English speakers expect that a link to an English language/country option on a website will be listed in English, not translated into another language. Otherwise, how easily would an English speaker find a link to English content if the language name were written in Asian, Cyrillic, or Middle Eastern characters? Or how easy would it be if the language name (“English”) were translated into a language that caused it to be sorted alphabetically under the letters “a” or “i” instead of “e”?  The same is true for other languages and also true for language options in software and e-learning courses.

As explained in the translation tip about website language selectors, best practices require that language options be written in the local language and script. So, if a website is translated into various languages, it should also include the name of the language and/or country as written by the translator in the local language and script.

The easiest way to ensure your language/country options are listed appropriately is to ensure your translation service provider includes a translation of each language/country.  However, you can also find lists of language and country names as written in hundreds of local languages and scripts on the following websites:

• Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (Language Names & Country Names)*
• Omniglot (Language Names & Country Names)
• Geonames.de (Language Names & Country Names)

*The Unicode.org reference is the most reliable.

Here is a list of language and country names in the local language and script for the top 100 countries by GDP:

Language and Country Names for Top 100 Countries by GDP

Multiple languages are spoken in some countries, but only a few of the major languages are included in this chart. Check the links at the top for information about smaller language populations.