diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index db9ce6b..342a545 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
 # nemo-view changelog
 
+## v1.2.0
+
+* add realtime locale switching support (see https://github.com/paypal/nemo-view/issues/31)
+
+## v1.1.0
+
+* add new methods `[locatorName]TextEquals` and `[locatorName]AttrEquals` (see https://github.com/paypal/nemo-view/pull/29)
+* add optional msg parameter to generic methods (see https://github.com/paypal/nemo-view/pull/28)
+
+## v1.0.3
+
+Change API to match `nemo@1.0`
+
 ## v0.3.2-beta
 
 Add support for module based locators and path based locators. I.e. you can put locators into commonjs modules as well as into other directory structure
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 73203c8..012be9b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -379,9 +379,46 @@ Other than that, the nemo-view uses nemo-locatex internally, so if you change yo
   * value: the expected value for the element
 * returns: Promise which resolves to true when the expected text matches
 
-## Using LOCALE specific locators
+## Using locator specialization
 
-Please see these sections in the nemo-locatex README:
-* https://github.com/paypal/nemo-locatex#changing-your-locator-files
-* https://github.com/paypal/nemo-locatex#setting-locale
+You can specify different locator strings/strategies based on the `data.locale` configuration value.
+To do so, first modify the entry you wish to be specialized:
 
+```js
+{
+  "myLocator": {
+    "type": "css",
+    "locator": ".myLocator"
+  }
+}
+```
+
+changes to
+
+```js
+{
+  "myLocator": {
+    "default": {
+       "type": "css",
+       "locator": ".myLocator"
+     },
+    "DE": {
+      "type": "css",
+      "locator": ".meinLocator"
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+You can set the `data.locale` property as follows:
+
+```js
+nemo._config.set('data:locale', 'DE');
+```
+
+For a working example, refer to the unit tests for the locale feature (found in `test/locale.js`) in this module.
+
+_NOTE: This feature is a carry-over from earlier versions of nemo-view. It is understood now that the above feature does
+not actually represent "locale" specificity as defined by bcp47 (https://tools.ietf.org/html/bcp47). See discussion
+[here](https://github.com/paypal/nemo-view/pull/32) and issue [here](https://github.com/paypal/nemo-view/issues/33).
+Follow along as we discuss a backwards compatible way to resolve this unfortunate nomenclature error.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/locatex.js b/lib/locatex.js
index 5c77043..aeb7b8b 100644
--- a/lib/locatex.js
+++ b/lib/locatex.js
@@ -1,12 +1,9 @@
 'use strict';
 
 module.exports = function (nemo) {
-  return function locatex(viewJSON, locatorArray) {
-    var locale = (nemo.data && nemo.data.locale) ? nemo.data.locale : 'default',
-      locatr = viewJSON;
-    locatorArray.forEach(function (level) {
-      locatr = locatr[level];
-    });
-    return locatr[locale] || locatr['default'] || locatr;
+  return function locatex(locatorJSON) {
+    var locale = nemo._config.get('data:locale') || 'default';
+    var localizedLocatorJSON = locatorJSON[locale] || locatorJSON['default'] || locatorJSON;
+    return localizedLocatorJSON;
   };
 };
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/locreator.js b/lib/locreator.js
index 58d0238..d85dd5c 100644
--- a/lib/locreator.js
+++ b/lib/locreator.js
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@ var Drivex = require('selenium-drivex');
 var Locatex = require('./locatex');
 var _ = require('lodash');
 var normalize = require('./normalize');
+var debug = require('debug');
+var log = debug('nemo-view:log');
 
 var Locreator = function (nemo) {
+  log('creating Locreator instance');
   this.nemo = nemo;
   this.drivex = Drivex(nemo.driver, nemo.wd);
   this.locatex = Locatex(nemo);
@@ -13,6 +16,7 @@ var Locreator = function (nemo) {
   };
 };
 Locreator.prototype.addGenericMethods = function generics() {
+  log('adding generic methods');
   var normify = this.normify;
   var drivex = this.drivex;
   var nemo = this.nemo;
@@ -44,56 +48,63 @@ Locreator.prototype.addGenericMethods = function generics() {
   };
 };
 
