diff --git a/NEWS.txt b/NEWS.txt
index 481f19827..4b0dbfbe3 100644
--- a/NEWS.txt
+++ b/NEWS.txt
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ Version 1.0.1 - unreleased
  * Refreshing a non-album track correctly clears previous track metadata (PICARD-220)
  * Fixed the preserved tags setting for tags with uppercase characters (PICARD-217)
  * Added a completion box to the preserved tags setting, and clarified how it works
+ * Store lyrics language in tags instead of text representation language (PICARD-242)
 
 Version 1.0 - 2012-06-02
  * New UI: Extended comparison of existing vs. MB metadata & tags (PICARD-43)
diff --git a/picard/mbxml.py b/picard/mbxml.py
index aafc99bd6..2dbe5caeb 100644
--- a/picard/mbxml.py
+++ b/picard/mbxml.py
@@ -251,6 +251,8 @@ def recording_to_metadata(node, track, config):
 
 def work_to_metadata(work, m, config):
     m.add("musicbrainz_workid", work.attribs['id'])
+    if 'language' in work.children:
+        m.add("language", work.language[0].text)
     if 'relation_list' in work.children:
         _relations_to_metadata(work.relation_list, m, config)
 
@@ -298,7 +300,7 @@ def release_to_metadata(node, m, config, album=None):
             m['label'], m['catalognumber'] = label_info_from_node(nodes[0])
         elif name == 'text_representation':
             if 'language' in nodes[0].children:
-                m['language'] = nodes[0].language[0].text
+                m['~releaselanguage'] = nodes[0].language[0].text
             if 'script' in nodes[0].children:
                 m['script'] = nodes[0].script[0].text
         elif name == 'tag_list':