diff --git a/include/tts/TtsEngine.h b/include/tts/TtsEngine.h
index 8486532..ca50a5e 100644
--- a/include/tts/TtsEngine.h
+++ b/include/tts/TtsEngine.h
@@ -69,6 +69,14 @@
     TTS_MISSING_RESOURCES       = -6
 };
 
+enum tts_support_result {
+    TTS_LANG_COUNTRY_VAR_AVAILABLE = 2,
+    TTS_LANG_COUNTRY_AVAILABLE = 1,
+    TTS_LANG_AVAILABLE = 0,
+    TTS_LANG_MISSING_DATA = -1,
+    TTS_LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED = -2
+};
+
 class TtsEngine
 {
 public:
@@ -86,19 +94,32 @@
     // @return TTS_SUCCESS, or TTS_FAILURE
     virtual tts_result stop();
 
+    // Returns the level of support for the language, country and variant.
+    // @return TTS_LANG_COUNTRY_VAR_AVAILABLE if the language, country and variant are supported,
+    //            and the corresponding resources are correctly installed
+    //         TTS_LANG_COUNTRY_AVAILABLE if the language and country are supported and the
+    //             corresponding resources are correctly installed, but there is no match for
+    //             the specified variant
+    //         TTS_LANG_AVAILABLE if the language is supported and the
+    //             corresponding resources are correctly installed, but there is no match for
+    //             the specified country and variant
+    //         TTS_LANG_MISSING_DATA if the required resources to provide any level of support
+    //             for the language are not correctly installed
+    //         TTS_LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED if the language is not supported by the TTS engine.
+    virtual tts_support_result isLanguageAvailable(const char *lang, const char *country,
+            const char *variant);
+
     // Load the resources associated with the specified language. The loaded
     // language will only be used once a call to setLanguage() with the same
-    // language value is issued. Language values are based on the Android
-    // conventions for localization as described in the Android platform
-    // documentation on internationalization. This implies that language
-    // data is specified in the format xx-rYY, where xx is a two letter
-    // ISO 639-1 language code in lowercase and rYY is a two letter
-    // ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 language code in uppercase preceded by a
-    // lowercase "r".
-    // @param value pointer to the language value
-    // @param size  length of the language value
+    // language value is issued. Language and country values are coded according to the ISO three
+    // letter codes for languages and countries, as can be retrieved from a java.util.Locale
+    // instance. The variant value is encoded as the variant string retrieved from a
+    // java.util.Locale instance built with that variant data.
+    // @param lang pointer to the ISO three letter code for the language
+    // @param country pointer to the ISO three letter code for the country
+    // @param variant pointer to the variant code
     // @return TTS_SUCCESS, or TTS_FAILURE
-    virtual tts_result loadLanguage(const char *value, const size_t size);
+    virtual tts_result loadLanguage(const char *lang, const char *country, const char *variant);
     
     // Load the resources associated with the specified language, country and Locale variant.
     // The loaded language will only be used once a call to setLanguageFromLocale() with the same
diff --git a/packages/TtsService/jni/android_tts_SynthProxy.cpp b/packages/TtsService/jni/android_tts_SynthProxy.cpp
index c356acb..8537cae 100644
--- a/packages/TtsService/jni/android_tts_SynthProxy.cpp
+++ b/packages/TtsService/jni/android_tts_SynthProxy.cpp
@@ -297,8 +297,32 @@
                 variantNativeString);
     }
     env->ReleaseStringUTFChars(language, langNativeString);
-    env->ReleaseStringUTFChars(language, countryNativeString);
-    env->ReleaseStringUTFChars(language, variantNativeString);
+    env->ReleaseStringUTFChars(country, countryNativeString);
+    env->ReleaseStringUTFChars(variant, variantNativeString);
+}
+
+
+static void
+android_tts_SynthProxy_loadLanguage(JNIEnv *env, jobject thiz, jint jniData,
+        jstring language, jstring country, jstring variant)
+{
+    if (jniData == 0) {
+        LOGE("android_tts_SynthProxy_loadLanguage(): invalid JNI data");
+        return;
+    }
+
+    SynthProxyJniStorage* pSynthData = (SynthProxyJniStorage*)jniData;
+    const char *langNativeString = env->GetStringUTFChars(language, 0);
+    const char *countryNativeString = env->GetStringUTFChars(country, 0);
+    const char *variantNativeString = env->GetStringUTFChars(variant, 0);
+    // TODO check return codes
+    if (pSynthData->mNativeSynthInterface) {
+        pSynthData->mNativeSynthInterface->loadLanguage(langNativeString, countryNativeString,
+                variantNativeString);
+    }
+    env->ReleaseStringUTFChars(language, langNativeString);
+    env->ReleaseStringUTFChars(country, countryNativeString);
+    env->ReleaseStringUTFChars(variant, variantNativeString);
 }
 
 
@@ -567,6 +591,10 @@
         "(ILjava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/String;)V",
         (void*)android_tts_SynthProxy_setLanguage
     },
+    {   "native_loadLanguage",
+        "(ILjava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/String;)V",
+        (void*)android_tts_SynthProxy_loadLanguage
+    },
     {   "native_setSpeechRate",
         "(II)V",
         (void*)android_tts_SynthProxy_setSpeechRate
diff --git a/packages/TtsService/src/android/tts/SynthProxy.java b/packages/TtsService/src/android/tts/SynthProxy.java
index 3bdff37..a8eaaa43 100755
--- a/packages/TtsService/src/android/tts/SynthProxy.java
+++ b/packages/TtsService/src/android/tts/SynthProxy.java
@@ -73,6 +73,13 @@
     public void setLanguage(String language, String country, String variant) {
         native_setLanguage(mJniData, language, country, variant);
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * Loads the language: it's not set, but prepared for use later.
+     */
+    public void loadLanguage(String language, String country, String variant) {
+        native_loadLanguage(mJniData, language, country, variant);
+    }
 
     /**
      * Sets the speech rate
@@ -149,6 +156,9 @@
 
     private native final void native_setLanguage(int jniData, String language, String country,
             String variant);
+    
+    private native final void native_loadLanguage(int jniData, String language, String country,
+            String variant);
 
     private native final void native_setSpeechRate(int jniData, int speechRate);