Description

The lang attribute is used to identify the language of the content on a web page (by applying it to the html element) or within a given section on a web page (applying to a div, span, a or any other element where there may be a change of language). By changing the language at a lower level in the document tree, it overrides the language code set higher up, but only for the duration of the nested element to which the changed language code is applied.

The intention of the lang attribute is to allow browsers (and other user agents) to adjust display accordingly, for example if using the q element, a browser should be able to identify the language in use and present the appropriate style of quotation marks accordingly. In practice, though, because of poor support for the q element, few developers use it and instead hard-code quotation marks. It is something of a Catch-22 situation.

The lang attribute is useful for users with assistive technology such as screen readers that can adjust pronunciation depending on the language in use. For example the word penchant, meaning ‘a habitual liking for something’ is French in origin. When the screen reader JAWS encounters the word, it pronounces it similar to ‘penchunt’ but when it is marked up as <span lang=”fr”>penchant</span>, it reads it properly using the French pronunciation ‘pon-shont’.

It may also be possible that marking up documents or sections of a document in this way may benefit search engines when displaying results to users who have filtered their search based on language preferences. However, how search engines actually deal with content marked up in this way is a secret they tend to keep to themselves. As such, the search engine friendliness aspect should be considered little more than a lucky bonus.