diff --git a/changelanguage.pl b/changelanguage.pl
index 9a72f8dcba..360484c5fa 100755
--- a/changelanguage.pl
+++ b/changelanguage.pl
@@ -25,5 +25,7 @@ my $query    = new CGI;
 my $language = $query->param('language');
 my $url      = $query->referer();
 
-#warn "Language : $query // $language // $url";
+$url =~ s|(.)language=[\w-]*&?|$1|;
+$url =~ s|(&\|\?)$||; # Remove extraneous ? or &
+
 C4::Templates::setlanguagecookie( $query, $language, $url );
diff --git a/opac/opac-changelanguage.pl b/opac/opac-changelanguage.pl
index 2773704e02..9c68ab46f6 100755
--- a/opac/opac-changelanguage.pl
+++ b/opac/opac-changelanguage.pl
@@ -25,4 +25,11 @@ my $language = $query->param('language');
 my $url      = $query->referer() || '/';
 
 # warn "Language : $query // $language // $url";
+
+# If language was set by an external URL the parameter
+# 'language=' should be removed from url string, otherwise
+# the language picker will not work
+$url =~ s|(.)language=[\w-]*&?|$1|;
+$url =~ s|(&\|\?)$||; # Remove extraneous ? or &
+
 C4::Templates::setlanguagecookie( $query, $language, $url );