diff --git a/doc/man5/taskrc.5 b/doc/man5/taskrc.5
index 9fc5a50f1..01aeaa51f 100644
--- a/doc/man5/taskrc.5
+++ b/doc/man5/taskrc.5
@@ -63,6 +63,13 @@ Valid variable names and their default values are:
 This is a path to the directory containing all the task files. By default, it is set up to be ~/.task,
 for example: /Users/paul/.task
 
+.TP
+.B locale=en-US
+The locale is a combination of ISO 639-1 language code and ISO 3166 country
+code.  If not specified, task will assume en-US.  If specified, task will locate
+the correct file of localized strings and proceed.  It is an error to specify a
+locale for which there is no strings file.
+
 .TP
 .B confirmation=yes
 May be "yes" or "no", and determines whether task will ask for confirmation before deleting a task. 
diff --git a/html/config.html b/html/config.html
index c789f64fc..3cf316f35 100644
--- a/html/config.html
+++ b/html/config.html
@@ -52,6 +52,23 @@
                   /Users/paul/.task
                 </dd>
 
+                <dt>locale</dt>
+                <dd>
+                  <p>
+                    A locale can be specified as a combination of an ISO 639-1
+                    language code (such as 'en'), and an ISO 3166 country code
+                    (such as 'US'), combined in to specify which strings file
+                    to load ('en-US').
+                  </p>
+
+                  <p>
+                    If a corresponding strings file is found, it will be loaded,
+                    and all subsequent error messages and feedback will be
+                    localized.  It is an error to specify a locale without a
+                    corresponding strings file.
+                  </p>
+                </dd>
+
                 <dt>confirmation</dt>
                 <dd>
                   May be "yes" or "no", and determines whether task will ask for
diff --git a/src/Config.cpp b/src/Config.cpp
index aee4287e9..6dcb4c8ba 100644
--- a/src/Config.cpp
+++ b/src/Config.cpp
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ bool Config::load (const std::string& file)
     while (getline (in, line))
     {
       // Remove comments.
-      size_type pound = line.find ("#");
+      std::string::size_type pound = line.find ("#");
       if (pound != std::string::npos)
         line = line.substr (0, pound);
 
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ bool Config::load (const std::string& file)
       // Skip empty lines.
       if (line.length () > 0)
       {
-        size_type equal = line.find ("=");
+        std::string::size_type equal = line.find ("=");
         if (equal != std::string::npos)
         {
           std::string key   = trim (line.substr (0, equal), " \t");
diff --git a/src/StringTable.cpp b/src/StringTable.cpp
index 9dac4626f..4c11db68b 100644
--- a/src/StringTable.cpp
+++ b/src/StringTable.cpp
@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@
 //
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
+#include <fstream>
 #include <sstream>
+#include <text.h>
+#include <util.h>
 #include "StringTable.h"
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -58,7 +61,6 @@ StringTable::~StringTable ()
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-// [data.location] / language . XX
 // UTF-8 encoding
 //
 //  123 This is the string
@@ -66,19 +68,47 @@ StringTable::~StringTable ()
 //  ...
 void StringTable::load (const std::string& file)
 {
-  // TODO Load the specified file.
+  std::ifstream in;
+  in.open (file.c_str (), std::ifstream::in);
+  if (in.good ())
+  {
+    std::string line;
+    while (getline (in, line))
+    {
+      // Remove comments.
+      std::string::size_type pound = line.find ("#");
+      if (pound != std::string::npos)
+        line = line.substr (0, pound);
+
+      line = trim (line, " \t");
+
+      // Skip empty lines.
+      if (line.length () > 0)
+      {
+        std::string::size_type equal = line.find (" ");
+        if (equal != std::string::npos)
+        {
+          int key = ::atoi (trim (line.substr (0, equal), " \t").c_str ());
+          std::string value = trim (line.substr (equal+1, line.length () - equal), " \t");
+          mMapping[key] = value;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    in.close ();
+  }
+  else
+    throw std::string ("Could not read string file '") + file + "'";
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-std::string StringTable::get (int id)
+std::string StringTable::get (int id, const std::string& alternate)
 {
   // Return the right string.
   if (mMapping.find (id) != mMapping.end ())
     return mMapping[id];
 
