What are collective language and macrolanguage codes?
Collective language codes are language groups that are used if the criteria for assigning a separate language code are not met. The words “languages” or “(Other)” indicates that a language code is a collective one. ISO 639-1 does not use collective codes, but ISO 639-2 does. References from separate language names to the collective code used for that language are not included in the ISO 639-2 standard, but may be found in the MARC Code List for Languages. Some language identifiers in ISO 639-1 and 639-2 may be considered “macrolanguages”. These are designated as individual language identifiers that correspond in a one-to-many manner with individual language identifiers in ISO 639-3. For instance, ISO 639-3 contains over 30 identifiers designated as individual language identifiers for distinct varieties of Arabic, while ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2 each contain only one identifier for Arabic, “ar” and “ara” respectively, which are designated as individual language identifiers in those parts
Collective language codes are language groups that are used if the criteria for assigning a separate language code are not met. The words “languages” after the language group name indicates that a language code is a collective one. ISO 639-1 does not use collective codes, but ISO 639-2 does. References from separate language names to the collective code used for that language are not included in the ISO 639-2 standard, but may be found in the MARC Code List for Languages. Some language identifiers in ISO 639-1 and 639-2 may be considered “macrolanguages”. These are designated as individual language identifiers that correspond in a one-to-many manner with individual language identifiers in ISO 639-3. For instance, ISO 639-3 contains over 30 identifiers designated as individual language identifiers for distinct varieties of Arabic, while ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2 each contain only one identifier for Arabic, “ar” and “ara” respectively, which are designated as individual language identifier
