diff --git a/resources/recipes/zeitde.recipe b/resources/recipes/zeitde.recipe
index 64345ea675..c757c0d5bd 100644
--- a/resources/recipes/zeitde.recipe
+++ b/resources/recipes/zeitde.recipe
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class ZeitDe(BasicNewsRecipe):
         for tag in soup.findAll(name=['ul','li']):
             tag.name = 'div'
 
-        soup.html['xml:lang'] = self.lang
+        soup.html['xml:lang'] = self.language.replace('_', '-')
         soup.html['lang']     = self.lang
         mtag = '<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=' + self.encoding + '">'
         soup.head.insert(0,mtag)