The change in language for a portion of content is not coded.

Rule ID:

lang-change-not-marked

User Impact:

Serious

WCAG :

3.1.2.a

Background

Most screen readers can read several different languages. When content is written in more than one language, a screen reader does not know to switch languages unless the markup tells it to. Content read with the wrong language pronunciation may be very difficult or impossible to understand. When the change in language of a particular portion of content is correctly identified, screen readers will know which language library to use.

How To Fix

Fix this issue by applying the lang attribute and correct lang value to a container containing the content that has a different language than the primary language of the page.

The lang attribute can be applied to block level elements (<div>, <h1>, <p>, <table>, etc.) as well as inline elements (<span>, <a>, <strong>, etc.).