SHIP:Data Types:Language

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Data Type	Description
Language	A string of exactly 4 characters containing a 4-letter language code, for example "enUS" for English as used in the US.

The Language data type is a derivative data type of a normal String. It should always be composed of 4 characters, the first two of which are lower case, the second two upper case.

The word "language" is often used interchangeably with "locale". In the broader sense, both terms ideally describe not only language but also regionality. Regionality comprehends local variations of language and expression -- ask a Texan trying to communicate with an Englishman if their "English" is the same language! The most common expression of locales is a 4 character combination of the ISO639-2 2-letter language code followed by the 2-letter ISO-3166 country code. Therefore “xxYY” describes a locale with language “xx” as-expressed in country/region “YY”.

Examples

The word "language" is often used interchangeably with "locale". In the broader sense, both terms ideally describe not only language but also regionality. Regionality comprehends local variations of language and expression -- ask a Texan trying to communicate with an Englishman if their "English" is the same language! The most common expression of locales is a 4 character combination of the ISO639-2 2-letter language code followed by the 2-letter ISO-3166 country code. Therefore “xxYY” describes a locale with language “xx” as-expressed in country/region “YY”.

For example, "enUS" refers to English as expressed in the US, as compared to "enUK" which refers to English as expressed in the United Kingdom. Here are some some common locale names:

• enUS - English in the US
• frFR - French in France
• ptBR - Portuguese in Brazil
• esMX - Spanish in Mexico
• zhCN - Chinese in China (simplified character set)
• zhTW - Chinese in Taiwan (traditional character set)
• deDE - German in Germany
• jaJP - Japanese in Japan

The following references may be useful:

• US Library of Congress listing of ISO639-2 language codes
• ISO listing of ISO-3166 country codes

See Also

• Language Support for a detailed discussion of language support in SHIP