Help talk:Monolingual text languages

Wikimedia language codes?

Monolingual text is moving away from Wikimedia language codes to BCP 47 language codes. Right now, we already don't support all Wikimedia language codes. Also, except for those in phab:T125073, all language codes should be BCP 47 language codes. Moreover, some language codes already available are not Wikimedia language codes (the special ISO 639-2 codes) and more will come soon. So, the current set of language codes is neither a subset of Wikimedia language codes nor BCP 47 language codes, but it's closer to BCP 47 and it will move there even more. Adrian Heine (WMDE) (talk) 10:31, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Other than Wikimedia language codes that are deprecated or deleted, could there be Wikimedia language codes that are not supported by monolingual text?

If they are different, we might want to create a new Wikidata property to display them. Maybe we should find a separate name for these codes.

BTW, I did notice that Incubator has language codes that are not currently available at Wikidata for monolingual text (e.g. "osx"). Where should they go? --- Jura 10:39, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Depends on your definition of ›deprecated‹; zh-min-nan is still in use, but not available for monolingual text anymore.

I think the correct term would be ›BCP 47 language tag«.

Incubator language codes should nearly always qualify for monolingual text. Adrian Heine (WMDE) (talk) 14:37, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

• I could still use "zh-min-nan", both in label and monolingual text [1]. I did map most language version requests at Meta to Wikidata items. It would probably be good to do the same with all incubator codes.
  --- Jura 11:55, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

If they were meant to be different, we could have language codes in labels and descriptions that refer to another language than the language codes in monolingual text strings of the same item.
--- Jura 11:15, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Usually there shouldn't be a collision between BCP 47 language tags and Wikimedia language codes. ›als‹ is the only instance I know of. Also, I'm planning to move away from Wikimedia language codes for terms as well. Adrian Heine (WMDE) (talk) 14:37, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

• I guess we could still have the same language specified differently in one item. --- Jura 11:55, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

• I think it would be helpful if the language codes currently in use at Wikimedia sites and the corresponding Wikidata items would be available either on a Special page or as statements directly on items. If statements are used, the current property could easily be used for that. Qualifiers could specify how they are used. Is there a list somewhere which details the various uses?
  --- Jura 11:55, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

BCP 47

Hoi, what makes you say that BCP47 will be considered a priority? ISO 639-3 is still very much what determines if a language is possible. The Language committee enables these codes with the exception of macro languages, they are not allowed. Thanks, GerardM (talk) 12:54, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

How do I find the language I want

I wanted to add an inscription that has no specific language to Q29111144. So per help, it would seem I should type "zxx" or "not applicable". But I cant find it. More generally, I am only offered a list smallish choice in the drop-down menu. Many languages appear to be missing ? --Zolo (talk) 18:54, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

Text that in its entirety is valid in more than one language

What to do with text like an inscription "F. Marshall"? It isn't in any specific language nor in a combination of some. So mul doesn't seem to fit. zxx (no linguistic content) isn't completely accurate either. The stats of mul vs. those of zxx indicate that mul is much more popular for cases like this even though it fits even less in my eyes. What to do? Thanks in advance for any help! --Marsupium (talk) 22:25, 2 May 2019 (UTC)

Discussion at Wikidata:Project chat#Structuring mandatory language qualifiers

You are invited to join the discussion at Wikidata:Project chat#Structuring mandatory language qualifiers. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 03:08, 21 March 2021 (UTC)