diff --git a/libs/subliminal_patch/core.py b/libs/subliminal_patch/core.py
index fcd7ce3be..d4685c289 100644
--- a/libs/subliminal_patch/core.py
+++ b/libs/subliminal_patch/core.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ from subliminal.core import guessit, ProviderPool, io, is_windows_special_path,
     ThreadPoolExecutor, check_video
 from subliminal_patch.exceptions import TooManyRequests, APIThrottled
 
-from subzero.language import Language, ENDSWITH_LANGUAGECODE_RE
+from subzero.language import Language, ENDSWITH_LANGUAGECODE_RE, FULL_LANGUAGE_LIST
 from scandir import scandir, scandir_generic as _scandir_generic
 import six
 
@@ -610,7 +610,8 @@ def _search_external_subtitles(path, languages=None, only_one=False, scandir_gen
             forced = "forced" in adv_tag
 
         # remove possible language code for matching
-        p_root_bare = ENDSWITH_LANGUAGECODE_RE.sub("", p_root)
+        p_root_bare = ENDSWITH_LANGUAGECODE_RE.sub(
+            lambda m: "" if str(m.group(1)).lower() in FULL_LANGUAGE_LIST else m.group(0), p_root)
 
         p_root_lower = p_root_bare.lower()
 
diff --git a/libs/subzero/language.py b/libs/subzero/language.py
index d212a02f4..38cfb8113 100644
--- a/libs/subzero/language.py
+++ b/libs/subzero/language.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import types
 import re
 
 from babelfish.exceptions import LanguageError
-from babelfish import Language as Language_, basestr
+from babelfish import Language as Language_, basestr, LANGUAGE_MATRIX
 from six.moves import zip
 
 repl_map = {
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ repl_map = {
 }
 
 
+ALPHA2_LIST = list(set(filter(lambda x: x, map(lambda x: x.alpha2, LANGUAGE_MATRIX)) + repl_map.values()))
+ALPHA3b_LIST = list(set(filter(lambda x: x, map(lambda x: x.alpha3, LANGUAGE_MATRIX)) +
+                        filter(lambda x: len(x) == 3, repl_map.keys())))
+FULL_LANGUAGE_LIST = ALPHA2_LIST + ALPHA3b_LIST
+
+
 def language_from_stream(l):
     if not l:
         raise LanguageError()