ISO codes for language representation

¿Qué son los códigos de idioma ISO?

ISO codes for the representation of languages are part of the ISO 639 standard, which establishes a set of codes for designating languages in abbreviated form. The ISO 639 standards of the International Organization for Standardization establish the codes for the representation of names of the various languages and language groups or families with codes. ISO 639 is divided into several parts, each covering different aspects:

1. ISO 639-1: Codes of two letters

• They are the most common and are used in situations where space is limited, such as in software, websites and applications. Examples:
  • es: Spanish
  • en: English
  • fr: French
  • de: German

2. ISO 639-2: Codes of three letters.

• They are used in libraries and to identify languages more accurately when they cannot be represented by two letters. Examples:
  • spa: Spanish
  • eng: English
  • fra: French
  • deu: German

3. ISO 639-3: Three-letter codes for all languages of the world.

• Expands the standard to include lesser-known languages, indigenous languages and dialects. For example:
  • aym: Aimara
  • grn: Guaraní

4. ISO 639-5: Three-letter codes for language groups.

• Groups language families. Example:
  • mul: Multiple languages
  • alg: Algonquian languages

5. ISO 639-6: Codes for linguistic variants.

• Includes more detailed information on dialects and language variants.

These codes are used internationally for content localization, multilingual data processing, libraries, among others, facilitating communication and standardization in different fields.