[JWait]

You didn't post the complete code but I would guess that you put your code in before the ending </table>. This would make it part of the "search" table/form except it is on the next line. What happens if you put your code in a table after the final </form> in search.tpl, or better yet call top_menu.tpl (where it looks like your code came from) separately by putting...
</tr><tr>
<td class="HeadRightBox">
{if $usertype eq "C"}
{include file="customer/top_menu.tpl"}
{/if}
</td>
</tr>

under the part in head.tpl that has...
<td class="HeadLine" height="22">
{if $usertype eq "C"}
{ include file="customer/search.tpl" }
{/if}
</td>

and adding </tr><tr> to close the cell so that your "select language" area is below the speed bar.
(just an idea)