-Locreator.prototype.addStarMethods = function locreator(locatorId, _locator, parentWebElement) {
+Locreator.prototype.addStarMethods = function addStarMethods(locatorId, locatorJSON, parentWebElement) {
+  log('add star methods for %s', locatorId);
   var locatorObject = {};
   var drivex = this.drivex;
-  var locator = this.normify(_locator);
+  var locreator = this;
+  var locator = function () {
+    return locreator.normify(locreator.locatex(locatorJSON));
+  };
+
+  //this is an error check. if an error thrown, invalid locatorJSON.
+  locator();
 
   locatorObject[locatorId] = function () {
-    return drivex.find(locator, parentWebElement);
+    return drivex.find(locator(), parentWebElement);
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'By'] = function () {
-    return locator;
+    return locator();
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'Present'] = function () {
-    return drivex.present(locator, parentWebElement);
+    return drivex.present(locator(), parentWebElement);
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'Wait'] = function (timeout, msg) {
-    return drivex.waitForElementPromise(locator, timeout || 5000, msg);
+    return drivex.waitForElementPromise(locator(), timeout || 5000, msg);
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'WaitVisible'] = function (timeout, msg) {
-    return drivex.waitForElementVisiblePromise(locator, timeout || 5000, msg);
+    return drivex.waitForElementVisiblePromise(locator(), timeout || 5000, msg);
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'Visible'] = function () {
-    return drivex.visible(locator, parentWebElement);
+    return drivex.visible(locator(), parentWebElement);
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'OptionText'] = function (optionText) {
-    return drivex.selectByOptionText(locator, optionText, parentWebElement);
+    return drivex.selectByOptionText(locator(), optionText, parentWebElement);
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'OptionValue'] = function (optionValue) {
-    return drivex.selectByOptionValue(locator, optionValue, parentWebElement);
+    return drivex.selectByOptionValue(locator(), optionValue, parentWebElement);
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'TextEquals'] = function (value) {
-    return drivex.validateText(locator, parentWebElement, value) ;
+    return drivex.validateText(locator(), parentWebElement, value) ;
   };
   locatorObject[locatorId + 'AttrEquals'] = function (attribute, value) {
-    return drivex.validateAttributeValue(locator, parentWebElement, attribute, value);
+    return drivex.validateAttributeValue(locator(), parentWebElement, attribute, value);
   };
   return locatorObject;
 };
 
-Locreator.prototype.addGroup = function (viewJSON, locator, locatorId) {
+Locreator.prototype.addGroup = function (locatorId, locatorJSON) {
   var nemo = this.nemo;
   var drivex = this.drivex;
-  var locatex = this.locatex;
-  var self = this;
+  var locreator = this;
   return function () { //give back the nemo.view.viewname.list() function
-    return drivex.finds(normalize(nemo, locator)).then(function (parentWebElements) {
+    var localizedJSON = locreator.locatex(locatorJSON);
+    return drivex.finds(locreator.normify(localizedJSON)).then(function (parentWebElements) {
       return nemo.wd.promise.map(parentWebElements, function (parentWebElement) {
         var parentObject = {};
-        Object.keys(viewJSON[locatorId].Elements).forEach(function (childLocatorId) {
-          var childLocator = locatex(viewJSON, [locatorId, 'Elements', childLocatorId]);
-          var starMethods = self.addStarMethods(childLocatorId, childLocator, parentWebElement);
+        Object.keys(localizedJSON.Elements).forEach(function (childLocatorId) {
+          var childLocatorJSON = localizedJSON.Elements[childLocatorId];
+          var starMethods = locreator.addStarMethods(childLocatorId, childLocatorJSON, parentWebElement);
           _.merge(parentObject, starMethods);
         });
         return parentObject;
diff --git a/lib/normalize.js b/lib/normalize.js
index 61f3ec0..c4f6e7b 100644
--- a/lib/normalize.js
+++ b/lib/normalize.js
@@ -31,8 +31,10 @@ var _splitLocator = function (nemo, locatorString) {
  */
 module.exports = function normalize(nemo, _locator) {
   var locator = _locator;
+  var normalizedLocator;
   if (_locator.constructor === String) {
     locator = _splitLocator(nemo, _locator);
   }
-  return nemo.wd.By[locator.type](locator.locator);
+  normalizedLocator = nemo.wd.By[locator.type](locator.locator);
+  return normalizedLocator;
 };
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/view.js b/lib/view.js
index ff63444..f5389c3 100644
--- a/lib/view.js
+++ b/lib/view.js
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ var _ = require('lodash');
 
