My first suggestion would be using a more or less common pattern and placing the drop down where it might be expected - e.g. top left or top right corner of your page. You might also consider placing it above the actual layout.
Second and probably more complicated, but also more effective (though additional) suggestion would be to check the browser language. You could do that through JavaScript and then present a note in that language – might be some hint like "change language" or "is this not your language?" or similar.
German broadcasting station Deutsche Welle uses that approach to a) pre-select a language and b) customizing the language selector -> http://www.dw.de -- you'll find the language selector at the top right corner. Opening that page for the first time will forward you to 'your' language, inform you about that forwarding and offer you to modify that preset.
If you have only few language, printing all of them could also be an option - something like "auf deutsch / en francais / in english". That's how french broadcasting station france24 does it -> http://www.france24.com