diff --git a/desktop/source/app/cmdlinehelp.cxx b/desktop/source/app/cmdlinehelp.cxx
index 1adc8af2ee65..86ba25793828 100644
--- a/desktop/source/app/cmdlinehelp.cxx
+++ b/desktop/source/app/cmdlinehelp.cxx
@@ -107,9 +107,8 @@ namespace desktop
         "                         or  socket,host=localhost,port=54321;urp              \n"
         "   --unaccept={connect-string}  Closes an acceptor that was created with       \n"
         "                       --accept. Use --unaccept=all to close all acceptors.    \n"
-        "   --language={lang}   Uses specified language, if language is not selected    \n"
-        "                       yet for UI. The lang is a tag of the language in IETF   \n"
-        "                       language tag.                                           \n\n"
+        "   --language={lang}   Overrides the choice of language for the UI. The lang is\n"
+        "                       a tag of the language in IETF language tag.             \n\n"
         "Developer arguments:                                                           \n"
         "   --terminate_after_init                                                      \n"
         "                       Exit after initialization complete (no documents loaded)\n"
diff --git a/desktop/source/app/langselect.cxx b/desktop/source/app/langselect.cxx
index 702f0a66f224..4babad8075a3 100644
--- a/desktop/source/app/langselect.cxx
+++ b/desktop/source/app/langselect.cxx
@@ -77,26 +77,26 @@ bool prepareLocale() {
     setMsLangIdFallback(officecfg::System::L10N::Locale::get());
     css::uno::Sequence<OUString> inst(
         officecfg::Setup::Office::InstalledLocales::get()->getElementNames());
-    OUString locale(officecfg::Office::Linguistic::General::UILocale::get());
-    if (!locale.isEmpty()) {
-        locale = getInstalledLocaleForLanguage(inst, locale);
-        if (locale.isEmpty()) {
-            // Selected language is not/no longer installed:
-            try {
-                std::shared_ptr<comphelper::ConfigurationChanges> batch(
-                    comphelper::ConfigurationChanges::create());
-                officecfg::Office::Linguistic::General::UILocale::set(
-                    u""_ustr, batch);
-                batch->commit();
-            } catch (const css::uno::Exception &) {
-                TOOLS_WARN_EXCEPTION("desktop.app", "ignoring");
+    OUString locale = getInstalledLocaleForLanguage(
+            inst, Desktop::GetCommandLineArgs().GetLanguage());
+    if (locale.isEmpty()) {
+        locale = officecfg::Office::Linguistic::General::UILocale::get();
+        if (!locale.isEmpty()) {
+            locale = getInstalledLocaleForLanguage(inst, locale);
+            if (locale.isEmpty()) {
+                // Selected language is not/no longer installed:
+                try {
+                    std::shared_ptr<comphelper::ConfigurationChanges> batch(
+                        comphelper::ConfigurationChanges::create());
+                    officecfg::Office::Linguistic::General::UILocale::set(
+                        u""_ustr, batch);
+                    batch->commit();
+                } catch (const css::uno::Exception &) {
+                    TOOLS_WARN_EXCEPTION("desktop.app", "ignoring");
+                }
             }
         }
     }
-    if (locale.isEmpty()) {
-        locale = getInstalledLocaleForLanguage(
-            inst, Desktop::GetCommandLineArgs().GetLanguage());
-    }
     if (locale.isEmpty()) {
         locale = getInstalledLocaleForSystemUILanguage(inst, true);
     }