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How to fix: Language declaration (WCAG 3.1.1 A)

Why this matters

Screen readers switch pronunciation rules based on <html lang>. Without it, English text gets read with whatever the user's default language is — confusing and slower. WCAG 3.1.1 Level A: declare the primary language of the page.

Background

Screen readers use <html lang> to switch pronunciation rules. English text read by a French TTS engine is unintelligible. WCAG 3.1.1 Level A baseline.

References

WCAG 2.1 SC 3.1.1 Language of Page (A)

How to fix

Code snippet for each stack we cover. Pick the one matching your server / framework.

nginx

No server config — template change.

apache

Same.

cloudflare

Same.

wordpress

Edit theme header.php (or use the WP language settings). language_attributes() outputs the correct lang= automatically.

flask

<html lang="{{ config.LANG | default('en') }}"> in base template.

express

Pass lang to the template; render <html lang="...">.

rails

<html lang="<%= I18n.locale %>">.

Verify it's working

curl https://your-site/ | head -2 — should see <html lang="en"> (or your language code).

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