diff --git a/ayanova/src/api/errorhandler.js b/ayanova/src/api/errorhandler.js
index 13ffb9f8..7591c6f9 100644
--- a/ayanova/src/api/errorhandler.js
+++ b/ayanova/src/api/errorhandler.js
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 /*  Xeslint-disable */
 import store from "../store";
+import locale from "./locale";
 
 var devModeShowErrors = false;
 
+//TODO: tie this into form error display somehow so that form can control whether to show particular error or not
+//i.e. dealwitherror(msg,formerrordisplayfunction,bool shouldshowError)
 function dealWithError(msg) {
+  msg = locale.translateString(msg);
   store.commit("logItem", msg);
   if (devModeShowErrors) {
     alert("Error: " + msg);
diff --git a/ayanova/src/api/gzapi.js b/ayanova/src/api/gzapi.js
index 2999909f..ed90a43d 100644
--- a/ayanova/src/api/gzapi.js
+++ b/ayanova/src/api/gzapi.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import store from "../store";
 import router from "../router";
 import auth from "./auth";
 import errorHandler from "./errorhandler";
-import locale from "./locale";
+
 
 function stringifyPrimitive(v) {
   switch (typeof v) {
diff --git a/ayanova/src/api/locale.js b/ayanova/src/api/locale.js
index cca38ccc..40c50066 100644
--- a/ayanova/src/api/locale.js
+++ b/ayanova/src/api/locale.js
@@ -114,5 +114,19 @@ export default {
     shortDateAndTime: "YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss A"
   },
   //timeZoneOffset is in decimal hours
-  timeZoneOffset: -8.0
+  timeZoneOffset: -8.0,
+  ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+  // Take in a string that contains one or more
+  //locale keys between square brackets
+  //translate each and return the string translated
+  //
+  translateString(s) {
+    var ret = s;
+    var pattern = /\[(.*?)\]/g;
+    var match;
+    while ((match = pattern.exec(s)) != null) {
+      ret.replace(match, this.get(match));
+    }
+    return ret;
+  }
 };