Library of Congress >> MARC >> Community Information >> 01X-08X >> 041

041 - Language Code (R)


MARC 21 Community Information - Full
October 2008

First Indicator
Translation indication
# - No information provided
0 - Not translation
1 - Translation

Second Indicator
Source of code
# - MARC language code
7 - Source specified in subfield $2


Subfield Codes
$a - Language code associated with community information entity (R)
$b - Language code of supertitle or subtitle (R)
$h - Language code of original (R)
$2 - Source of code (NR)
$6 - Linkage (NR)
$8 - Field link and sequence number (R)

FIELD DEFINITION AND SCOPE

Codes for languages associated with the community information entity when the language code in field 008/12-14 (Language) is insufficient for a multilingual entity. Codes from: MARC Code List for Languages or other code lists, such as ISO 639-1 (Codes for the representation of names of languages -- Part 1: alpha-2 code).

Used in conjunction with 008/12-14 (Language). The code in 008/12-14 is also recorded as the first code in subfield $a of field 041. If a non-MARC code is used to express the predominate language in an item, field 008/12-14 is coded with three fill characters (| | |).

Used when one or more of the following conditions exist:

In records for organizations or agencies (Leader/07, code o) and programs or services (Leader/07, code p), the language associated with the community information entity is the language spoken by the staff; for individuals (Leader/07, code n) and events (Leader/07, code q), the language is that spoken by the individual or by those participating in the event.

Languages may also be recorded in textual form in field 546 (Language Note).


GUIDELINES FOR APPLYING CONTENT DESIGNATORS

INDICATORS

First Indicator - Translation indication
Value that specifies whether the language is a translation.
# - No information provided
No information is provided as to whether the entity is or includes a translation.
041 ##$aeng$hger
[The entity includes text in English and German.]
0 - Not translation
Language of the community information entity is not a translation.
041 0#$aeng$aspa
546 ##$aFluent in English and Spanish.
1 - Translation
Language of the community information entity is a translation.
041 1#$aeng$hrus
[The opera was originally written in Russian and is being performed in English.]
Second Indicator - Source of code
Source of the language code used in the field.
# - MARC language code
Code from: MARC Code List for Languages.
041 1#$aeng$hger $hswe
7 - Source specified in subfield $2
Source of the language code is indicated by a code in subfield $2.
041 07$aen$afr $ait$2iso639-1

SUBFIELD CODES

$a - Language code associated with community information entity
Codes for languages associated with the community information entity. The first language code in subfield $a is also contained in field 008/12-14.
041 0#$aeng$afre $aspa
546 ##$aThe staff speaks English, French, and Spanish.
041 0#$aeng$aspa
546 ##$aIn English and Spanish.
$b - Language code of supertitle or subtitle
Codes for languages of supertitles or subtitles when the language of the supertitle or subtitle is other than that associated with the community information entity.
041 0#$aita$beng
110 2#$aNew York City Opera.
245 #0$aRigoletto.
546 ##$aEnglish language supertitles.
$h - Language code of original
Codes for languages of the original.
041 1#$aita$beng $hfre
245 #0$aDon Carlos.
546 ##$aIn Italian with English language supertitles.
[The opera was originally written in French and is being performed in Italian with the use of English supertitles.]
$2 - Source of code
Code that identifies the source of the language code scheme used in the field. Code from: Language Code and Term Source Codes. If a non-MARC code is used to express the predominate language in an item, field 008/12-14 is coded with three fill characters (| | |).
If more than one code scheme is used in a record, repeat the field.
041 0#$aeng$afre
041 07$aen$afr $2iso639-1
[Two language code schemes are used and field 041 is repeated]
$6 - Linkage
See the description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.
$8 - Field link and sequence number
See the description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.

INPUT CONVENTIONS

Capitalization - All language codes are recorded in lowercase alphabetic characters.
Spacing - No spaces separate multiple codes in subfield $a.
Order of codes - When there is more than one language associated with the community information entity, the codes for the languages involved are recorded in the order of their predominance; the other codes are recorded in English alphabetical order. If no language is predominant, the codes are recorded in English alphabetical order. For practical purposes, code (multiple languages) can be used if many languages are involved.
041 0#$aeng$achi $ager$arus$aspa
546 ##$aThe staff speaks English, Chinese, German, Russian, and Spanish.
[English is the predominant language.]
041 0#$aeng$afre $ager
546 ##$aThe staff speaks English, French, and German.
041 0#$aeng$amul
[The staff speaks English (the predominant language) and eight other languages.]
Punctuation - Field 041 does not end with a period.

CONTENT DESIGNATOR HISTORY

In 2001, the practice of placing multiple language codes in one subfield, e.g., $aengfreger, was made obsolete and subfields $a, $b, and $h were changed from Not-repeatable (NR) to Repeatable (R). The field was also changed from Not-repeatable (NR) to Repeatable (R) to accommodate for non-MARC language codes.

Indicator 1 - Translation indication

# - No information provided [NEW, 2008]
Indicator 2 - Source of code [NEW, 2001]
Prior to 2001, indicator 2 was undefined, but the field was specified to contain a MARC language code. Thus, value # prior to 2001 can be interpreted as the current # value: MARC language code.
$2 - Source of code [NEW, 2001]

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