 module.exports = function View(nemo, locreator, viewJSON) {
   return _.transform(viewJSON, function (_viewObject, n, locatorId) {
-    var locator = locreator.locatex(viewJSON, [locatorId]);
-    if (viewJSON[locatorId].Elements) {
-      _viewObject[locatorId] = locreator.addGroup(viewJSON, locator, locatorId);
+    var locatorJSON = viewJSON[locatorId];
+    if (locreator.locatex(locatorJSON).Elements) {
+      _viewObject[locatorId] = locreator.addGroup(locatorId, locatorJSON);
     } else {
-      _.merge(_viewObject, locreator.addStarMethods(locatorId, locator));
+      _.merge(_viewObject, locreator.addStarMethods(locatorId, locatorJSON));
     }
   });
 };
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 4fc6a87..8f9b5ec 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "nemo-view",
-  "version": "1.1.0",
+  "version": "1.2.0",
   "description": "View Interface for nemo views (requires nemo-drivex and nemo-locatex plugins)",
   "main": "index.js",
   "registerAs": "view",
diff --git a/test/locale.js b/test/locale.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7538619
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/locale.js
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/* global describe,before,after,beforeEach,it */
+'use strict';
+
+var Nemo = require('nemo'),
+  nemo = {},
+  path = require('path'),
+  assert = require('assert'),
+  util = require(path.resolve(__dirname, 'util'));
+
+describe('nemo-view @locale@', function () {
+  before(function (done) {
+    nemo = Nemo({
+      plugins: {
+        view: {
+          module: 'path:../',
+          arguments: ['path:mocks/locale']
+        }
+      }
+    }, done);
+  });
+  after(function (done) {
+    nemo.driver.quit().then(done);
+  });
+  beforeEach(function (done) {
+    nemo.driver.get(nemo.data.baseUrl);
+    util.waitForJSReady(nemo).then(util.doneSuccess(done), util.doneError(done));
+  });
+  it('works for standard locators', function (done) {
+    nemo.view.form.text().getAttribute('id').then(function (idValue) {
+      assert.equal(idValue, 'foo_text');
+      nemo._config.set('data:locale', 'DE');
+    }).then(function () {
+      return nemo.view.form.text().getAttribute('id');
+    }).then(function (idValue) {
+      assert.equal(idValue, 'bar_text');
+      nemo._config.set('data:locale', '');
+    }).then(function () {
+      return nemo.view.form.text().getAttribute('id');
+    }).then(function (idValue) {
+      assert.equal(idValue, 'foo_text');
+      done();
+    });
+  });
+  it('works for Elements with inner locale scope', function (done) {
+    nemo.view.form.boxInnerLocale().then(function (elts) {
+      return elts[0].elt().getAttribute('type').then(function (typeValue) {
+        assert.equal(typeValue, 'text');
+        nemo._config.set('data:locale', 'DE');
+        return elts[0].elt().getAttribute('type');
+      });
+    }).then(function (typeValue) {
+      assert.equal(typeValue, 'button');
+      done();
+    });
+  });
+  it('works for Elements with outer locale scope', function (done) {
+    nemo._config.set('data:locale', null);
+    nemo.view.form.boxOuterLocale().then(function (elts) {
+      elts[0].elt().getAttribute('id').then(function (idValue) {
+        assert.equal(idValue, 'foo_text');
+        return true;
+      });
+    }).then(function (typeValue) {
+      nemo._config.set('data:locale', 'DE');
+      nemo.view.form.boxOuterLocale().then(function (elts) {
+        elts[0].elt().getAttribute('id').then(function (idValue) {
+          assert.equal(idValue, 'bar_text');
+          done();
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/mocks/locale/form.json b/test/mocks/locale/form.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a78f36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/mocks/locale/form.json
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+{
+  "text": {
+    "default": {
+      "locator": "#foo input.texty",
+      "type": "css"
+    },
+    "DE": {
+      "locator": "#bar input.texty",
+      "type": "css"
+    }
+  },
+  "boxInnerLocale": {
+    "locator": "#foo",
+    "type": "css",
+    "Elements": {
+      "elt": {
+        "default": "input.texty",
+        "DE": "[type=button]"
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "boxOuterLocale": {
+    "default": {
+      "locator": "#foo",
+      "type": "css",
+      "Elements": {
+        "elt": "input.texty"
+      }
+    },
+    "DE": {
+      "locator": "#bar",
+      "type": "css",
+      "Elements": {
+        "elt": "input.texty"
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file