diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 38e521c5a..f05e9cdea 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 2015-12-30  Moritz Bunkus  <moritz@bunkus.org>
 
+        * mkvpropedit: bug fix: when changing the track language it is now
+        verified to be a valid ISO 639-2 language code before writing it
+        to the file. Fixes #1550.
+
         * mkvmerge: enhancement: the MP4 reader will keep the display
         dimensions from the track header atom ("tkhd") and use them as the
         display width & height. See also #1547.
diff --git a/src/propedit/change.cpp b/src/propedit/change.cpp
index a7ef5f973..8264d3c64 100644
--- a/src/propedit/change.cpp
+++ b/src/propedit/change.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 
 #include "common/common_pch.h"
 #include "common/ebml.h"
+#include "common/iso639.h"
+#include "common/list_utils.h"
 #include "common/output.h"
 #include "common/strings/editing.h"
 #include "common/strings/parsing.h"
@@ -276,5 +278,10 @@ change_c::parse_spec(change_c::change_type_e type,
   if (name.empty())
     throw std::runtime_error(Y("missing property name"));
 
+  if (   mtx::included_in(type, ct_add, ct_set)
+      && (name == "language")
+      && !is_valid_iso639_2_code(value))
+    throw std::runtime_error{(boost::format(("invalid ISO 639-2 language code '%1%'")) % value).str()};
+
   return std::make_shared<change_c>(type, name, value);
 }