Okay then. I came upon this method by trial and error. Here's how it goes:
You will need to install first the CCCP pack. If you have any other codecs installed for handling .mkv you may need to uninstall it first.
Once you have CCCP installed open "Haali Media Splitter Settings" in the CCCP program group.
You need to click on options-languages-audio language priority and enter "eng" in the dialogue box. This is to ensure that you end up with english.
Once this is done open up the TMPGENC encoder and specify the .mkv file as your video and audio source. I won't spell out how to use tmpgenc as you can find guides for this on other sites. Once the encoding is done you'll end up with an .mpg file with english audio track. From this point on you can do what you wish with the .mpg file.
The screenshot above is of my pc encoding an anime .mkv file and shows the settings I mentioned above. Right-clicking on the Haali icon on the systray shows the settings that are in effect during the encode.
I tweaked my tmpgenc settings so I ended up with video quality just slightly above VCD quality. I did that to be able to fit as many episodes as possible on a single DVD discs. Ended up being able to fit 18 eps. Since this is anime, the resulting vid quality was not bad. The kids enjoyed watching it.