3. Understandable
3.1 Readable (Level AA and AAA)
Contents
Success Criterion 3.1.2 Language of Parts
Level AA
The human language of each passage or phrase in the content can be programmatically determined, except for proper names, technical terms, words of indeterminate language, and words or phrases that have become part of the vernacular of the immediately surrounding text.
Language of Parts Explained
SC 3.1.1 requires you to specify the language of each page. Some pages, however, are written mostly in one language and contain words or phrases in a second language. In these cases, SC 3.1.2 requires you to specify the language of those words and phrases. For example:
- In an English-language novel, a character always speaks French:
“Where were you Tuesday evening?” he asked.
“Je ne comprends pas,” she responded.
- A web page includes links to translations of the same page:
This recipe is also available in français, Deutsch, and 中文.
By following SC 3.1.2, browsers display the appropriate alphabet for these passages, and screen readers pronounce them correctly.
Exceptions: There is no need to specify language changes for the following:
- Proper names such as Sophia Loren, Olof Palme, and Yma Sumac.
- Technical terms such as Homo sapien, Alpha Centauri, and habeas corpus.
- Words or phrases that have become part of another language, such as words that English has borrowed from French: rendezvous, RSVP, laissez-faire, and so on.
- Words or phrases where the language cannot be determined.
Similar to how language of a page is defined by adding the lang
attribute to the opening tag, the language of parts is defined by adding the
lang
attribute to the HTML element containing language that is not the primary language of the page. In the example below, the French language embedded in otherwise English text is defined as French by adding lang="fr"
to a tag enclosing the French text.
Defining language of parts by adding the lang
attribute to HTML elements containing language other than the language of the page, like the following:
<span lang="fr">Je ne comprends pas</span>
Key Point: Of the screen readers you have been introduced to so far, only JAWS supports language of parts. It will read French, for instance, with French pronunciation in an otherwise English web page. NVDA and ChromeVox will read French with English pronunciation.
Key Point: Though there is significant variation in support for accessibility standards across the common screen readers (and browsers), developers should still implement accessibility features as they are described in the standards (e.g., WCAG). Implementation in assistive technologies often occur when there is sufficient adoption of standards. For example, language of parts is more likely to be supported in assistive technologies if the HTML lang
attribute is being broadly used in web content where changes in language occur.
Suggested Reading:
Success Criterion 3.1.3 Unusual Words
Level AAA
A mechanism is available for identi