diff --git a/DOCS/man/options.rst b/DOCS/man/options.rst
index e40e7d2c6d..9141966fc1 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/options.rst
+++ b/DOCS/man/options.rst
@@ -5,11 +5,10 @@ Track Selection
 ---------------
 
 ``--alang=<languagecode[,languagecode,...]>``
-    Specify a priority list of audio languages to use, as IETF language tags.
-    Equivalent ISO 639-1 two-letter and ISO 639-2 three-letter codes are treated the same.
-    The first tag in the list whose language matches a track in the file will be used.
-    A track that matches more subtags will be preferred over one that matches fewer,
-    with preference given to earlier subtags over later ones. See also ``--aid``.
+    Specify a priority list of audio languages to use. Different container
+    formats employ different language codes. DVDs use ISO 639-1 two-letter
+    language codes, Matroska, MPEG-TS and NUT use ISO 639-2 three-letter
+    language codes, while OGM uses a free-form identifier. See also ``--aid``.
 
     This is a string list option. See `List Options`_ for details.
 
@@ -21,7 +20,10 @@ Track Selection
           audio.
 
 ``--slang=<languagecode[,languagecode,...]>``
-    Equivalent to ``--alang``, for subtitle tracks.
+    Specify a priority list of subtitle languages to use. Different container
+    formats employ different language codes. DVDs use ISO 639-1 two letter
+    language codes, Matroska uses ISO 639-2 three letter language codes while
+    OGM uses a free-form identifier. See also ``--sid``.
 
     This is a string list option. See `List Options`_ for details.
 
@@ -31,8 +33,6 @@ Track Selection
           a DVD and falls back on English if Hungarian is not available.
         - ``mpv --slang=jpn example.mkv`` plays a Matroska file with Japanese
           subtitles.
-        - ``mpv --slang=pt-BR example.mkv`` plays a Matroska file with Brazilian
-          Portuguese subtitles if available, and otherwise any Portuguese subtitles.
 
 ``--vlang=<...>``
     Equivalent to ``--alang`` and ``--slang``, for video tracks.
diff --git a/player/loadfile.c b/player/loadfile.c
index cfdc445c98..2dbc9c2b94 100644
--- a/player/loadfile.c
+++ b/player/loadfile.c
@@ -455,9 +455,8 @@ static int match_lang(char **langs, const char *lang)
     if (!lang)
         return 0;
     for (int idx = 0; langs && langs[idx]; idx++) {
-        int score = mp_match_lang_single(langs[idx], lang);
-        if (score > 0)
-            return INT_MAX - (idx + 1) * LANGUAGE_SCORE_MAX + score - 1;
+        if (lang && strcasecmp(langs[idx], lang) == 0)
+            return INT_MAX - idx;
     }
     return 0;
 }
@@ -617,7 +616,7 @@ struct track *select_default_track(struct MPContext *mpctx, int order,
             continue;
         if (sub) {
             // Subtitle specific auto-selecting crap.
-            bool audio_matches = mp_match_lang_single(audio_lang, track->lang);
+            bool audio_matches = audio_lang && track->lang && !strcasecmp(audio_lang, track->lang);
             bool forced = track->forced_track && (opts->subs_fallback_forced == 2 ||
                           (audio_matches && opts->subs_fallback_forced == 1));
             bool lang_match = !os_langs && match_lang(langs, track->lang) > 0;