diff --git a/se/se_epub_generate_toc.py b/se/se_epub_generate_toc.py
index d0e6d2f6..abd1badc 100644
--- a/se/se_epub_generate_toc.py
+++ b/se/se_epub_generate_toc.py
@@ -591,8 +591,6 @@ def evaluate_descendants(node: EasyXmlElement, toc_item: TocItem, textf: str) ->
 	"""
 	children = node.xpath("./p | ./h1 | ./h2 | ./h3 | ./h4 | ./h5 | ./h6")
 	for child in children:  # we expect these to be h1, h2, h3, h4 etc
-		if not toc_item.lang:
-			toc_item.lang = child.get_attr("xml:lang")
 		epub_type = child.get_attr("epub:type")
 
 		if child.get_attr("hidden"):
@@ -635,9 +633,14 @@ def evaluate_descendants(node: EasyXmlElement, toc_item: TocItem, textf: str) ->
 			if "title" in epub_type:  # this allows for `fulltitle` to work here, too
 				if toc_item.title or toc_item.roman or toc_item.title_is_ordinal:  # if title already filled, must be a subtitle
 					toc_item.subtitle = extract_strings(child)
+					if toc_item.roman or toc_item.title_is_ordinal:  # in these cases, we want to check language on subtitle
+						toc_item.lang = child.get_attr("xml:lang")
 				else:
 					toc_item.title = extract_strings(child)
-		if toc_item.title and toc_item.subtitle:  # then we're done
+					if not toc_item.lang:
+						toc_item.lang = child.get_attr("xml:lang")
+
+		if toc_item.title and toc_item.subtitle:  # then we're done, get out of loop by returning
 			return toc_item
 	return toc_item