diff --git a/backend/package.json b/backend/package.json
index f6b66b07e..786fe6641 100644
--- a/backend/package.json
+++ b/backend/package.json
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@
     "helmet": "~3.22.0",
     "ioredis": "^4.16.1",
     "jsonwebtoken": "~8.5.1",
+    "languagedetect": "^2.0.0",
     "linkifyjs": "~2.1.8",
     "lodash": "~4.17.14",
     "merge-graphql-schemas": "^1.7.7",
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/index.js b/backend/src/middleware/index.js
index 83b0104ec..0ad8cb1ae 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/index.js
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/index.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import notifications from './notifications/notificationsMiddleware'
 import hashtags from './hashtags/hashtagsMiddleware'
 import email from './email/emailMiddleware'
 import sentry from './sentryMiddleware'
+import languages from './languages/languages'
 
 export default (schema) => {
   const middlewares = {
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ export default (schema) => {
     softDelete,
     includedFields,
     orderBy,
+    languages,
   }
 
   let order = [
@@ -39,6 +41,7 @@ export default (schema) => {
     // 'activityPub', disabled temporarily
     'validation',
     'sluggify',
+    'languages',
     'excerpt',
     'email',
     'notifications',
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/languages/languages.js b/backend/src/middleware/languages/languages.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3cf760f31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/languages/languages.js
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import LanguageDetect from 'languagedetect'
+import sanitizeHtml from 'sanitize-html'
+
+const removeHtmlTags = (input) => {
+  return sanitizeHtml(input, {
+    allowedTags: [],
+    allowedAttributes: {},
+  })
+}
+
+const setPostLanguage = (text) => {
+  const lngDetector = new LanguageDetect()
+  lngDetector.setLanguageType('iso2')
+  return lngDetector.detect(removeHtmlTags(text), 1)[0][0]
+}
+
+export default {
+  Mutation: {
+    CreatePost: async (resolve, root, args, context, info) => {
+      args.language = await setPostLanguage(args.content)
+      return resolve(root, args, context, info)
+    },
+    UpdatePost: async (resolve, root, args, context, info) => {
+      args.language = await setPostLanguage(args.content)
+      return resolve(root, args, context, info)
+    },
+  },
+}
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/languages/languages.spec.js b/backend/src/middleware/languages/languages.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1448e4e4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/languages/languages.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+import Factory, { cleanDatabase } from '../../db/factories'
+import { gql } from '../../helpers/jest'
+import { getNeode, getDriver } from '../../db/neo4j'
+import createServer from '../../server'
+import { createTestClient } from 'apollo-server-testing'
+
+let mutate
+let authenticatedUser
+let variables
+
+const driver = getDriver()
+const neode = getNeode()
+
+beforeAll(async () => {
+  const { server } = createServer({
+    context: () => {
+      return {
+        driver,
+        neode,
+        user: authenticatedUser,
+      }
+    },
+  })
+  mutate = createTestClient(server).mutate
+})
+
+afterAll(async () => {
+  await cleanDatabase()
+})
+
+const createPostMutation = gql`
+  mutation($title: String!, $content: String!, $categoryIds: [ID]) {
+    CreatePost(title: $title, content: $content, categoryIds: $categoryIds) {
+      language
+    }
+  }
+`
+
+describe('languagesMiddleware', () => {
+  variables = {
+    title: 'Test post languages',
+    categoryIds: ['cat9'],
+  }
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    await cleanDatabase()
+    const user = await Factory.build('user')
+    authenticatedUser = await user.toJson()
+    await Factory.build('category', {
+      id: 'cat9',
+      name: 'Democracy & Politics',
+      icon: 'university',
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('detects German', async () => {
+    variables = {
+      ...variables,
+      content: 'Jeder sollte vor seiner eigenen Tür kehren.',
+    }
+    await expect(
+      mutate({
+        mutation: createPostMutation,
+        variables,
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toMatchObject({
+      data: {
+        CreatePost: {
+          language: 'de',
+        },
+      },
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('detects English', async () => {
+    variables = {
+      ...variables,
+      content: 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.',
+    }
+    await expect(
+      mutate({
+        mutation: createPostMutation,
+        variables,
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toMatchObject({
+      data: {
+        CreatePost: {
+          language: 'en',
+        },
+      },
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('detects Spanish', async () => {
+    variables = {
+      ...variables,
+      content: 'A caballo regalado, no le mires el diente.',
+    }
+    await expect(
+      mutate({
+        mutation: createPostMutation,
+        variables,
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toMatchObject({
+      data: {
+        CreatePost: {
+          language: 'es',
+        },
+      },
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('detects German in between lots of html tags', async () => {
+    variables = {
+      ...variables,
+      content:
+        '<strong>Jeder</strong> <strike>sollte</strike> <strong>vor</strong> <span>seiner</span> eigenen <blockquote>Tür</blockquote> kehren.',
+    }
+    await expect(
+      mutate({
+        mutation: createPostMutation,
+        variables,
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toMatchObject({
+      data: {
+        CreatePost: {
+          language: 'de',
+        },
+      },
+    })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/slugify/uniqueSlug.js b/backend/src/middleware/slugify/uniqueSlug.js
index ca37cd562..7cfb89c19 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/slugify/uniqueSlug.js
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/slugify/uniqueSlug.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import slugify from 'slug'
 export default async function uniqueSlug(string, isUnique) {
   const slug = slugify(string || 'anonymous', {
     lower: true,
+    multicharmap: { Ä: 'AE', ä: 'ae', Ö: 'OE', ö: 'oe', Ü: 'UE', ü: 'ue', ß: 'ss' },
   })
   if (await isUnique(slug)) return slug
 
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/slugify/uniqueSlug.spec.js b/backend/src/middleware/slugify/uniqueSlug.spec.js
index ff14a56ef..d002eae03 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/slugify/uniqueSlug.spec.js
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/slugify/uniqueSlug.spec.js
@@ -18,4 +18,16 @@ describe('uniqueSlug', () => {
     const isUnique = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(true)
     expect(uniqueSlug(string, isUnique)).resolves.toEqual('anonymous')
   })
+
+  it('Converts umlaut to a two letter equivalent', async () => {
+    const umlaut = 'ÄÖÜäöüß'
+    const isUnique = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(true)
+    await expect(uniqueSlug(umlaut, isUnique)).resolves.toEqual('aeoeueaeoeuess')
+  })
+
+  it('Removes Spanish enya and diacritics', async () => {
+    const diacritics = 'áàéèíìóòúùñçÁÀÉÈÍÌÓÒÚÙÑÇ'
+    const isUnique = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(true)
+    await expect(uniqueSlug(diacritics, isUnique)).resolves.toEqual('aaeeiioouuncaaeeiioouunc')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/backend/src/schema/resolvers/posts.spec.js b/backend/src/schema/resolvers/posts.spec.js
index b24383fba..f0c57b8fb 100644
--- a/backend/src/schema/resolvers/posts.spec.js
+++ b/backend/src/schema/resolvers/posts.spec.js
@@ -317,19 +317,6 @@ describe('CreatePost', () => {
         expected,
       )
     })
-
-    describe('language', () => {
-      beforeEach(() => {
-        variables = { ...variables, language: 'es' }
-      })
-
-      it('allows a user to set the language of the post', async () => {
-        const expected = { data: { CreatePost: { language: 'es' } } }
-        await expect(mutate({ mutation: createPostMutation, variables })).resolves.toMatchObject(
-          expected,
-        )
-      })
-    })
   })
 })
 
diff --git a/backend/yarn.lock b/backend/yarn.lock
index 0bbc62515..7d6558da0 100644
--- a/backend/yarn.lock
+++ b/backend/yarn.lock
@@ -6302,6 +6302,11 @@ knuth-shuffle-seeded@^1.0.6:
   dependencies:
     seed-random "~2.2.0"
 
