diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index 3978555e4..be28a9c54 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ def _real_main(argv=None):
 
     parser, opts, args = parseOpts(argv)
 
-    if opts.default_language is not None:
-        i18n_service.set_default_language(opts.default_language)
+    if opts.i18n_language is not None:
+        i18n_service.set_default_language(opts.i18n_language)
 
     if opts.verbose:
         i18n_service.set_default_language('en_US')
diff --git a/youtube_dl/options.py b/youtube_dl/options.py
index 8853e4b75..197db3332 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/options.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/options.py
@@ -176,8 +176,8 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
         default=False,
         help='Do not emit color codes in output')
     general.add_option(
-        '--default-language',
-        dest='default_language', metavar='LANG_CODE',
+        '--lang',
+        dest='i18n_language', metavar='LANG_CODE',
         help='Specify the default user interface language. Language codes should correspond to RFC 1766 standard, such as en_US or zh_TW.UTF-8. Default is en_US.')
 
     network = optparse.OptionGroup(parser, 'Network Options')