URL redirection

[RodG]

I have been trying to use this:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.www.example\.co.uk [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?language=en [NC,QSA]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.www.example\.de [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?language=de [NC,QSA]

but this appears to do nothing.
Any help is much appreciated.

I think you're on the right track, BUT......

^www\.www\.example.......................

This will almost certainly never find a match. Re-write these as
^www\.example............ (only one 'www')

Also, in the 1st RewriteCond you are missing the escape character "\" before the "." in "uk".
Should be
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.example\.co\.uk [NC]

In addition to this, it would be prudent to check for the same conditions *without* the 'www'.

Cheers
RodG