LDAP attribute to encode the language of human users mother tongue?

Question

What would be the canonical attribute in an LDAP schema to encode the mother tongue (first language) of a user?

Interop with default/existing administration tools for Windows Active Directory would be a big plus.

Answer 1

RFC 2798 defines the preferredLanguage attribute. Here is its definition from OpenLDAP:

# preferredLanguage
# Used to indicate an individual's preferred written or spoken
# language.  This is useful for international correspondence or human-
# computer interaction.  Values for this attribute type MUST conform to
# the definition of the Accept-Language header field defined in
# [RFC2068] with one exception:  the sequence "Accept-Language" ":"
# should be omitted.  This is a single valued attribute type.
attributetype ( 2.16.840.1.113730.3.1.39
        NAME 'preferredLanguage'
        DESC 'RFC2798: preferred written or spoken language for a person'
        EQUALITY caseIgnoreMatch
        SUBSTR caseIgnoreSubstringsMatch
        SYNTAX 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.15
        SINGLE-VALUE )

Answer 2

The 'preferredLanguage' attribute of the inetOrgPerson (and AD's user) object class is what you are after.

As far as I know this field is not exposed by the default Windows admin tools. You would need a lower-level tool such as adsiedit.msc.

2.7. Preferred Language

Used to indicate an individual's preferred written or spoken
language. This is useful for international correspondence or human- computer interaction. Values for this attribute type MUST conform to the definition of the Accept-Language header field defined in [RFC2068] with one exception: the sequence "Accept-Language" ":" should be omitted. This is a single valued attribute type.

( 2.16.840.1.113730.3.1.39
  NAME 'preferredLanguage'
  DESC 'preferred written or spoken language for a person'
  EQUALITY caseIgnoreMatch
  SUBSTR caseIgnoreSubstringsMatch
  SYNTAX 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.15
  SINGLE-VALUE )
)