A method and apparatus for detection of DLP violations with language detection are described. A DLP product may monitor data content associated with the computing system, and identify a language of the data content. Based on the identified language, the DLP product identifies from among multiple DLP policies a first set of one or more DLP policies that are applicable for the identified language (referred to herein as language-specific DLP policies). The DLP product scans the data content using the first set to detect a violation of one of the DLP policies in the data content, and performs a DLP action in response to the detected violation.