We need to tell the CMS what language is being used so it can display the content correctly - using the correct font and also setting the reading direction (for languages that read right-to-left).
ISO is the international standardised naming system that Drupal uses to classify languages. If a language is not listed on 639-1, check 639-2 and 639-3.
For information about preparing content for translation, see our Producing multilingual content – digital guide.
How to set the language code
- Find the code in the table below and open your content page in the CMS.
- On the right side of the screen you'll see a sidebar. Click on the Metatags heading to reveal more detail.
- In the advanced section, enter the code in the Content language field.
- Save your page.
Note that fonts that read right-to-left (such as Arabic) will display that way when the language code is set.
List of language codes and the fonts currently in use on SDP
Where the font column has 'NA' the language uses the same font as English.
Language | Code | Right-to left? | Font |
Acholi | ach | TBC | |
Albanian | sq | TBC | |
Amharic | am | Noto Sans Ethiopic | |
Arabic (RTL) | ar | Yes | Noto Kufi Arabic |
Assyrian | aii | Yes | Noto Sans Syriac Eastern (Syriac |
Bengali | bn | Noto Sans Bengali | |
Bosnian | bs | NA | |
Burmese | my | Noto Sans Myanmar | |
Chaldean | cld | Noto Naskh Arabic | |
Chin - Hakha Chin | cnh | NA | |
Chinese – simplified | zh-Hans | Noto sans | |
Chinese - traditional | zh-Hant | Noto sans | |
Cook Islands Maori - Kuki Airani | rar | NA | |
Croatian | hr | NA | |
Dari | prs | Yes | Noto Naskh Arabic |
Dinka | din | Arial | |
Falam | cfm | TBC | |
Farsi (Persian) | fa | Yes | Noto Naskh Arabic |
Fijian | fj | NA | |
Filipino | fil | NA | |
Filipino - Tagalog | tl | NA | |
French | af | NA | |
Greek | el | ||
Gujarati | gu | Noto Sans Gujarati | |
Hakka | hak | NA | |
Hazaragi | haz | Yes | Noto Naskh Arabic |
Hebrew | he | Yes | TBC |
Hindi | hi | Noto Sans Devanagari | |
Indonesian | id | NA | |
Italian | it | NA | |
Japanese | ja | Noto Sans | |
Karen | kar | ||
Khmer | km | Noto Sans Khmer | |
Korean | ko | Noto Sans | |
Macedonian | mk | Noto | |
Malay | ms | NA | |
Malayalam | ml | NA | |
Maltese | mt | NA | |
Nepali | ne | ||
Niuean - Vagahau Niue | niu | NA | |
Nuer | nus | Arial | |
Oromo | om | NA | |
Pashto | ps | Yes | Noto Naskh Arabic |
Polish | pl | NA | |
Portugese | pt | NA | |
Punjabi | pa | Noto Sans Gurmukhi | |
Rohingya | rhg | NA | |
Russian | ru | ||
Samoan | sm | NA | |
Serbian | sr | ||
Sinhalese | si | Noto Sans Sinhala | |
Somali | so | NA | |
Spanish | es | NA | |
Swahili | sw | NA | |
Tamil | ta | Noto Sans Tamil | |
Thai | th | Noto Sans Thai | |
Tigrinya | ti | Noto Sans Ethiopic | |
Tongan | to | NA | |
Turkish | tur | NA | |
Urdu | ur | Yes | Noto Naskh Arabic |
Vietnamese | vi | ||
Zomi | ctd | NA |
Reviewed 07 November 2022