The use of flag icons, particularly

national flags A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...

, for

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

s is a common practice. Such icons have long been used on

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...

signage, and elsewhere in the

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

space, but have found wider use in

website localization Website localization is the process of adapting an existing website to local language and culture in the target market. It is the process of adapting a website into a different linguistic and cultural context— involving much more than the simple ...

where UX limitations have become apparent.

Mixed flags

Sometimes the flags of international language communities, such as the

Flag of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries The flag of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (or ''flag of the CPLP''), also known as the Flag of the Lusophony, represents the intergovernmental organization for friendship among Lusophone (Geographic distribution of Portuguese, Por ...

or the flag of the

Organisation internationale de la Francophonie The (OIF; sometimes shortened to the Francophonie, french: La Francophonie , but also called International Organisation of in English-language context) is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a ...

can be used, but they are not as widely recognised as national flags. Where more than one country is a major user of a language, a flag divided diagonally may be used, such as the flags of Brazil and Portugal to indicate the

Portuguese language Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and ...

; Brazilians may be offended by the use of their former colonial master's flag to symbolise the Portuguese language, as there are far more speakers of it in Brazil (over 200 million) than in Portugal (10 million).

Writing systems

Where two written standards exist for a single language, national flags can be used to distinguish between them: for example, the Flag of Taiwan for

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

and the

Flag of the People's Republic of China The National Flag of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Five-star Red Flag, is a Chinese red field with five golden stars charged at the canton. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in an arc set off to ...

for

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

Political motivations

Trilingual sign in Ireland with Irish flag for English language

Some Euronet ATMs (

automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fun ...

s) display the

Irish flag The national flag of Ireland ( ga, bratach na hÉireann), frequently referred to in Ireland as 'the tricolour' () and elsewhere as the Irish tricolour is a vertical tricolour of green (at the hoist), white and orange. The proportions of the ...

as a symbol for the English language (usually

UK flag The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag. The design of the Union Jack dates back to the Act of Union 1801 which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in per ...

English flag The flag of England is the national flag of England, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is derived from Saint George's Cross (heraldic blazon: ''Argent, a cross gules''). The association of the red cross as an emblem of England ...

). In the media, this was speculated to be a response to

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

, with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

as one of the only two

Anglophone Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...

nations left in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(another being

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Dr. Oetker Dr. Oetker () is a German multinational company that produces baking powder, cake mixes, frozen pizza, pudding, cake decoration, cornflakes, party candles, and various other products. The company is a wholly owned branch of the Oetker Group, ...

have been observed doing the same. The Irish flag is more usually used to signify the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

Criticism

The use of flag icons for languages has been criticized as poor design. The symbolism of a

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...

introduces politicization, and often ambiguity. Belying the

nation-state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...

concept, many languages are natively spoken in several countries, and many countries have several major languages. Alternatives include using the native names of languages or their

language code A language code is a code that assigns letters or numbers as identifiers or classifiers for languages. These codes may be used to organize library collections or presentations of data, to choose the correct localizations and translations in comput ...

s, possibly under a generic symbol of translation such as the Language Icon.

Gallery

File:Tenerife, sala de juegos, placa prohibitoria, 1.jpeg, This warning sign in a gambling place in Tenerife, Spain uses for the Spanish text, for the English text and for the German text. File:Placard piemontèis a San Fransesch an Argentin-a.jpg, Sign in

San Francisco, Córdoba San Francisco is a city located at the far east border of the province of Córdoba, Argentina, and parts of the city are beyond the border into the province of Santa Fe. In the city National Routes 19 and 158 intersect. It is the fourth most po ...

, Argentina; unusually, the Spanish language is indicated by an Argentine flag, while below it is Italian and

Piedmontese Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...

text with the flags of Italy and

Flag of Piedmont The flag of Piedmont is one of the official symbols of the region of Piedmont in Italy. The current flag was adopted on 24 November 1995. History The flag of Piedmont is essentially the arms of the Prince of Piedmont, the title for the eldes ...

. File:Dgernesiais welcome sign St Peter Port Guernsey.jpg, Sign in

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

using the

Flag of Guernsey The flag of Guernsey was adopted in 1985 and consists of the red Saint George's Cross with an additional gold Norman cross within it. The creation was prompted by confusion at international sporting events over competitors from Guernsey and Eng ...

to symbolise

Guernésiais Guernésiais, also known as ''Dgèrnésiais'', Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island simply as "patois". As one of the langues d'oïl, it has it ...

. File:Multilingual sign, Ireland.jpg, Sign in Ireland in 9 languages, with flags and country names for each. File:Multilingual sign in Dublin.jpg, Sign in Ireland in 8 languages, including Romanian, Japanese and Simplified Chinese, with flags for each. File:Sign-125140, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland.jpg, Sign in Ireland in 8 languages.

References

External links

{{commonscat, Flags indicating languages
Flags are not languages
(blog) Computer icons Internationalization and localization Language identifiers Pictograms Representations of flags