diff --git a/detectlanguage/client.py b/detectlanguage/client.py
index fa0f6d5..999ca45 100644
--- a/detectlanguage/client.py
+++ b/detectlanguage/client.py
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ def __init__(self, configuration):
 		self.configuration = configuration
 
 	def get(self, path, payload = {}):
-		r = requests.get(self.url(path), params=payload, headers = self.headers())
+		r = requests.get(self.url(path), params=payload, headers = self.headers(), timeout = self.configuration.timeout)
 		return self.handle_response(r)
 
 	def post(self, path, payload):
-		r = requests.post(self.url(path), json=payload, headers = self.headers())
+		r = requests.post(self.url(path), json=payload, headers = self.headers(), timeout = self.configuration.timeout)
 		return self.handle_response(r)
 
 	def handle_response(self, r):
diff --git a/detectlanguage/configuration.py b/detectlanguage/configuration.py
index bd73c3f..2fb0482 100644
--- a/detectlanguage/configuration.py
+++ b/detectlanguage/configuration.py
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ class Configuration:
 	host = 'ws.detectlanguage.com'
 	user_agent = 'Detect Language API Python Client ' + detectlanguage.__version__
 	secure = False
+	timeout = 5