diff --git a/src/main/java/org/meeuw/i18n/languages/ISO_639.java b/src/main/java/org/meeuw/i18n/languages/ISO_639.java
index 566f229..ba88952 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/meeuw/i18n/languages/ISO_639.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/meeuw/i18n/languages/ISO_639.java
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ public static ISO_639_Code iso639(String code) {
      * @since 3.3
      */
     @JsonCreator
-    static @PolyNull ISO_639_Code lenientIso639(@PolyNull String code) {
+    public static @PolyNull ISO_639_Code lenientIso639(@PolyNull String code) {
         if (code == null || code.isEmpty()) {
             return null;
         }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/meeuw/i18n/languages/jaxb/LanguageCodeAdapter.java b/src/main/java/org/meeuw/i18n/languages/jaxb/LanguageCodeAdapter.java
index be59164..cc1e36c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/meeuw/i18n/languages/jaxb/LanguageCodeAdapter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/meeuw/i18n/languages/jaxb/LanguageCodeAdapter.java
@@ -1,20 +1,19 @@
 package org.meeuw.i18n.languages.jaxb;
 
 import jakarta.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlAdapter;
-import org.meeuw.i18n.languages.*;
-import static org.meeuw.i18n.languages.ISO_639.iso639;
+
+import org.meeuw.i18n.languages.ISO_639_Code;
+
+import static org.meeuw.i18n.languages.ISO_639.lenientIso639;
 
 public class LanguageCodeAdapter extends XmlAdapter<String, ISO_639_Code> {
     @Override
-    public ISO_639_Code unmarshal(String v) throws Exception {
-        if (v == null || v.isEmpty()) {
-            return null;
-        }
-        return iso639(v);
+    public ISO_639_Code unmarshal(String v) {
+        return lenientIso639(v);
     }
 
     @Override
-    public String marshal(ISO_639_Code v) throws Exception {
+    public String marshal(ISO_639_Code v) {
         return v.code();
     }
 }