Which of the ISO 639 standards does Calibre use?

glenm · 02-12-2022, 05:27 AM

The calibredb help page says the Calibre uses ISO 639 for language code and then gives the examples of en for English, fr for French.

The metadata database contains 3 character strings, eng for English for example, for the languages which implies Calibre is using ISO 639-2

Does Calibre use ISO 639-2?

or have I done something wrong again.

DNSB · 02-12-2022, 03:10 PM

Last time I looked, I think calibre was using ISO 639-3.

davidfor · 02-12-2022, 10:20 PM

It also depends on where you are looking. In the database it is using the three character strings. But, when the language is put into the OPF of an ePub, the format needed there is used. For English, that will be "en" as calibre does not distinguish between the likes of "en-UK" and "en-US".

And in case you haven't guessed, I don't know what standard is being used. My language needs are usually simple. If I need to know something else, I always look it up at the time.

But the question that comes to mind is: What are you doing that it is important?

ownedbycats · 02-12-2022, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

But the question that comes to mind is: What are you doing that it is important?

If it wasn't for the last line, I would have suspected it was merely asked out of curiosity

kovidgoyal · 02-12-2022, 11:27 PM

ISO 639-3 and ISO 639-2 each is used where appropriate.

glenm · 02-13-2022, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

But the question that comes to mind is: What are you doing that it is important?

Nothing important.

I'm trying to work out a way I can automate setting the metadata in an ebook file from the Calibre using a program to generate ebook-meta commands.

glenm · 02-13-2022, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

If it wasn't for the last line, I would have suspected it was merely asked out of curiosity

Well it is curiosity, but last time I randomly deleted books files from the library

glenm · 02-13-2022, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

ISO 639-3 and ISO 639-2 each is used where appropriate.

From a quick investigation is ISO 639-3 used in the metadata languages table (as this is where my interest lies)?

kovidgoyal · 02-13-2022, 09:54 AM

iso-639-3 is always used internally.

glenm · 02-14-2022, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

iso-639-3 is always used internally.

02-12-2022, 05:27 AM	#1
glenm Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Adelaide Australia Device: Windows	Which of the ISO 639 standards does Calibre use? The calibredb help page says the Calibre uses ISO 639 for language code and then gives the examples of en for English, fr for French. The metadata database contains 3 character strings, eng for English for example, for the languages which implies Calibre is using ISO 639-2 Does Calibre use ISO 639-2? or have I done something wrong again.

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02-12-2022, 03:10 PM	#2
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 46,181 Karma: 168983734 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	Last time I looked, I think calibre was using ISO 639-3.

02-12-2022, 10:20 PM	#3
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	It also depends on where you are looking. In the database it is using the three character strings. But, when the language is put into the OPF of an ePub, the format needed there is used. For English, that will be "en" as calibre does not distinguish between the likes of "en-UK" and "en-US". And in case you haven't guessed, I don't know what standard is being used. My language needs are usually simple. If I need to know something else, I always look it up at the time. But the question that comes to mind is: What are you doing that it is important?

02-12-2022, 11:27 PM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	ISO 639-3 and ISO 639-2 each is used where appropriate.

02-13-2022, 09:54 AM	#9
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	iso-639-3 is always used internally.

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