+languagedetect@^2.0.0:
+  version "2.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/languagedetect/-/languagedetect-2.0.0.tgz#4b8fa2b7593b2a3a02fb1100891041c53238936c"
+  integrity sha512-AZb/liiQ+6ZoTj4f1J0aE6OkzhCo8fyH+tuSaPfSo8YHCWLFJrdSixhtO2TYdIkjcDQNaR4RmGaV2A5FJklDMQ==
+
 latest-version@^3.0.0:
   version "3.1.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/latest-version/-/latest-version-3.1.0.tgz#a205383fea322b33b5ae3b18abee0dc2f356ee15"
diff --git a/webapp/components/ContributionForm/ContributionForm.spec.js b/webapp/components/ContributionForm/ContributionForm.spec.js
index 0644c1321..eb4e9cd5a 100644
--- a/webapp/components/ContributionForm/ContributionForm.spec.js
+++ b/webapp/components/ContributionForm/ContributionForm.spec.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { config, mount } from '@vue/test-utils'
 import ContributionForm from './ContributionForm.vue'
 
-import Vue from 'vue'
 import Vuex from 'vuex'
 import PostMutations from '~/graphql/PostMutations.js'
 
@@ -17,15 +16,7 @@ config.stubs['nuxt-link'] = '<span><slot /></span>'
 config.stubs['v-popover'] = '<span><slot /></span>'
 
 describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
-  let wrapper,
-    postTitleInput,
-    expectedParams,
-    cancelBtn,
-    mocks,
-    propsData,
-    categoryIds,
-    englishLanguage,
-    deutschLanguage
+  let wrapper, postTitleInput, expectedParams, cancelBtn, mocks, propsData
   const postTitle = 'this is a title for a post'
   const postTitleTooShort = 'xx'
   let postTitleTooLong = ''
@@ -52,8 +43,6 @@ describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
               slug: 'this-is-a-title-for-a-post',
               content: postContent,
               contentExcerpt: postContent,
-              language: 'en',
-              categoryIds,
             },
           },
         }),
@@ -109,10 +98,6 @@ describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
           postTitleInput = wrapper.find('.ds-input')
           postTitleInput.setValue(postTitle)
           await wrapper.vm.updateEditorContent(postContent)
-          englishLanguage = wrapper
-            .findAll('li')
-            .filter((language) => language.text() === 'English')
-          englishLanguage.trigger('click')
         })
 
         it('title cannot be empty', async () => {
@@ -147,7 +132,6 @@ describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
             variables: {
               title: postTitle,
               content: postContent,
-              language: 'en',
               id: null,
               image: null,
             },
@@ -155,29 +139,13 @@ describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
           postTitleInput = wrapper.find('.ds-input')
           postTitleInput.setValue(postTitle)
           await wrapper.vm.updateEditorContent(postContent)
-          englishLanguage = wrapper
-            .findAll('li')
-            .filter((language) => language.text() === 'English')
-          englishLanguage.trigger('click')
-          await Vue.nextTick()
-          await Vue.nextTick()
         })
 
-        it('creates a post with valid title, content, and at least one category', async () => {
+        it('creates a post with valid title and content', async () => {
           await wrapper.find('form').trigger('submit')
           expect(mocks.$apollo.mutate).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.objectContaining(expectedParams))
         })
 
-        it('supports changing the language', async () => {
-          expectedParams.variables.language = 'de'
-          deutschLanguage = wrapper
-            .findAll('li')
-            .filter((language) => language.text() === 'Deutsch')
-          deutschLanguage.trigger('click')
-          wrapper.find('form').trigger('submit')
-          expect(mocks.$apollo.mutate).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.objectContaining(expectedParams))
-        })
-
         it('supports adding a teaser image', async () => {
           expectedParams.variables.image = {
             aspectRatio: null,
@@ -235,13 +203,6 @@ describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
           postTitleInput = wrapper.find('.ds-input')
           postTitleInput.setValue(postTitle)
           await wrapper.vm.updateEditorContent(postContent)
-          categoryIds = ['cat12']
-          englishLanguage = wrapper
-            .findAll('li')
-            .filter((language) => language.text() === 'English')
-          englishLanguage.trigger('click')
-          await Vue.nextTick()
-          await Vue.nextTick()
         })
 
