See the below exchange in answer to a question about specifying language in a particular area. Since ISO 3166 may be combined with a 639-2 identifier and 3166 only specifies countries or country subdivisions, what can we do about regions above the level of country? I guess not much but specify all within the region. Does anyone know of any ISO work going on to remedy this problem? Rebecca ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 15:53:35 -0500 (EST) From: Rebecca S. Guenther <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Cc: "Green, Cameron" <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Language and Country Codes I agree, this is indeed a problem. ISO 3166 now is issued in several parts, but none of them deal with anything higher than the country level. They developed a part 2 which includes subdivisions of countries, but of course that is lower level. I suppose at this time you could only give multiple codes for all those within the area, which isn't really adequate. I will send a note to the ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee to see if there are any other solutions that someone might recommend. Rebecca ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ Rebecca S. Guenther ^^ ^^ Chair, ISO 639-2 Maintenance Agency ^^ ^^ Senior Networking and Standards Specialist ^^ ^^ Library of Congress ^^ ^^ Washington, DC 20540-4402 ^^ ^^ (202) 707-5092 (voice) (202) 707-0115 (FAX) ^^ ^^ [log in to unmask] ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 [log in to unmask] wrote: > Rebecca (Library of Congress), if I use the ISO 939.2 & ISO 3166 codes and > I want to code the Tri-Lang. example below, the attribute I put together is > as close as I can get. It appears that we must pick a country. Terms like > Americas, Latin American really don't work with these codes. I don't > believe there is ISO codes for terms like Latin American is there? > > Example: 3 language. Americas (English) - French Canadian - Spanish (Latin > American) > > Attribute: eng-us, fre-ca, spa-mx (English-United States, French-Canada, > Spanish-Mexico) > > ISO 639.2 Language Codes > http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/englangn.html > > ISO 3166 Country Codes > http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/diverse/doc/ISO_3166.html > > Daniel J. Bauer (Dan) > Consumer and Office Business Information Manager > 3M Company > 223-5N-10 > Tel: 651-736-4745 > [log in to unmask] > > > ----- Forwarded by Dan J. Bauer/US-Corporate/3M/US on 11/28/2005 02:01 PM > ----- > > "Rebecca S. > Guenther" > <[log in to unmask]> To > [log in to unmask] > 11/26/2005 05:31 cc > PM > Subject > Re: Language Code > > > > > > > > > > > The standard specifies that you can combine an ISO 3166 country code with > a language code. This indicates the variant of a particular language in a > particular country. See ISO 639-2 in section 4.4 > http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/normtext.html > > So, for instance, English as in the UK: eng-GB > We recommend the hyphen as separator between the two as per the Internet > RFC 3066: > http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3066.txt > > See also the Frequently Asked Questions: > http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/faq.html > > Please let me know if you have further questions. > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > ^^ Rebecca S. Guenther ^^ > ^^ Chair, ISO 639-2 Maintenance Agency ^^ > ^^ Senior Networking and Standards Specialist ^^ > ^^ Library of Congress ^^ > ^^ Washington, DC 20540-4402 ^^ > ^^ (202) 707-5092 (voice) (202) 707-0115 (FAX) ^^ > ^^ [log in to unmask] ^^ > ^^ ^^ > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > > On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 [log in to unmask] wrote: > > > Library of Congress, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, below > > is a link to the ISO 639.2 Codes for the Representation of Name of > > Languages. I have also attached all the combinations of packaging > languages > > 3M uses for our packaging labels and packages. As you can see there is > > not a direct correlation to the languages 3M uses on packaging to the > codes > > on the ISO 639.2 codes. Example, ISO 639.2 has no code for French > > Canadian, no code for Australia English and so on. Retailers will soon > > require language codes as a core attribute for data synch. How will the > > ISO 639.2 codes address the data synch needs of the Global Registry GS1 > and > > 1SYNC? I assume retailers like Staples, WalMart, Home Depot and other > will > > want to know if the French is for France or Canada, Spanish for Mexico > or > > Spain. > > http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/iso639jac.html > > > > 3M Companies types of packaging language combinations: > > English Only (USA) > > 2 lang. (English - Spanish (Latin American)) > > 2 lang. N.Americas (English - French Canadian) > > 3 lang. Americas (English - French Canadian - Spanish (Latin American)) > > 4 lang. Americas (English - French Canadian - Spanish & Portuguese (Latin > > American)) > > 12 Europe Lang.- Danish (Denmark)-Dutch (Netherlands)-English (Great > > Britain)-Finnish (Finland)-French (France & Switzerland)-German (Germany > - > > Switzerland - Austria)-Greek (Greece)-Italian (Italy & > > Switzerland)-Portuguese (Portugal)-Norwegian (Norway)-Spanish > > (Spain)-Swedish (Sweden) > > French Canadian (Canada) > > Spanish (Latin American) > > Portuguese (Latin American) > > English (New Zealand) > > English (Australia) > > Danish (Denmark) > > Dutch (Netherlands) > > English (Great Britain) > > Finnish (Finland) > > French (France & Switzerland) > > German (Germany - Switzerland - Austria) > > Greek (Greece) > > Italian (Italy & Switzerland) > > Portuguese (Portugal) > > Norwegian (Norway) > > Spanish (Spain) > > Swedish (Sweden) > > Estonia > > Lithuania > > Latvia > > Chinese (Simplified) > > Chinese (Traditional) > > Japanese > > Korean > > > > > > > > >