FAIRsharing record for: ISO 639-2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages Part 2: Alpha-3 Code

This FAIRsharing record describes: ISO 639-2:1998 provides two sets of three-letter alphabetic codes for the representation of names of languages, one for terminology applications and the other for bibliographic applications. The code sets are the same except for twenty-five languages that have variant language codes because of the criteria used for formulating them. The language codes were devised originally for use by libraries, information services, and publishers to indicate language in the exchange of information, especially in computerized systems. ISO 639-2 represents all languages contained in ISO 639-1 and in addition any other language as well as language groups as they may be coded for special purposes when more specificity in coding is needed. The languages listed in ISO 639-1 are a subset of the languages listed in ISO 639-2; every language code in the two-letter code set has a corresponding language code in the alpha-3 list, but not necessarily vice versa.