diff --git a/hugolib/config_test.go b/hugolib/config_test.go
index 2f9c6e3f6..f742eb862 100644
--- a/hugolib/config_test.go
+++ b/hugolib/config_test.go
@@ -824,6 +824,7 @@ baseURL = "https://example.com"
 disableKinds = ["taxonomy", "term", "RSS", "sitemap", "robotsTXT"]
 [languages]
 [languages.en]
+languageCode = "en-US"
 title = "English Title"
 [languages.en.params]
 myparam = "enParamValue"
@@ -840,6 +841,7 @@ title: "My English Section"
 title: "My Swedish Section"
 ---
 -- layouts/index.html --
+LanguageCode: {{ eq site.LanguageCode site.Language.LanguageCode }}|{{ site.Language.LanguageCode }}|
 {{ range $i, $e := (slice site .Site) }}
 {{ $i }}|AllPages: {{ len .AllPages }}|Sections: {{ if .Sections }}true{{ end }}| Author: {{ .Authors }}|BuildDrafts: {{ .BuildDrafts }}|IsMultiLingual: {{ .IsMultiLingual }}|Param: {{ .Language.Params.myparam }}|Language string: {{ .Language }}|Languages: {{ .Languages }}
 {{ end }}
@@ -863,10 +865,12 @@ Sections: true|
 Param: enParamValue	
 Param: enParamValue	
 IsMultiLingual: true
+LanguageCode: true|en-US|
 `)
 
 	b.AssertFileContent("public/sv/index.html", `
-Param: svParamValue	
+Param: svParamValue
+LanguageCode: true|sv|
 
 `)
 
diff --git a/hugolib/site_new.go b/hugolib/site_new.go
index e5398ba8d..4b3a28bdd 100644
--- a/hugolib/site_new.go
+++ b/hugolib/site_new.go
@@ -361,10 +361,7 @@ func (s *Site) Config() page.SiteConfig {
 }
 
 func (s *Site) LanguageCode() string {
-	if s.conf.LanguageCode != "" {
-		return s.conf.LanguageCode
-	}
-	return s.language.Lang
+	return s.Language().LanguageCode()
 }
 
 // Returns all Sites for all languages.
diff --git a/langs/config.go b/langs/config.go
index 3c7278388..15c0bedbc 100644
--- a/langs/config.go
+++ b/langs/config.go
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ type LanguageConfig struct {
 	// The language name, e.g. "English".
 	LanguageName string
 
+	// The language code, e.g. "en-US".
+	LanguageCode string
+
 	// The language title. When set, this will
 	// override site.Title for this language.
 	Title string
diff --git a/langs/language.go b/langs/language.go
index 232331cae..a1b8f4326 100644
--- a/langs/language.go
+++ b/langs/language.go
@@ -102,6 +102,13 @@ func (l *Language) Params() maps.Params {
 	return l.params
 }
 
+func (l *Language) LanguageCode() string {
+	if l.LanguageConfig.LanguageCode != "" {
+		return l.LanguageConfig.LanguageCode
+	}
+	return l.Lang
+}
+
 func (l *Language) loadLocation(tzStr string) error {
 	location, err := time.LoadLocation(tzStr)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/resources/page/site.go b/resources/page/site.go
index da97dfe6e..ccc36a4ee 100644
--- a/resources/page/site.go
+++ b/resources/page/site.go
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ type Site interface {
 	Title() string
 
 	// Returns the configured language code for this Site.
+	// Deprecated: Use .Language.LanguageCode instead.
 	LanguageCode() string
 
 	// Returns the configured copyright information for this Site.