diff --git a/app/__init__.py b/app/__init__.py
index bdf0dac..0aabd50 100644
--- a/app/__init__.py
+++ b/app/__init__.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ app.default_key = generate_user_key()
 app.no_cookie_ips = []
 app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = os.urandom(32)
 app.config['SESSION_TYPE'] = 'filesystem'
-app.config['VERSION_NUMBER'] = '0.5.3'
+app.config['VERSION_NUMBER'] = '0.5.4'
 app.config['APP_ROOT'] = os.getenv(
     'APP_ROOT',
     os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
diff --git a/app/request.py b/app/request.py
index f324a4b..6744fe2 100644
--- a/app/request.py
+++ b/app/request.py
@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@ DESKTOP_UA = '{}/5.0 (X11; {} x86_64; rv:75.0) Gecko/20100101 {}/75.0'
 # Valid query params
 VALID_PARAMS = ['tbs', 'tbm', 'start', 'near', 'source', 'nfpr']
 
-# Fallback language if none have been configured
-DEFAULT_LANG = 'lang_en'
-
 
 class TorError(Exception):
     """Exception raised for errors in Tor requests.
@@ -112,7 +109,7 @@ def gen_query(query, args, config, near_city=None) -> str:
         )) if lang else ''
     else:
         param_dict['lr'] = '&lr=' + (
-            config.lang_search if config.lang_search else DEFAULT_LANG
+            config.lang_search if config.lang_search else ''
         )
 
     # 'nfpr' defines the exclusion of results from an auto-corrected query
@@ -122,7 +119,7 @@ def gen_query(query, args, config, near_city=None) -> str:
     param_dict['cr'] = ('&cr=' + config.ctry) if config.ctry else ''
     param_dict['hl'] = '&hl=' + (
         config.lang_interface.replace('lang_', '')
-        if config.lang_interface else DEFAULT_LANG.replace('lang_', '')
+        if config.lang_interface else ''
     )
     param_dict['safe'] = '&safe=' + ('active' if config.safe else 'off')
 
@@ -158,7 +155,7 @@ class Request:
         send_tor_signal(Signal.HEARTBEAT)
 
         self.language = (
-            config.lang_search if config.lang_search else DEFAULT_LANG
+            config.lang_search if config.lang_search else ''
         )
         self.mobile = 'Android' in normal_ua or 'iPhone' in normal_ua
         self.modified_user_agent = gen_user_agent(self.mobile)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 27f7bbe..ce994c7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ setuptools.setup(
     author='Ben Busby',
     author_email='benbusby@protonmail.com',
     name='whoogle-search',
-    version='0.5.3',
+    version='0.5.4',
     include_package_data=True,
     install_requires=requirements,
     description='Self-hosted, ad-free, privacy-respecting metasearch engine',