The use of flag icons, particularly national flags, for languages is a common practice. Such icons have long been used on tourist attraction signage, and elsewhere in the tourism space, but have found wider use in website localization where UX limitations have become apparent.^[1][2]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. (April 2022)

Sometimes the flags of international linguistic communities, such as the flag of the International Organisation of La Francophonie or the flag of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries or the flag of the Commonwealth of Nations, may be used, but they are not as widely recognized as national flags.^[3] When more than one country is a major user of a language, a diagonally divided flag may be used. Examples of this are the flags of the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada to indicate the English language, or the flags of China and Taiwan (Republic of China) to represent the Chinese language (Mandarin), or the flags of France, Belgium, and Canada to represent the French language, or the flags of Spain and Mexico to represent the Spanish language, or the flags of Portugal and Brazil to represent the Portuguese language.^[4][5]

Where two written standards exist for a single language, national flags can be used to distinguish between them: for example, the Flag of Taiwan for Traditional Chinese and the Flag of the People's Republic of China for Simplified Chinese.^[6]

Some Euronet ATMs (automated teller machines) display the Irish flag as a symbol for the English language (usually UK flag or English flag). In the media, this was speculated to be a response to Brexit, with the Republic of Ireland as one of the only two Anglophone nations left in the European Union (another being Malta). Dr. Oetker have been observed doing the same.^[7] The Irish flag is more usually used to signify the Irish language.^[8]

The use of flag icons for languages has been criticized as poor design.^[9] The symbolism of a national flag introduces politicization, and often ambiguity.

Belying the nation-state concept, many languages are natively spoken in several countries, and many countries have several major languages. Alternatives include using the native names of languages or their language codes, possibly under a generic symbol of translation such as the Language Icon.

• This warning sign in a gambling place in Tenerife, Spain uses for the Spanish text, for the English text and for the German text.
• Sign in San Francisco, Córdoba, Argentina; unusually, the Spanish language is indicated by an Argentine flag, while below it is Italian and Piedmontese text with the flags of Italy and Flag of Piedmont.
• Sign in Guernsey using the Flag of Guernsey to symbolise Guernésiais.
• Sign in Ireland in 9 languages, with flags and country names for each.
• Sign in Ireland in 8 languages, including Romanian, Japanese and Simplified Chinese, with flags for each.
• Sign in Ireland in 8 languages.

• Language Icon