Text may be in a different language from its tag

Why does it matter?

WCAG 3.1.2 asks that a passage in another language is marked with its language, so screen readers switch voice. This text looks like another language, going by its letters or its common small words. It is an educated guess: names, quotations and mixed text can mislead it, so dismiss it if the tag is right.

Who it affects: Screen reader users, whose software chooses a voice and pronunciation from the language, and people using translation tools.

What does Lumtera flag?

Text that looks like another language, going by its letters or its common small words, with no matching lang attribute. A tip, and an educated guess: names, quotations and mixed text can mislead it.

Check ID lang-passage — use it to filter the content report or with wp lumtera issues --rule.

How do I fix it in WordPress?

Mark the passage with its language: in the block editor select the text, open the toolbar's More menu and choose Language (WordPress 6.5 and later), or add a lang attribute such as lang="fr" in the HTML. If the whole page is in that language, change the language of the page instead.

Example

<p>Bienvenue dans notre boutique en ligne.</p> <!-- on an English page -->

<p lang="fr">Bienvenue dans notre boutique en ligne.</p>

How do I check the fix?

1. Update the post. The issue disappears from the Lumtera Accessibility sidebar on the next check, and from the site report on the next scan.
2. Listen to the passage with a screen reader. It should be read with the correct language's pronunciation.