flag icons for languages
{{Short description|Using national flags as icons for languages}}File:Sign-125140, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland.jpg using flag icons to represent Irish, English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian and Polish]]The use of flag icons, particularly national flags, for languages is a common practice. Such icons have long been used on tourist attraction signage, and elsewhere in the tourism space, but have found wider use in website localization where UX limitations have become apparent.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FbEXG8ZnxPUC&dq=%22flag+to+represent+language%22&pg=PA535|title=Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One: STY PHP, MySQL Apache AIO_p5|first=Julie C.|last=Meloni|date=May 25, 2012|publisher=Sams Publishing|isbn=9780132603645|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7zxudnqdzMC&dq=%22flag+to+represent+a+language%22&pg=PA284|title=Annual Review of Information Science and Technology|first=Blaise|last=Cronin|date=March 23, 2004|publisher=Information Today, Inc.|isbn=9781573872096|via=Google Books}}
The usage remains widespread despite problems, such as being potentially insulting, since countries and languages don't have a one-to-one correspondence. The World Wide Web Consortium suggests not using such practice, and recommends using texts instead.{{cite web |last1=Měchura |first1=Michal |title=Flags as language symbols – so what is the problem? |url=https://www.lexiconista.com/flags-as-language-symbols/ |website=www.lexiconista.com |date=29 July 2009}}{{cite web |title=Internationalization Best Practices: Specifying Language in XHTML & HTML Content |url=https://www.w3.org/International/geo/html-tech/tech-lang.html#ri20040808.173208643 |website=www.w3.org |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium }}
Types of flags icons
= National flags =
National flags are the most commonly used flag icons for representing languages. They are generally chosen because they either represent the language's origin (e.g. the flag of Spain used over the flag of Mexico) or the highest number of native speakers (e.g. the flag of the United States over the Flag of England).
File:Bandera_de_España.svg|The flag of Spain is often used to represent Spanish, despite having fewer native speakers than Mexico
File:Flag_of_United_States.svg|The flag of United States is often used to represent English, despite not being its origin
= Mixed national flags =
A diagonally divided flag between two or more nation states are sometimes used when more than one country is a major user of a language. Examples of this are the flags of the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada to indicate the English language, the flags of China and Taiwan to represent Mandarin, the flags of France, Belgium, and Canada to represent the French language, the flags of Spain and Mexico to represent the Spanish language, and the flags of Portugal and Brazil to represent the Portuguese language.{{Cite book |last=Grainger |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169181730029X |title=On national flags and language tags: Effects of flag-language congruency in bilingual word recognition |date=July 20, 2017 |publisher=Acta Psychologica |via=Science Direct}}{{Cite book |last1=Guilherme |first1=Manuela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8yGDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Portuguese+flag%22+Language&pg=PT185 |title=Glocal Languages and Critical Intercultural Awareness: The South Answers Back |last2=Souza |first2=Lynn Mario T. Menezes de |date=February 6, 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351184632 |via=Google Books}}
File:English language.svg|A mixed national flag of the US and the UK, representing English
File:Flag of French language.svg|A mixed national flag of France, Canada and Belgium, representing French
File:Flag of Spanish language (ES-MX).svg|A mixed national flag of Spain and Mexico, representing Spanish
File:Flag of Portuguese language (PT-BR).svg|A mixed national flag of Portugal and Brazil, representing Portuguese
= Linguistic flags =
Some international linguistic communities have flags which encompass all the speakers of a language while avoiding the symbolism of national flags, though they are not as widely recognized.{{Cite web |last=Heritage |first=Canadian |date=August 15, 2017 |title=Flags of La Francophonie |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/flags-francophonie.html |website=www.canada.ca}}
File:Flag of La Francophonie.svg|The flag of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, representing French
File:Flag CPLP.svg|The flag of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, representing Portuguese
File:Flag of Esperanto.svg|The Verda Stelo flag, representing Esperanto
File:Yiddish kometz aleph flag.svg|The komets alef flag as used by Duolingo, representing Yiddish
Writing systems
National flags can also be used to distinguish between different written standards for a single language. For example, the Flag of Taiwan is often used for Traditional Chinese and the Flag of the People's Republic of China for Simplified Chinese.{{Cite book |last1=Graff |first1=Roy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A9OmDwAAQBAJ&q=+%22traditional+chinese%22&pg=PA48 |title=China, the Future of Travel |last2=Parulis-Cook |first2=Sienna |date=July 9, 2019 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=9780244800529 |via=Google Books}}
File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg|Flag of Taiwan, representing Traditional Chinese
File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg|Flag of China, representing Simplified Chinese
Political motivations
File:Trilingual sign in Ireland with Irish flag for English language.jpg using the Irish flag for both English and Irish]]
Some Euronet ATMs (automated teller machines) display the Irish flag as a symbol for the English language (usually UK flag or English flag). This was speculated to be a response to Brexit, with the Republic of Ireland as one of the only two remaining European Union member nations (along with Malta) with English among their official languages. The Irish flag is more commonly used to signify the Irish language.{{Cite web |last=McNally |first=Frank |title=English Stew – Frank McNally on a meeting of the anglophone world in Limerick |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/english-stew-frank-mcnally-on-a-meeting-of-the-anglophone-world-in-limerick-1.3931097 |website=The Irish Times}}
Gallery
File:Tenerife, sala de juegos, placa prohibitoria, 1.jpeg|Sign in Tenerife, Spain uses {{Flagicon image|Flag_of_Spain_(civil).svg|link=Spain}} for the Spanish text, {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} for the English text and {{flagicon|Germany}} for the German text.
File:Placard piemontèis a San Fransesch an Argentin-a.jpg|Sign in San Francisco, Córdoba, Argentina; unusually, the Spanish language is indicated by an Argentine flag, while below it is Italian and Piedmontese text with the flags of Italy and Flag of Piedmont.
File:Dgernesiais welcome sign St Peter Port Guernsey.jpg|Sign in Guernsey using the Flag of Guernsey to symbolise Guernésiais.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commonscat|Flags indicating languages}}