diff --git a/planetiler-core/src/main/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/Planetiler.java b/planetiler-core/src/main/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/Planetiler.java
index d87fe774d0..47b250879c 100644
--- a/planetiler-core/src/main/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/Planetiler.java
+++ b/planetiler-core/src/main/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/Planetiler.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import java.util.stream.IntStream;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ public class Planetiler {
   private boolean overwrite = false;
   private boolean ran = false;
   // most common OSM languages
-  private List<String> languages = List.of(
+  private List<String> defaultLanguages = List.of(
     "en", "ru", "ar", "zh", "ja", "ko", "fr",
     "de", "fi", "pl", "es", "be", "br", "he"
   );
@@ -547,7 +548,7 @@ public Planetiler addStage(String name, String description, RunnableThatThrows t
    * @return this runner instance for chaining
    */
   public Planetiler setDefaultLanguages(List<String> languages) {
-    this.languages = languages;
+    this.defaultLanguages = languages;
     return this;
   }
 
@@ -587,7 +588,13 @@ public Planetiler fetchWikidataNameTranslations(Path defaultWikidataCache) {
   public Translations translations() {
     if (translations == null) {
       boolean transliterate = arguments.getBoolean("transliterate", "attempt to transliterate latin names", true);
-      List<String> languages = arguments.getList("languages", "languages to use", this.languages);
+      List<String> languages = arguments.getList("languages", "Languages to include labels for. \"default\" expands to the default set of languages configured by the profile. \"-lang\" excludes \"lang\". \"*\" includes every language not listed.", this.defaultLanguages);
+      if (languages.contains("default")) {
+        languages = Stream.concat(
+          languages.stream().filter(language -> !language.equals("default")),
+          this.defaultLanguages.stream()
+        ).toList();
+      }
       translations = Translations.defaultProvider(languages).setShouldTransliterate(transliterate);
     }
     return translations;
diff --git a/planetiler-core/src/main/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/util/Translations.java b/planetiler-core/src/main/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/util/Translations.java
index 7e3c60b0f8..85c87deecf 100644
--- a/planetiler-core/src/main/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/util/Translations.java
+++ b/planetiler-core/src/main/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/util/Translations.java
@@ -22,15 +22,31 @@ public class Translations {
     ThreadLocal.withInitial(() -> new ThreadLocalTransliterator().getInstance("Any-Latin"));
 
   private boolean shouldTransliterate = true;
-  private final Set<String> languageSet;
   private final List<TranslationProvider> providers = new ArrayList<>();
+  private final Set<String> includeLanguages;
+  private final Set<String> excludeLanguages;
+  private boolean defaultInclude = false;
 
   private Translations(List<String> languages) {
-    this.languageSet = new HashSet<>();
+    this.includeLanguages = new HashSet<>();
+    this.excludeLanguages = new HashSet<>();
+
     for (String language : languages) {
+      if (language.equals("*")) {
+        defaultInclude = true;
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      boolean include = true;
+      if (language.startsWith("-")) {
+        language = language.replaceFirst("^-", "");
+        include = false;
+      }
+
       String withoutPrefix = language.replaceFirst("^name:", "");
-      languageSet.add(withoutPrefix);
-      languageSet.add("name:" + withoutPrefix);
+      Set<String> set = include ? this.includeLanguages : this.excludeLanguages;
+      set.add(withoutPrefix);
+      set.add("name:" + withoutPrefix);
     }
   }
 
@@ -85,7 +101,7 @@ public void addTranslations(Map<String, Object> output, Map<String, Object> inpu
       if (translations != null && !translations.isEmpty()) {
         for (var entry : translations.entrySet()) {
           String key = entry.getKey();
-          if (languageSet.contains(key)) {
+          if (careAboutLanguage(key)) {
             output.putIfAbsent(key.startsWith("name:") ? key : "name:" + key, entry.getValue());
           }
         }
@@ -105,7 +121,11 @@ public Translations setShouldTransliterate(boolean shouldTransliterate) {
 
   /** Returns true if {@code language} is in the set of language translations to use. */
   public boolean careAboutLanguage(String language) {
-    return languageSet.contains(language);
+    if (excludeLanguages.contains(language))
+      return false;
+    if (includeLanguages.contains(language))
+      return true;
+    return defaultInclude;
   }
 
   /** A source of name translations. */
diff --git a/planetiler-core/src/test/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/PlanetilerTests.java b/planetiler-core/src/test/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/PlanetilerTests.java
index 0be94acf28..7116edccbb 100644
--- a/planetiler-core/src/test/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/PlanetilerTests.java
+++ b/planetiler-core/src/test/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/PlanetilerTests.java
@@ -2714,6 +2714,17 @@ void testBoundFiltersFill() throws Exception {
     assertTrue(polyResultz8.tiles.containsKey(TileCoord.ofXYZ(z8tiles * 3 / 4, z8tiles * 7 / 8, 8)));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  void testDefaultLanguages() {
+    var planetiler = Planetiler.create(Arguments.of("languages", "default,en"))
+      .setDefaultLanguages(List.of("jbo", "tlh"));
+    var translations = planetiler.translations();
+    assertTrue(translations.careAboutLanguage("jbo"));
+    assertTrue(translations.careAboutLanguage("tlh"));
+    assertTrue(translations.careAboutLanguage("en"));
+    assertFalse(translations.careAboutLanguage("fr"));
+  }
+
   @FunctionalInterface
   private interface ReadableTileArchiveFactory {
     ReadableTileArchive create(Path p) throws IOException;
diff --git a/planetiler-core/src/test/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/util/TranslationsTest.java b/planetiler-core/src/test/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/util/TranslationsTest.java
index 14291c8d8c..091efd95af 100644
--- a/planetiler-core/src/test/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/util/TranslationsTest.java
+++ b/planetiler-core/src/test/java/com/onthegomap/planetiler/util/TranslationsTest.java
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 package com.onthegomap.planetiler.util;
 
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.Arguments;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.MethodSource;
 
 class TranslationsTest {
 
@@ -33,4 +39,25 @@ void testTwoProvidersPrefersFirst() {
   void testTransliterate() {
     assertEquals("rì běn", Translations.transliterate("日本"));
   }
+
+  @ParameterizedTest
+  @MethodSource("includeExcludeCases")
+  void testIncludeExclude(List<String> languages, List<String> shouldCare, List<String> shouldNotCare) {
+    var translations = Translations.nullProvider(languages);
+    for (var lang : shouldCare) {
+      assertTrue(translations.careAboutLanguage(lang));
+    }
+    for (var lang : shouldNotCare) {
+      assertFalse(translations.careAboutLanguage(lang));
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static Stream<Arguments> includeExcludeCases() {
+    return Stream.of(
+      Arguments.of(List.of("jbo", "tlh"), List.of("jbo", "tlh"), List.of("en", "fr")),
+      Arguments.of(List.of("*"), List.of("jbo", "tlh", "en", "fr"), List.of()),
+      Arguments.of(List.of("*", "-tlh"), List.of("jbo", "fr"), List.of("tlh")),
+      Arguments.of(List.of("tlh", "-tlh"), List.of(), List.of("tlh", "en"))
+    );
+  }
 }