diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/ConTeXt.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/ConTeXt.hs
index 2ec86fd78..64092dc6b 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/ConTeXt.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/ConTeXt.hs
@@ -470,8 +470,8 @@ inlineToConTeXt (Span (_,_,kvs) ils) = do
                       Just "ltr" -> braces $ "\\lefttoright " <> txt
                       _          -> txt
       wrapLang txt = case mblang of
-                       Just lng -> "\\start\\language[" <> literal lng
-                                      <> "]" <> txt <> "\\stop "
+                       Just lng -> braces ("\\language" <>
+                                           brackets (literal lng) <> txt)
                        Nothing -> txt
   (wrapLang . wrapDir) <$> inlineListToConTeXt ils
 
diff --git a/test/writers-lang-and-dir.context b/test/writers-lang-and-dir.context
index d58164f38..b309d130b 100644
--- a/test/writers-lang-and-dir.context
+++ b/test/writers-lang-and-dir.context
@@ -98,10 +98,10 @@ German div contents
 
 and more text.
 
-Next paragraph with a \start\language[en-gb]British span\stop  and a
-word-that-includesa\start\language[de-ch]Swiss German span\stop right?
+Next paragraph with a {\language[en-gb]British span} and a
+word-that-includesa{\language[de-ch]Swiss German span}right?
 
-Some \start\language[es]Spanish text\stop .
+Some {\language[es]Spanish text}.
 
 \section[title={Combined},reference={combined}]
 
@@ -116,9 +116,8 @@ French rtl div contents
 
 and more text.
 
-Next paragraph with a \start\language[en-gb]{\lefttoright British ltr
-span}\stop  and a
-word-that-includesa\start\language[de-ch]{\lefttoright Swiss German ltr
-span}\stop right?
+Next paragraph with a {\language[en-gb]{\lefttoright British ltr span}}
+and a word-that-includesa{\language[de-ch]{\lefttoright Swiss German ltr
+span}}right?
 
 \stoptext