diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/os/linux.rb b/Library/Homebrew/os/linux.rb
index 96fbbb9037..94c510c821 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/os/linux.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/os/linux.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,18 @@ module OS
       Version::NULL
     end
 
+    def languages
+      @languages ||= [
+        *ARGV.value("language")&.split(","),
+        *ENV["HOMEBREW_LANGUAGES"]&.split(","),
+        *ENV["LANG"]&.slice(/[a-z]+/),
+      ].uniq
+    end
+
+    def language
+      languages.first
+    end
+
     module Xcode
       module_function