diff --git a/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py b/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py
index 7b8922f4e0..46702e3e59 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py
@@ -1255,6 +1255,15 @@ class OtherTests(unittest.TestCase):
                 zinfo.flag_bits |= 0x08  # Include an extended local header.
                 orig_zip.writestr(zinfo, data)
 
+    def test_writestr_preserve_language_flag_bit(self):
+        with zipfile.ZipFile(TESTFN2, 'w') as zipfp:
+            zinfo = zipfile.ZipInfo("name")
+            zinfo.flag_bits = 0x800  # Set language flag bit
+            zipfp.writestr(zinfo, "data")
+        flag_expected = b"\x00\x08"  # 0x800 little endian
+        with open(TESTFN2, "rb") as rdfp:
+            self.assertEqual(rdfp.read(8)[6:], flag_expected)        
+
     def test_close(self):
         """Check that the zipfile is closed after the 'with' block."""
         with zipfile.ZipFile(TESTFN2, "w") as zipfp:
diff --git a/Lib/zipfile.py b/Lib/zipfile.py
index 4a6b40ee44..c151836ace 100644
--- a/Lib/zipfile.py
+++ b/Lib/zipfile.py
@@ -1564,7 +1564,6 @@ class ZipFile:
         zinfo.compress_size = 0
         zinfo.CRC = 0
 
-        zinfo.flag_bits = 0x00
         if zinfo.compress_type == ZIP_LZMA:
             # Compressed data includes an end-of-stream (EOS) marker
             zinfo.flag_bits |= 0x02