- Success Criterion 3.1.2
- Conformance level AA
No Way to Programmatically Tell Which Language a Passage Uses
3.1.2 — Language of Parts
Scenario
Setting
A bank's mobile money-transfer screen
What’s wrong
No numbered W3C failure technique exists for this rule — it fails simply when the required feature/behavior is missing or inadequate (see the scenarios below).
Example
On a bank's mobile money-transfer screen: no numbered W3C failure technique exists for this rule — it fails simply when the required feature/behavior is missing or inadequate (see the scenarios below).
Why it matters
Screen-reader users hearing mixed-language content with the wrong voice rules. On a bank's mobile money-transfer screen, that means they get garbled or unintelligible screen-reader output.
How to test
Inspect any passage in a different language from the page: check whether its containing element has its own correct lang attribute — if not, it fails.
How to fix
The passage in another language must carry its own correct lang attribute.
Outcome
With the fix in place on a bank's mobile money-transfer screen, they get accurate screen-reader output.
Who is affected
Screen-reader users hearing mixed-language content with the wrong voice rules.
Learn more
- Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
Related scenarios
- Foreign-Language Quote or Phrase With No Language Attribute
- Language Switcher Link With No Language Tag of Its Own
- Mixed-Language Legal or Product Text Left Entirely Unmarked
- Language Attribute Copy-Pasted Onto the Wrong Piece of Text
- Bilingual Layout Where One Column’s Language Goes Unmarked
- User-Generated Content in Another Language Never Tagged