diff --git a/src/controllers/api/statuses.ts b/src/controllers/api/statuses.ts
index e0956e74..486ea28b 100644
--- a/src/controllers/api/statuses.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/api/statuses.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import { HTTPException } from '@hono/hono/http-exception';
 import { NostrEvent, NSchema as n } from '@nostrify/nostrify';
-import ISO6391 from 'iso-639-1';
 import 'linkify-plugin-hashtag';
 import linkify from 'linkifyjs';
 import { nip19 } from 'nostr-tools';
@@ -14,6 +13,7 @@ import { getAncestors, getAuthor, getDescendants, getEvent } from '@/queries.ts'
 import { addTag, deleteTag } from '@/utils/tags.ts';
 import { asyncReplaceAll } from '@/utils/text.ts';
 import { lookupPubkey } from '@/utils/lookup.ts';
+import { languageSchema } from '@/schema.ts';
 import { Storages } from '@/storages.ts';
 import { hydrateEvents } from '@/storages/hydrate.ts';
 import { createEvent, paginated, paginatedList, parseBody, updateListEvent } from '@/utils/api.ts';
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import { renderReblog, renderStatus } from '@/views/mastodon/statuses.ts';
 
 const createStatusSchema = z.object({
   in_reply_to_id: n.id().nullish(),
-  language: z.string().refine(ISO6391.validate).nullish(),
+  language: languageSchema.nullish(),
   media_ids: z.string().array().nullish(),
   poll: z.object({
     options: z.string().array(),
diff --git a/src/controllers/api/timelines.ts b/src/controllers/api/timelines.ts
index 483676e1..8f783dd8 100644
--- a/src/controllers/api/timelines.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/api/timelines.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { z } from 'zod';
 import { type AppContext, type AppController } from '@/app.ts';
 import { Conf } from '@/config.ts';
 import { getFeedPubkeys } from '@/queries.ts';
-import { booleanParamSchema } from '@/schema.ts';
+import { booleanParamSchema, languageSchema } from '@/schema.ts';
 import { hydrateEvents } from '@/storages/hydrate.ts';
 import { paginated } from '@/utils/api.ts';
 import { getTagSet } from '@/utils/tags.ts';
@@ -18,22 +18,37 @@ const homeTimelineController: AppController = async (c) => {
 };
 
 const publicQuerySchema = z.object({
-  local: booleanParamSchema.catch(false),
-  instance: z.string().optional().catch(undefined),
+  local: booleanParamSchema.default('false'),
+  instance: z.string().optional(),
+  language: languageSchema.optional(),
 });
 
 const publicTimelineController: AppController = (c) => {
   const params = c.get('pagination');
-  const { local, instance } = publicQuerySchema.parse(c.req.query());
+  const result = publicQuerySchema.safeParse(c.req.query());
+
+  if (!result.success) {
+    return c.json({ error: 'Bad request', schema: result.error }, 400);
+  }
+
+  const { local, instance, language } = result.data;
 
   const filter: NostrFilter = { kinds: [1], ...params };
 
+  const search: `${string}:${string}`[] = [];
+
   if (local) {
-    filter.search = `domain:${Conf.url.host}`;
+    search.push(`domain:${Conf.url.host}`);
   } else if (instance) {
-    filter.search = `domain:${instance}`;
+    search.push(`domain:${instance}`);
   }
 
+  if (language) {
+    search.push(`language:${language}`);
+  }
+
+  filter.search = search.join(' ');
+
   return renderStatuses(c, [filter]);
 };
 
diff --git a/src/schema.ts b/src/schema.ts
index fc7efd01..5efa7769 100644
--- a/src/schema.ts
+++ b/src/schema.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import ISO6391 from 'iso-639-1';
 import { z } from 'zod';
 
 /** Validates individual items in an array, dropping any that aren't valid. */
@@ -40,12 +41,24 @@ const fileSchema = z.custom<File>((value) => value instanceof File);
 
 const percentageSchema = z.coerce.number().int().gte(1).lte(100);
 
+const languageSchema = z.string().transform((val, ctx) => {
+  if (!ISO6391.validate(val)) {
+    ctx.addIssue({
+      code: z.ZodIssueCode.custom,
+      message: 'Not a valid language in ISO-639-1 format',
+    });
+    return z.NEVER;
+  }
+  return val;
+});
+
 export {
   booleanParamSchema,
   decode64Schema,
   fileSchema,
   filteredArray,
   hashtagSchema,
+  languageSchema,
   percentageSchema,
   safeUrlSchema,
 };