diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/bm/Lang.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/bm/Lang.java
index e2559ed..a6b1f5b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/bm/Lang.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/bm/Lang.java
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@
                         // trim leading-trailing whitespace
                         line = line.trim();
 
-                        if (line.length() == 0) {
+                        if (line.isEmpty()) {
                             continue; // empty lines can be safely skipped
                         }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/bm/Rule.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/bm/Rule.java
index d55ce8c..3ea1ef9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/bm/Rule.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/bm/Rule.java
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@
                     // trim leading-trailing whitespace
                     line = line.trim();
 
-                    if (line.length() == 0) {
+                    if (line.isEmpty()) {
                         continue; // empty lines can be safely skipped
                     }