-  std::stringstream error;
-  error << "MISSING " << id;
-  return error.str ();
+  return alternate;
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/StringTable.h b/src/StringTable.h
index ef0080d97..f5226c3f2 100644
--- a/src/StringTable.h
+++ b/src/StringTable.h
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ public:
   ~StringTable ();                                      // Destructor
 
   void load (const std::string&);
-  std::string get (int);
+  std::string get (int, const std::string&);
 
 private:
   std::map <int, std::string> mMapping;
diff --git a/src/sandbox/Context.cpp b/src/sandbox/Context.cpp
index a8095d165..eca52e2aa 100644
--- a/src/sandbox/Context.cpp
+++ b/src/sandbox/Context.cpp
@@ -95,16 +95,21 @@ void Context::initialize (int argc, char** argv)
       config.set ("color",  "off");
   }
 
+  // Load appropriate stringtable as soon after the config file as possible, to
+  // allow all subsequent messages to be localizable.
+  std::string location = expandPath (config.get ("data.location"));
+  std::string locale = config.get ("locale");
+  if (locale != "")
+    stringtable.load (location + "/strings." + locale);
+
   // TODO Handle "--version, -v" right here.
 
   // init TDB.
-  std::string location = config.get ("data.location");
   std::vector <std::string> all;
   split (all, location, ',');
   foreach (path, all)
     tdb.location (expandPath (*path));
 
-  // TODO Load appropriate stringtable.
   // TODO Load pending.data.
   // TODO Load completed.data.
   // TODO Load deleted.data.
diff --git a/src/tests/.gitignore b/src/tests/.gitignore
index d82085aed..d583ecc30 100644
--- a/src/tests/.gitignore
+++ b/src/tests/.gitignore
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ seq.t
 att.t
 mod.t
 record.t
+stringtable.t
diff --git a/src/tests/Makefile b/src/tests/Makefile
index 6e69f9861..6e7f23555 100644
--- a/src/tests/Makefile
+++ b/src/tests/Makefile
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 PROJECT = t.t tdb.t date.t duration.t t.benchmark.t text.t autocomplete.t      \
-          parse.t seq.t att.t mod.t # record.t
+          parse.t seq.t att.t mod.t stringtable.t # record.t
 CFLAGS  = -I. -I.. -Wall -pedantic -ggdb3 -fno-rtti
 LFLAGS  = -L/usr/local/lib
 OBJECTS = ../TDB.o ../T.o ../parse.o ../text.o ../Date.o ../Duration.o         \
-          ../util.o ../Config.o ../Sequence.o ../Att.o ../Record.o ../Mod.o
+          ../util.o ../Config.o ../Sequence.o ../Att.o ../Record.o ../Mod.o    \
+          ../StringTable.o
 
 all: $(PROJECT)
 
@@ -55,3 +56,6 @@ mod.t: mod.t.o $(OBJECTS) test.o
 att.t: att.t.o $(OBJECTS) test.o
 	g++ att.t.o $(OBJECTS) test.o $(LFLAGS) -o att.t
 
+stringtable.t: stringtable.t.o $(OBJECTS) test.o
+	g++ stringtable.t.o $(OBJECTS) test.o $(LFLAGS) -o stringtable.t
+
diff --git a/src/tests/stringtable.t.cpp b/src/tests/stringtable.t.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4d282d0b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tests/stringtable.t.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// task - a command line task list manager.
+//
+// Copyright 2006 - 2009, Paul Beckingham.
+// All rights reserved.
+//
+// This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+// the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
+// Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
+// version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+// ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
+// FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
+// details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+// this program; if not, write to the
+//
+//     Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+//     51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+//     Boston, MA
+//     02110-1301
+//     USA
+//
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <StringTable.h>
+#include <util.h>
+#include <test.h>
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+int main (int argc, char** argv)
+{
+  UnitTest t (4);
+
+  // Create a string file.
+  std::string file = "./strings.xx-XX";
+  spit (file, "# comment\n1 found");
+  t.is (access (file.c_str (), F_OK), 0, "strings.xx-XX created.");
+
+  // Load the string file.
+  StringTable st;
+  st.load (file);
+
+  // Test the object.
+  t.is (st.get (1, "nope"), "found", "string 1 'found' found");
+  t.is (st.get (2, "nope"), "nope",  "string 2 'nope'  defaulted");
+
+  // Clean up.
+  unlink (file.c_str ());
+  t.is (access (file.c_str (), F_OK), -1, "strings.xx-XX removed.");
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////