diff --git a/models/Message.php b/models/Message.php
index 3ba1d98f..922adaf9 100644
--- a/models/Message.php
+++ b/models/Message.php
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ public function forLocale($locale = null, $default = null)
             $locale = self::DEFAULT_LOCALE;
         }
 
+        if (!array_key_exists($locale, $this->message_data)) {
+            // search parent locale (e.g. en-US -> en) before returning default
+            list($locale) = explode('-', $locale);
+        }
+
         if (array_key_exists($locale, $this->message_data)) {
             return $this->message_data[$locale];
         }