Table 6 in DDC: How to Classify Languages & Translations

Every library faces a quiet but constant challenge. A single subject can arrive in dozens of languages. A philosophy text might come in English, Hindi, Tamil, and French. A copy of the Bible might sit on the shelf in twenty different tongues. The subject is the same, but the language is not. So how does a classifier capture that difference in a call number? In the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), the answer is Table 6: Languages. This auxiliary table gives every language its own notation, letting you tag the language of a work without losing sight of its subject.

The purpose of Table 6 in DDC
How Table 6 notation works
Using Table 6 with religious texts
Classifying Bible translations step by step
Social studies and language groups
Why Table 5 mirrors Table 6
Special cases: encyclopedias and periodicals
When form leads
When language still matters
Bringing the pieces together

The purpose of Table 6 in DDC

Table 6 is one of the six auxiliary tables in the full edition of the DDC. These tables are not standalone schedules. They hold recurring concepts that show up again and again across subjects, so instead of repeating those concepts everywhere, Dewey places them in tables you can borrow from when instructed. The notation from these six tables represents forms, geographic areas, languages, ethnic groups, and similar facets across the whole classification.

Table 6 specifically provides notation for languages. It covers both broad language families and almost every individual language. As one detailed handbook explains, Table 6 supplies notation for groups of languages such as Indo-European, Hellenic, and Bantu languages, as well as for individual languages like Spanish, Sanskrit, Māori, and Zulu. So whether you need Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, or a wider family like Dravidian, Table 6 has a notation for it.

How Table 6 notation works

There are two rules you must remember. First, numbers from Table 6 are never used alone. They are always added to a base number from the schedules. In the table itself each entry is shown with a leading dash, like -9143 for Hindi, to remind you it cannot stand by itself. When you attach it to a base number, you drop the dash.

Second, you may only use Table 6 when the schedules tell you to. Unlike Table 1 (Standard Subdivisions), which can be added freely in most cases, Table 6 notation is added only on instruction. Somewhere in the schedules you will find a note saying something like “add Languages notation from Table 6.” That note is your invitation. Without it, you do not bring in Table 6.

This combination is what makes the DDC a synthetic classification. Rather than printing a separate number for “philosophy in Tamil,” “philosophy in Bengali,” and so on, the system lets you build the number yourself by joining a subject base with a language notation.

Using Table 6 with religious texts

Religious scriptures are where Table 6 truly shows its value. Sacred texts get translated more than almost any other writing, so a single religious collection can hold the same scripture in many languages. The classifier needs a way to keep all those versions together by subject while still separating them by language.

The Bible is the clearest example. It is the most translated book in the world, with at least portions available in over 4,000 languages. A library that collects several language editions needs each one classified so readers can find the version they want.

Classifying Bible translations step by step

In the DDC, modern versions and translations of the Bible are handled at 220.5. The schedule entry for 220.53-220.59 carries an instruction: add Languages notation 3-9 from Table 6 to the base number 220.5. This is the official invitation to bring in Table 6.

Look at how the eGyankosh study material from IGNOU works through these examples. For a Bible in Hindi, you take the base number 220.5 and add the Table 6 notation for Hindi (-9143), giving the class number 220.59143. For a Bible in French, you add the Table 6 notation for French (-41) to 220.5, producing 220.541. For a Bible in Sinhalese, you add the notation for Sinhalese to 220.5.

Notice the pattern. The subject portion, 220.5 (modern Bible versions), stays fixed. Only the language notation changes. That is exactly what a good classification should do: shelve every translation of the same scripture near its siblings, then sort them neatly by language.

The principle reaches beyond Christianity. Translated religious literature in other traditions follows the same logic when the schedule invites it. For instance, in classifying translations of Talmudic literature, the base number 296.1205 takes a Table 6 language notation, so an English translation becomes 296.120521. The structure repeats: subject base plus language notation, added only where the schedule says so.

It is worth flagging a common error. Some online guides classify the Bible at 220.4 and simply tack on a full language number like 423. That does not follow the DDC schedules. The correct base for translations is 220.5, and the language notation comes from Table 6 (which is not the same as a full 400-class language number). Always trust the instruction printed in the schedule over a shortcut.

