HTML Language Code Reference

Use the lang attribute to tell the browser what language your text is in. It helps screen readers, search engines, and spell checkers.

html
<html lang="en">
<p lang="fr">Bonjour tout le monde!</p>

The most common language codes

Country codes vs language codes

• The lang attribute uses LANGUAGE codes (en, fr).
• The hreflang attribute (on links) tells the language of the linked page.
• Country codes like US, GB, FR are for regions. You can combine them: en-US = English as spoken in the USA, en-GB = British English.

html
<html lang="en-US">
<html lang="en-GB">

Why it matters

• Screen readers pronounce text correctly.
• Search engines find content in the right language.
• Browsers offer to translate the page.
• Spell checkers use the right dictionary.

Script direction

Some languages read right-to-left. Set the direction too:

html
<html lang="ar" dir="rtl">

• dir="rtl" = right-to-left (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian).
• dir="ltr" = left-to-right (default, English and most languages).

TL;DR

• Use lang on <html> (and on text in another language).
• en, es, fr, de are the most common codes.
• Combine language + country: en-US, pt-BR.
• Add dir="rtl" for right-to-left languages.
• It helps screen readers, search, and translation!