diff --git a/neon_audio/tts/neon.py b/neon_audio/tts/neon.py
index 32e1214..e2d6531 100644
--- a/neon_audio/tts/neon.py
+++ b/neon_audio/tts/neon.py
@@ -223,8 +223,6 @@ def _init_neon(base_engine, *args, **kwargs):
         base_engine.keys = {}
 
         base_engine.language_config = language_config
-        base_engine.lang = base_engine.lang or language_config.get("user",
-                                                                   "en-us")
         try:
             if language_config.get('detection_module'):
                 # Prevent loading a detector if not configured
@@ -245,11 +243,13 @@ def _init_neon(base_engine, *args, **kwargs):
         base_engine.cache_dir = cache_dir
         base_engine.cached_translations = cached_translations
 
-        # Patch breaking change in OVOS that normalizes en-US instead of en-us
-        base_engine.lang = base_engine.lang.lower()
-
         return base_engine
 
+    @property
+    def lang(self):
+        # Patch breaking change in OVOS that normalizes en-US instead of en-us
+        return super().lang.lower()
+
     def _init_playback(self, playback_thread: NeonPlaybackThread = None):
         # shutdown any previous thread
         if TTS.playback: