diff --git a/modules/user/user.module b/modules/user/user.module
index 9f59cf9fdd3ad53e119df9bf762bd849165f7403..53269f138c49746e090c46db203e703a0f98d7da 100644
--- a/modules/user/user.module
+++ b/modules/user/user.module
@@ -2132,7 +2132,7 @@ function user_mail_tokens($account, $language) {
  */
 function user_preferred_language($account, $default = NULL) {
   $language_list = language_list();
-  if ($account->language && isset($language_list[$account->language])) {
+  if (!empty($account->language) && isset($language_list[$account->language])) {
     return $language_list[$account->language];
   }
   else {