What are language codes? - Amara.org

You might have noticed short strings of letters next to subtitle languages when selecting subtitles to play with a video. Skiptocontent April28,2021May6,2021allisonamaraCommunity,Accessibility&Translation Whatarelanguagecodes? Youmighthavenoticedshortstringsoflettersnexttosubtitlelanguageswhenselectingsubtitlestoplaywithavideo.Theseshortstrings–likeen,es,ru,fr,zh-cn,andothers–arelanguagecodes. Languagecodesallowthefilestoberead,labeled,andorganizedasthecorrectlanguagebyonlinevideoplayers. Whydoweneedlanguagecodes? Weuselanguagecodestomarkvideo,audio,andsubtitlefileswiththeappropriatelanguage. Let’ssayyou’reavideocreatoruploadingmultiplevideoandaudiofileswhichallhavedifferentlanguages.Itisimportanttokeepthemallorganized!Otherwise,youraudiencemightgetveryconfusedwhentheyclickplay.Evenjustonelettercanmakeahugedifference.YourDanishvideo(languagecode“da”)mighthaveGermansubtitles(languagecode“de”). Whatifsubtitlesaren’tavailableinmylanguage? Amarasupportsover300subtitlelanguages.Wesupportsomanylanguagesbecausewewanttogiveanyonethepowertocreatesubtitlesintheirmothertongue.Andwewelcomerequestsfornewlanguages! HowdoIrequestanewlanguageonAmara? IfyourlanguageisnotcurrentlyavailableonAmara,youcansubmitarequest.CheckthislistofAmara’ssupportedlanguagesbeforeyoudecidetosubmitarequest. Foryourrequest,[email protected]: ISO639languagenameISO639languagecodeDirection:Isyourlanguagewrittenfromlefttorightorfromrighttoleft? Furtherreading:WhatistheISO? TheISOisanindependent,nongovernmentalorganizationdoingworkin165nations.TheISOcreatesstandardsformanyareas,frommanufacturedproductsandtechnologytofoodsafety,agriculture,andhealthcare. It’scalledtheInternationalOrganizationforStandardizationinEnglish.But,wait,shouldn’ttheabbreviationbe“IOS”?  Asaninternationalorganization,mosttranslationsofthenamewouldendupbeingdifferentfromoneanother.Forexample,let’scomparetheEnglishnamewiththeotherofficiallanguagesoftheISO:FrenchandRussian. InFrench,itisthe“Organisationinternationaledenormalisation,”orOIN. InRussian, Международнаяорганизацияпостандартизации(MezhdunarodnayaOrganizatsiyapoStandartizatsii)orMOS. TheISOwebsitehasthistosayabouttheirnamechoice: “Because‘InternationalOrganizationforStandardization’wouldhavedifferentacronymsindifferentlanguages(IOSinEnglish,OINinFrenchforOrganisationinternationaledenormalisation),ourfoundersdecidedtogiveittheshortformISO.ISOisderivedfromtheGreek‘isos’,meaningequal.Whateverthecountry,whateverthelanguage,wearealwaysISO. Happysubtitling! Abouttheauthor Authorprofile allisonamara IamaProductSpecialistandRecruiterforAmara.Iampassionateaboutmakingonlinecontentaccessibletoglobalaudiences! Related Publishedbyallisonamara IamaProductSpecialistandRecruiterforAmara.Iampassionateaboutmakingonlinecontentaccessibletoglobalaudiences! Viewallpostsbyallisonamara 5thoughtson“Whatarelanguagecodes?” love Reply hi,IreadyourarticleIpreferthis,Ihopethereisenoughinformationforthosepeoplewhodon’tknowmoreaboutlanguagecodes Reply Thankyou! Reply IreadyourarticleIpreferthis Reply Youprovidesuchawonderfularticle,Youexplainlotsofinformationaboutlanguagescodes.Ithinkthatinfowillbeusefulforpeople. Reply LeaveaReplyCancelreplyYouremailaddresswillnotbepublished.Requiredfieldsaremarked*CommentName* Email* Website Savemyname,email,andwebsiteinthisbrowserforthenexttimeIcomment. Δ Postnavigation NewtoAmara:Tamazight!GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay Searchfor: QuickLinks