11-001 Natural language for text in page content cannot be determined.
The natural language of the page text cannot be determined.
- Checkpoint
- 11: Declared Natural Language
- ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA-1) clause
- 7.2-3
- Test type in the protocol
- Machine-testable
- Applies to
- A single object
- WCAG 2.x (AxisRemedy's informative mapping)
- 3.1.1 Language of Page (level A)
How to fix it
The catalog of the file has no usable Lang entry, so a screen reader does not know which language to pronounce the text in. A reader tuned for English will read German or Urdu as if it were English. Setting the language once for the whole document fixes it for every page that has no language of its own.
In Acrobat Pro
- Open File, then Properties, then the Advanced tab.
- Under Reading Options, choose the main language of the document in the Language list.
- Save the file.
In Word, before you export
Select all text, open Review, then Language, then Set Proofing Language, and choose the language of the document. Word writes it into the PDF when you export.
What to enter
- Use the main language of the document, not the language of your computer. A French report written on an English system is
fr. - The value is a language tag such as
en,en-US,deorur. A tag that is blank or not shaped like a tag fails this check. - If a few passages are in another language, give those passages their own language in the source document. This check looks only at the document-wide entry.
Source: W3C, Technique PDF16, Setting the default language using the Lang entry in the document catalog of a PDF document. Menu names differ a little between versions.
How AxisRemedy handles it
Tested by the app. AxisRemedy tests this condition itself. For each document it records passed, failed or not applicable, and for every failure the object and the page.
What the check covers
Checks only the catalog /Lang: present, not blank, shaped like a BCP 47 tag. Page content is not parsed, so a language set on individual elements is neither credited nor judged.
Repairs that target it
- Set the document language needs a value from you
Repairs are optional. The few that could change how a page looks, such as embedding a missing font, need your explicit consent.