         it('shows an error toaster when apollo mutation rejects', async () => {
@@ -260,14 +221,7 @@ describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
             slug: 'dies-ist-ein-post',
             title: 'dies ist ein Post',
             content: 'auf Deutsch geschrieben',
-            language: 'de',
             image,
-            categories: [
-              {
-                id: 'cat12',
-                name: 'Democracy & Politics',
-              },
-            ],
           },
         }
         wrapper = Wrapper()
@@ -290,8 +244,6 @@ describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
                 slug: 'this-is-a-title-for-a-post',
                 content: postContent,
                 contentExcerpt: postContent,
-                language: 'en',
-                categoryIds,
               },
             },
           })
@@ -301,7 +253,6 @@ describe('ContributionForm.vue', () => {
             variables: {
               title: propsData.contribution.title,
               content: propsData.contribution.content,
-              language: propsData.contribution.language,
               id: propsData.contribution.id,
               image: {
                 sensitive: false,
diff --git a/webapp/components/ContributionForm/ContributionForm.vue b/webapp/components/ContributionForm/ContributionForm.vue
index 8db89173f..42ed2799e 100644
--- a/webapp/components/ContributionForm/ContributionForm.vue
+++ b/webapp/components/ContributionForm/ContributionForm.vue
@@ -50,17 +50,6 @@
           {{ contentLength }}
           <base-icon v-if="errors && errors.content" name="warning" />
         </ds-chip>
-        <ds-select
-          model="language"
-          icon="globe"
-          class="select-field"
-          :options="languageOptions"
-          :placeholder="$t('contribution.languageSelectText')"
-          :label="$t('contribution.languageSelectLabel')"
-        />
-        <ds-chip v-if="errors && errors.language" size="base" color="danger">
-          <base-icon name="warning" />
-        </ds-chip>
         <div class="buttons">
           <base-button data-test="cancel-button" :disabled="loading" @click="$router.back()" danger>
             {{ $t('actions.cancel') }}
@@ -76,10 +65,8 @@
 
 <script>
 import gql from 'graphql-tag'
-import orderBy from 'lodash/orderBy'
 import { mapGetters } from 'vuex'
 import HcEditor from '~/components/Editor/Editor'
-import locales from '~/locales'
 import PostMutations from '~/graphql/PostMutations.js'
 import ImageUploader from '~/components/ImageUploader/ImageUploader'
 import links from '~/constants/links.js'
@@ -96,11 +83,7 @@ export default {
     },
   },
   data() {
-    const { title, content, image, language } = this.contribution
-
-    const languageOptions = orderBy(locales, 'name').map((locale) => {
-      return { label: locale.name, value: locale.code }
-    })
+    const { title, content, image } = this.contribution
     const { sensitive: imageBlurred = false, aspectRatio: imageAspectRatio = null } = image || {}
 
     return {
@@ -111,15 +94,12 @@ export default {
         image: image || null,
         imageAspectRatio,
         imageBlurred,
-        language: languageOptions.find((option) => option.value === language) || null,
       },
       formSchema: {
         title: { required: true, min: 3, max: 100 },
         content: { required: true },
-        language: { required: true },
         imageBlurred: { required: false },
       },
-      languageOptions,
       loading: false,
       users: [],
       hashtags: [],
@@ -155,7 +135,6 @@ export default {
             title,
             content,
             id: this.contribution.id || null,
-            language: this.formData.language.value,
             image,
           },
         })
diff --git a/webapp/graphql/PostMutations.js b/webapp/graphql/PostMutations.js
index 602256e01..3054714b8 100644
--- a/webapp/graphql/PostMutations.js
+++ b/webapp/graphql/PostMutations.js
@@ -3,20 +3,8 @@ import gql from 'graphql-tag'
 export default () => {
   return {
     CreatePost: gql`
-      mutation(
-        $title: String!
-        $content: String!
-        $language: String
-        $categoryIds: [ID]
-        $image: ImageInput
-      ) {
-        CreatePost(
-          title: $title
-          content: $content
-          language: $language
-          categoryIds: $categoryIds
-          image: $image
-        ) {
+      mutation($title: String!, $content: String!, $categoryIds: [ID], $image: ImageInput) {
+        CreatePost(title: $title, content: $content, categoryIds: $categoryIds, image: $image) {
           title
           slug
           content
@@ -34,7 +22,6 @@ export default () => {
         $id: ID!
         $title: String!
         $content: String!
-        $language: String
         $image: ImageInput
         $categoryIds: [ID]
       ) {
@@ -42,7 +29,6 @@ export default () => {
           id: $id
           title: $title
           content: $content
-          language: $language
           image: $image
           categoryIds: $categoryIds
         ) {