
code does not exist, then the ISO 632-3 code is used instead.
ISO 639-2 recommends the use of the language codes in lower case.
ISO 3166 recommends that country codes are capitalized.
RFC 5646 - Tags for Identifying Languages - recommends the use of the character "-" (HYPHEN-MINUS)
to separate the primary language subtag from subsequent subtags.
RFC 5646 mandates that "[s]cript subtags MUST follow any primary and extended language subtags and
MUST precede any other type of subtag."
the script subtag must follow the language tag and preced any other subtag
XN and XL are not ISO country codes. Instead, they are user-assigned code elements as specified in
clause 8.1.3 of ISO 3166-1.
XN is used to identify a "Neutral" or "iNternational" locale. (The modifier "Mid-Atlantic" is not
recommended.)
XL is used to identify the region conventionally known as "Latin America." Alternatively, the United
Nations code 419 for "Latin America and the Caribbean" can be used.
Simplified and Traditional Chinese are conventionally identified according to the recommendation in ISO
639-2 FAQ, i.e., zh-CN and zh-TW, respectively.
Codes Reserved for Local Use
According to the ISO guideline from http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/scope.asp:
Identifiers qaa through qtz are reserved for local use, to be used in cases in which there is no suitable
existing code in ISO 639. There are no constraints as to scope of denotation. These identifiers may only
be used locally, and may not be used in interchange without a private agreement.
Normative References
ISO 632-1: 2002 - _Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 1: Alpha-2 code
(http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/).
ISO 632-2: 1998 - Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages Part 2: Alpha-3 code
(http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/).
ISO 632-3: 2007 - Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages Part 3: Alpha-3 code for
comprehensive coverage of languages (http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/default.asp).
ISO 3166-1: 2006 - Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions-Part 1:
Country codes (http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists.htm).
ISO 15924: 2004 - Codes for the representation of names of scripts
(http://www.unicode.org/iso15924/codelists.html).
BCP 47 Language Tags - Tags for Identifying Languages (http://tools.ietf.org/rfc/bcp/bcp47.txt; includes
both RFC 5646 and RFC 4647).
For a good overview, see also the Wikipedia article IETF Language Tag.
