7.2.1. Order of language versions and ISO codes (multilingual texts)
The language versions should appear in the Roman alphabetical order of the formal titles in their original written forms.
General rule
The language versions should appear in the Roman alphabetical order of the formal titles in their original written forms (the codes used are the ISO codes 639-1 in force, alpha-2 code).
This order is required, for example, for the title of a publication on a multilingual cover page, the sequence of languages in a multilingual publication, the home page and choice of languages on a multilingual website, etc.
The order of language versions must not be confused with the order for listing languages (see Section 7.2.2).
| Source language title(1) | English title | ISO code(2) |
|---|---|---|
| български(3) | Bulgarian | bg |
| español(4) | Spanish | es |
| čeština | Czech | cs |
| dansk | Danish | da |
| Deutsch | German | de |
| eesti keel | Estonian | et |
| ελληνικά(5) | Greek | el |
| English | English | en |
| français | French | fr |
| Gaeilge | Irish(6) | ga |
| hrvatski | Croatian | hr |
| italiano | Italian | it |
| latviešu valoda | Latvian | lv |
| lietuvių kalba | Lithuanian | lt |
| magyar | Hungarian | hu |
| Malti | Maltese | mt |
| Nederlands | Dutch | nl |
| polski | Polish | pl |
| português | Portuguese | pt |
| română | Romanian | ro |
| slovenčina (slovenský jazyk) | Slovak | sk |
| slovenščina (slovenski jezik) | Slovenian | sl |
| suomi | Finnish | fi |
| svenska | Swedish | sv |
Capital or lower-case initial letter: follow the written form in the source language title.
ISO codes for languages are written in lower-case letters; nevertheless, they are also written in capital letters for typographical presentation reasons.
Latin transliteration: български = bulgarski.
In Spanish, the term lengua española or español substitutes castellano at the request of the Spanish authorities. The latter is the official designation of the language, but is only used to determine the place.
Latin transliteration: ελληνικά = elliniká.
Do not use the word ‘Gaelic’, the two terms are not synonymous. See Section 7.2.4.
This rule is strictly in force in the final versions (signature pages) of the treaties and agreements.
Special cases
In the case of multilingual documents issued at national level pursuant to texts adopted by the Council (passport, European health card), the order is generally determined individually by a Council act. The most widespread languages in the respective Member States appear at the beginning, usually in this way:
- national language;
- English;
- French;
- other languages in the order indicated in the table above.