Change to IETF language codes?
The Internet Engineering Task Force has a specification for languages. Using this for comics and website translations would correct the lang
attribute on the web pages, which is currently non-compliant, probably causing accessibility issues.
The IETF language tags are formally published as RFCs by the IETF and are described in a human readable format by the W3C: Language Tags. They also have a guide on choosing a language tag.
The standard also provides private use fields, it's possibly to create something ad-hoc without breaking compatibility. (See Gallo below.)
Changes
These languages would be able to get an official code, which would not be possible with the current pseudo-ISO-639 scheme:
- Mexican Spanish:
mx
→es-MX
. Optionally we could then changees
→es-ES
- Low German, (#webcomics/20:
nds
- Lojban (constructed language):
jb
→jbo
- Kotava (constructed language):
kt
→avk
- Filipino:
ph
→fil
- Silezian:
sz
→szl
(ask translator for confirmation that this is right)
Change these too to make them compliant with the IETF language tag standard:
- Arabic:
ar
is a "macrolanguage" and hence discouraged. Ask translator which Arabic they use – probablyarb
(Standard Arabic)? - Chinese:
-
cn
→zh-Hans
(general Chinese using simplified Han script, which is a "macrolanguage" and hence discouraged) or -
cn
→cmn-Hans
(Chinese Mandarin using simplified Han script – ask translator for confirmation that this is right). - Pepper&Carrot is currently available only in the simplified script, but if someone wants to add traditional Han later, it's just a matter of adding
zh-Hant
/cmn-Hant
.
-
- Farsi:
fa
is a "macrolanguage" and hence discouraged. Ask translator whether they usepes
(Iranian Persian) orprs
(Dari, Afghan Persian) - Korean:
kr
→ko
- Norwegian:
no
is a "macrolanguage" and hence discouraged. Pepper&Carrot is in Bokmål, sono
→nb
These languages do not have a matching code:
- Gallo: we could file a request for inclusion with IANA. Until then we can use
go
→x-gallo