diff --git a/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/i18n/selection/LocaleSelectionSetup.java b/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/i18n/selection/LocaleSelectionSetup.java
index 98ff8b02f..2884cfaa9 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/i18n/selection/LocaleSelectionSetup.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/i18n/selection/LocaleSelectionSetup.java
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ public class LocaleSelectionSetup implements ServletContextListener {
 		Locale locale = LocaleUtility.languageStringToLocale(localeString);
 
 		if (!"es_GO".equals(localeString) && // No complaint about bogus locale
-				!LocaleUtils.isAvailableLocale(locale)) {
+				!LocaleUtils.isAvailableLocale(locale.stripExtensions())) {
 			ssWarning("'" + locale + "' is not a recognized locale.");
 		}
 
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/LocaleUtility.java b/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/LocaleUtility.java
index efbe51288..4c6bf5745 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/LocaleUtility.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/LocaleUtility.java
@@ -10,10 +10,20 @@ public final class LocaleUtility {
 
     public static Locale languageStringToLocale(String localeString){
         String[] parsedLoc = localeString.trim().split("_", -1);
-        //regex pattern for locale tag with script specified
-        Locale locale = localeString.matches("^[a-z]{1,3}_[A-Z][a-z]{3}_[A-Z]{2}") ?
-            new Locale.Builder().setLanguage(parsedLoc[0]).setRegion(parsedLoc[2]).setScript(parsedLoc[1]).build() :
-            LocaleUtils.toLocale(localeString);
+        Locale locale = null;
+        //regex pattern for locale tag with script and private-use subtag, e.g. sr_Latn_RS_x_uns
+        if (localeString.matches("^[a-z]{1,3}_[A-Z][a-z]{3}_[A-Z]{2}_x_[a-z]{1,}"))
+            locale = new Locale.Builder().setLanguage(parsedLoc[0]).setRegion(parsedLoc[2]).setScript(parsedLoc[1]).setExtension('x', parsedLoc[4]).build();
+        //regex pattern for locale tag with script and private-use subtag, e.g. fr_CA_x_uqam
+        if (localeString.matches("^[a-z]{1,3}_[A-Za-z]{2}_x_[a-z]{1,}"))
+            locale = new Locale.Builder().setLanguage(parsedLoc[0]).setRegion(parsedLoc[1]).setExtension('x', parsedLoc[3]).build();
+            //regex pattern for locale tag with script specified, e.g. sr_Latn_RS
+        else if (localeString.matches("^[a-z]{1,3}_[A-Z][a-z]{3}_[A-Z]{2}"))
+            locale = new Locale.Builder().setLanguage(parsedLoc[0]).setRegion(parsedLoc[2]).setScript(parsedLoc[1]).build();
+            // other, just languge, e.g. es, or language + region, e.g. en_US, pt_BR, ru_RU, etc.
+        else
+            locale = LocaleUtils.toLocale(localeString);
+        String localeLang = locale.toLanguageTag();
         return locale;
     }
 }