diff --git a/src/utils/language.test.ts b/src/utils/language.test.ts
index 60b844f0..66a26edd 100644
--- a/src/utils/language.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/language.test.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ Deno.test('Detects definitive texts', () => {
   assertEquals(detectLanguage('Γειά σου!', 1), 'el');
   assertEquals(detectLanguage('שלום!', 1), 'he');
   assertEquals(detectLanguage('こんにちは。', 1), 'ja');
+  assertEquals(
+    detectLanguage(
+      '最近、長女から「中学生男子全員クソ」という話を良く聞き中学生女子側の視点が分かってよかった。父からは「中学生男子は自分がクソだということを3年間かかって学習するんだよ」と言っておいた',
+      1,
+    ),
+    'ja',
+  );
 
   // ambiguous
   assertEquals(detectLanguage('你好', 1), undefined);
diff --git a/src/utils/language.ts b/src/utils/language.ts
index b95e3e78..9a713122 100644
--- a/src/utils/language.ts
+++ b/src/utils/language.ts
@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@ export function detectLanguage(text: string, minConfidence: number): LanguageCod
   // It's better to remove the emojis first
   const sanitizedText = linkify.tokenize(
     text
-      .replaceAll(/\p{Extended_Pictographic}/gu, '')
-      .replaceAll(/[\s\uFEFF\u00A0\u200B-\u200D\u{0FE0E}]+/gu, ' '),
-  ).reduce((acc, { t, v }) => t === 'text' ? acc + v : acc, '').trim();
+      .replaceAll(/\p{Extended_Pictographic}/gu, '') // strip emojis
+      .replaceAll(/[\s\uFEFF\u00A0\u200B-\u200D\u{0FE0E}]+/gu, ' '), // strip invisible characters
+  )
+    .reduce((acc, { t, v }) => t === 'text' ? acc + v : acc, '').trim();
 
   // Definite patterns for some languages.
   // Text which matches MUST unambiguously be in the given language.
@@ -30,7 +31,11 @@ export function detectLanguage(text: string, minConfidence: number): LanguageCod
 
   // If any pattern matches, the language is known.
   for (const [lang, pattern] of Object.entries(languagePatterns) as [LanguageCode, RegExp][]) {
-    if (pattern.test(text.replace(/[\p{P}\p{S}]/gu, ''))) { // strip punctuation and symbols before checking
+    const text = sanitizedText
+      .replaceAll(/[\p{P}\p{S}]/gu, '') // strip punctuation and symbols
+      .replaceAll(/\p{N}/gu, ''); // strip numbers
+
+    if (pattern.test(text)) {
       return lang;
     }
   }