Language is not only a property of a text. It is also a marker of identity, and the social sciences study communities defined by the languages they speak. Here Table 6 connects with the wider DDC structure in an interesting way.

In the 300s, the DDC groups people in class 305 (social groups). When a work studies a community defined by its language, the classification reaches into the table built around language and ethnic identity. Table 5 (Ethnic and National Groups) lists groups of people systematically by ethnic and national origin, and an ethnic group normally refers to a group with linguistic bonds.

Why Table 5 mirrors Table 6

This is the key relationship to understand. Table 5 and Table 6 are deliberately built to parallel each other. As one handbook notes, the divisions of Table 5 closely resemble Table 6, and many Table 5 numbers are explicitly organized by language groups, with captions describing peoples who speak particular languages. So when you classify a social study of, say, Tamil-speaking or Bengali-speaking people, the language structure of Table 6 is mirrored inside the ethnic-group notation you use in the 300s.

It also helps to keep the tables distinct. Table 2 (Geographic Areas) handles place. If a social study is tied to a region or country, Table 2 supplies that geographic facet. Table 5 handles the people themselves as an ethnic or national group. Table 6 handles language as language, especially the medium a text is written in. A single complex work might draw on more than one of these, but each table answers a different question: where, who, and in what tongue.

Special cases: encyclopedias and periodicals

Reference works and serials raise their own questions. An encyclopedia, a dictionary, or a periodical is defined as much by its form as by its subject. The DDC already has a tool for form: Table 1, Standard Subdivisions. So before reaching for Table 6, a classifier first asks whether the work’s form is the dominant feature.

When form leads

For a general encyclopedia or a periodical that is not tied to one subject, the standard subdivisions in Table 1 carry the weight. Form notations such as those for encyclopedias and dictionaries, or for serial publications, attach to the subject base to capture that the work is a reference book or a journal. These form subdivisions can be added without a special invitation in most cases, which sets Table 1 apart from Table 6.

Within specific subjects, the schedules sometimes provide dedicated numbers for reference forms. In the Bible schedule, for example, 220.3 is set aside for encyclopedias and topical dictionaries of the Bible. That displaces the usual standard subdivision because the schedule has carved out a special place for it. Whenever a subject gives a reference form its own number, you follow the schedule rather than the general rule.

When language still matters

Language enters the picture for reference works when two conditions meet: the work is tied to a specific language as its subject or medium, and the schedule invites a Table 6 addition. A bilingual dictionary, for instance, is classed with the language plus a Table 4 notation, not Table 6, because a French-English dictionary is built as the language base plus notation 3 from Table 4. Table 4 and Table 6 both deal with language, but Table 4 covers the internal aspects of an individual language and is used only in 420-490, while Table 6 names the language itself for use across the classification.

The practical takeaway for periodicals and encyclopedias is to read the order of facets carefully. Decide first whether subject or form leads, apply the standard subdivision or special schedule number for the form, and only then add a Table 6 language notation if the schedule explicitly calls for it. The instruction in the schedule is always your guide.

Bringing the pieces together

Table 6 turns a flat subject number into a richer one that records language. It works quietly in the background, joining a base number from the schedules whenever an instruction invites it. With religious texts it separates the many translations of a single scripture. In the social sciences it connects to the language-based structure of Table 5. And with reference works it waits its turn behind the form facet, stepping in only when language genuinely matters. Master the two rules, never use it alone and never use it without an invitation, and Table 6 becomes one of the most dependable tools in the classifier’s kit.

What do you think? If your library holds the same novel in five languages, which facet should lead the call number, the subject of the novel or the language it is written in? And in a multilingual country, do you think classifying works by language helps readers more than it complicates the catalogue?

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Table of Contents

The purpose of Table 6 in DDC 🔗

How Table 6 notation works 🔗

Using Table 6 with religious texts 🔗

Classifying Bible translations step by step 🔗

Social studies and language groups 🔗

Why Table 5 mirrors Table 6 🔗

Special cases: encyclopedias and periodicals 🔗

When form leads 🔗

When language still matters 🔗

Bringing the pieces together 🔗