Force Django to use settings.LANGUAGE_CODE for default language instead of request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE']

force_default_language_middleware.py

try:
    from django.utils.deprecation import MiddlewareMixin
except ImportError:
    MiddlewareMixin = object

    
class ForceDefaultLanguageMiddleware(MiddlewareMixin):
    """
    Ignore Accept-Language HTTP headers
    
    This will force the I18N machinery to always choose settings.LANGUAGE_CODE
    as the default initial language, unless another one is set via sessions or cookies
    
    Should be installed *before* any middleware that checks request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'],
    namely django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware
    """
    def process_request(self, request):
        if 'HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE' in request.META:
            del request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE']

Thanks. I added this middleware before any other middleware that is using language code and it works now.

Yet another version:

from contextlib import suppress

from django.conf import settings


def inject_accept_language(get_response):
    """
    Ignore Accept-Language HTTP headers.

    This will force the I18N machinery to always choose

      - Ukrainian for the main site
      - ADMIN_LANGUAGE_CODE for the admin site

    as the default initial language unless another one is set via
    sessions or cookies.

    Should be installed *before* any middleware that checks
    request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], namely
    `django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware`.
    """
    admin_lang = getattr(settings, 'ADMIN_LANGUAGE_CODE',
                         settings.LANGUAGE_CODE)

    def middleware(request):
        # Force Ukrainian locale for the main site
        lang = admin_lang if request.path.startswith('/admin') else 'uk'
        accept = request.META.get('HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE', []).split(',')

        with suppress(ValueError):
            # Remove `lang` from the HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE to avoid duplicates
            accept.remove(lang)

        accept = [lang] + accept
        request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'] = f"""{','.join(accept)}"""
        return get_response(request)

    return middleware

Yet another version:

from contextlib import suppress

from django.conf import settings


def inject_accept_language(get_response):
    """
    Ignore Accept-Language HTTP headers.

    This will force the I18N machinery to always choose

      - Ukrainian for the main site
      - ADMIN_LANGUAGE_CODE for the admin site

    as the default initial language unless another one is set via
    sessions or cookies.

    Should be installed *before* any middleware that checks
    request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], namely
    `django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware`.
    """
    admin_lang = getattr(settings, 'ADMIN_LANGUAGE_CODE',
                         settings.LANGUAGE_CODE)

    def middleware(request):
        # Force Ukrainian locale for the main site
        lang = admin_lang if request.path.startswith('/admin') else 'uk'
        accept = request.META.get('HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE', []).split(',')

        with suppress(ValueError):
            # Remove `lang` from the HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE to avoid duplicates
            accept.remove(lang)

        accept = [lang] + accept
        request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'] = f"""{','.join(accept)}"""
        return get_response(request)

    return middleware

Thank you for this version. But it has issue

accept = request.META.get('HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE', []).split(',')

It will crash with error 'list' object has no attribute 'split'. I think it should be instead

accept = request.META.get('HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE', "").split(',')

@dismine Yes, you're right! 👍

Thank You so much @vstoykov!

thanks, saved my day

Thanks everybody involved!

With the new middleware format:

class ForceDefaultLanguageMiddleware:
    
    def __init__(self, get_response):
        self.get_response = get_response

    def __call__(self, request):
        if 'HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE' in request.META:
            del request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'] 
        return self.get_response(request) 

With the new middleware format:

class ForceDefaultLanguageMiddleware:
    
    def __init__(self, get_response):
        self.get_response = get_response

    def __call__(self, request):
        if 'HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE' in request.META:
            del request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'] 
        return self.get_response(request) 

Thanks, u save my day

14 years later, and people are still using this. Perhaps I should pack it into a real repo with a bunch of other Django recipes )

Because the sad reality is that nobody is configuring their browser properly to ask websites for content on their preffered language. The easy fix is every site owner to force users to use some specific language.