National flags National flags are the most commonly used flag icons for representing languages. They are generally chosen because they either represent the language's origin (e.g. the
flag of Spain used over the
flag of Mexico) or the highest number of
native speakers (e.g. the
flag of the United States over the
Flag of England or
United Kingdom). File:Bandera_de_España.svg|The
flag of Spain is often used to represent
Spanish, despite having fewer native speakers than
Mexico File:Flag_of_United_States.svg|The
flag of United States is often used to represent
English, despite not being its origin (i.e. the
United Kingdom)
Mixed national flags A diagonally divided flag between two or more
nation states is sometimes used when more than one country is a major user of a language. Examples of this are the flags of the
United Kingdom and the
United States to indicate the
English language; the flags of
China and
Taiwan to represent
Mandarin; the flags of
France,
Belgium, and
Canada to represent the
French language; the flags of
Spain and
Mexico to represent the
Spanish language; the flags of
Portugal and
Brazil to represent the
Portuguese language; and the flags of
Germany,
Austria, and
Switzerland to represent the
German language. File:English language.svg|A mixed national flag of the
US and the
UK, representing
English File:Flag of French language.svg|A mixed national flag of
France,
Canada and
Belgium, representing
French File:Flag of Spanish language (ES-MX).svg|A mixed national flag of
Spain and
Mexico, representing
Spanish File:Flag of Portuguese language (PT-BR).svg|A mixed national flag of
Portugal and
Brazil, representing
Portuguese File:German-Language-Flag.svg|A mixed national flag of
Germany,
Austria and
Switzerland, representing
German File:Flag of Dutch language.svg|A mixed national flag of the
Netherlands, the
Belgian region of
Flanders and
Suriname, representing
Dutch File:Flag of Chinese language.png|A mixed national flag of
China,
Taiwan,
Hong Kong,
Macau and
Singapore, representing
Chinese Linguistic flags Some international linguistic communities, particularly those of
international auxiliary languages, have flags which encompass all the speakers of a language while avoiding the symbolism of national flags, though they are not as widely recognized. File:Flag of the Arab League.svg|The
flag of the
Arab League, representing
Arabic File:Flag of Esperanto.svg|The
Verda Stelo flag, representing
Esperanto File:Flag of La Francophonie.svg|The flag of the
International Organisation of La Francophonie, representing
French File:Flag of the Hispanic peoples.svg|The
flag of the Hispanic people, representing
Spanish File:Flag of Ido (new).svg|The flag of
Ido File:Flag of Interslavic.svg|The flag of
Interslavic File:Flag of Novial.svg|The flag of
Novial File:Flag CPLP.svg|The flag of the
Community of Portuguese Language Countries, representing
Portuguese File:Yiddish kometz aleph flag.svg|The komets alef flag as used by
Duolingo, representing
Yiddish == Writing systems ==