Are Programming Languages Always Based on English?

Localized programming languages have existed, including localized versions of common tools, but they tend to remain niche. They can create compatibility and documentation problems, and programmers familiar with them may have difficulty working with code or resources from other countries. Even spelling differences can matter in programming—for example, HTML uses the American spelling color rather than the British colour.

Not at all. There are programming languages with keywords based on languages other than English, as well as languages that use very little text. Portuguese-based Portugol, for example, is sometimes used for teaching beginners in Brazil, although it is not widely used professionally.

English became common because much of the programming ecosystem, documentation, and international software industry developed around it. Still, learning keywords usually isn’t a major language barrier. Non-native speakers can use translated courses and manuals while learning the relatively small set of English terms used by the language itself.

Some languages avoid English-style keywords almost completely. APL uses specialized symbols to represent complex operations, and other experimental languages use whitespace, graphical elements, or even emojis. Assembly is also closer to a textual representation of a processor’s numeric instructions than to a normal high-level language.