diff --git a/src/components/LanguageSwitcher.tsx b/src/components/LanguageSwitcher.tsx
index 4589e2b..16bce45 100644
--- a/src/components/LanguageSwitcher.tsx
+++ b/src/components/LanguageSwitcher.tsx
@@ -92,8 +92,12 @@ export default function LanguageSwitcher({ currentLang, onLanguageChange, compac
   const dropdownRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    // Priority: prop > cookie > browser detection
-    const lang = currentLang || getLangCookie() || detectBrowserLang();
+    // Priority: prop > cookie > 'en'. We intentionally do NOT auto-detect
+    // the browser locale here — site content is English-only at this
+    // point, so showing "FR" on a French-locale browser misrepresents
+    // the page. Users opt into another language by picking it in the
+    // dropdown, which then writes the cookie.
+    const lang = currentLang || getLangCookie() || 'en';
     setActiveLang(lang);
 
     // Apply RTL if Arabic