diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 536dec8b2..5746f5e23 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
     "fs-extra": "5.0.0",
     "fs.notify": "0.0.4",
     "hash-sum": "1.0.2",
-    "i18next": "1.10.6",
+    "i18next": "^11.4.0",
     "is-utf8": "0.2.1",
     "js-yaml": "3.12.0",
     "json-stringify-safe": "5.0.1",
diff --git a/red/api/editor/locales.js b/red/api/editor/locales.js
index 32bfa5c80..f9ef022ee 100644
--- a/red/api/editor/locales.js
+++ b/red/api/editor/locales.js
@@ -29,13 +29,13 @@ module.exports = {
         var lngs = req.query.lng;
         namespace = namespace.replace(/\.json$/,"");
         var lang = req.query.lng; //apiUtil.determineLangFromHeaders(req.acceptsLanguages() || []);
-        var prevLang = i18n.i.lng();
+        var prevLang = i18n.i.language;
         // Trigger a load from disk of the language if it is not the default
-        i18n.i.setLng(lang, function(){
-            var catalog = i18n.catalog(namespace,lang);
+        i18n.i.changeLanguage(lang, function(){
+            var catalog = i18n.i.getResourceBundle(lang, namespace);
             res.json(catalog||{});
         });
-        i18n.i.setLng(prevLang);
+        i18n.i.changeLanguage(prevLang);
 
     },
     getAllNodes: function(req,res) {
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ module.exports = {
         var result = {};
         nodeList.forEach(function(n) {
             if (n.module !== "node-red") {
-                result[n.id] = i18n.catalog(n.id,lngs)||{};
+                result[n.id] = i18n.i.getResourceBundle(lngs, n.id)||{};
             }
         });
         res.json(result);
diff --git a/red/runtime/i18n.js b/red/runtime/i18n.js
index b34564f47..763667fee 100644
--- a/red/runtime/i18n.js
+++ b/red/runtime/i18n.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  **/
 
 var i18n = require("i18next");
+
 var when = require("when");
 var path = require("path");
 var fs = require("fs");
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ function registerMessageCatalogs(catalogs) {
 function registerMessageCatalog(namespace,dir,file) {
     return when.promise(function(resolve,reject) {
         resourceMap[namespace] = { basedir:dir, file:file};
-        i18n.loadNamespace(namespace,function() {
+        i18n.loadNamespaces(namespace,function() {
             resolve();
         });
     });
@@ -53,7 +54,9 @@ function mergeCatalog(fallback,catalog) {
 }
 
 var MessageFileLoader = {
-    fetchOne: function(lng, ns, callback) {
+    type: "backend",
+    init: function(services, backendOptions, i18nextOptions) {},
+    read: function(lng, ns, callback) {
         if (resourceMap[ns]) {
             var file = path.join(resourceMap[ns].basedir,lng,resourceMap[ns].file);
             //console.log(file);
@@ -94,13 +97,18 @@ function getCurrentLocale() {
 
 function init() {
     return when.promise(function(resolve,reject) {
-        i18n.backend(MessageFileLoader);
+        i18n.use(MessageFileLoader);
         var opt = {
-            ns: {
-                namespaces: [],
-                defaultNs: "runtime"
-            },
-            fallbackLng: [defaultLang]
+            // debug: true,
+            defaultNS: "runtime",
+            ns: [],
+            fallbackLng: defaultLang,
+            interpolation: {
+                unescapeSuffix: 'HTML',
+                escapeValue: false,
+                prefix: '__',
+                suffix: '__'
+            }
         };
         var lang = getCurrentLocale();
         if (lang) {
@@ -142,5 +150,6 @@ obj['_'] = function() {
     //    opts.defaultValue = def;
     //}
     //console.log(arguments);
-    return i18n.t.apply(null,arguments);
+    var res = i18n.t.apply(i18n,arguments);
+    return res;
 }
diff --git a/test/red/api/editor/locales_spec.js b/test/red/api/editor/locales_spec.js
index f6d1ff762..e83bc0d5b 100644
--- a/test/red/api/editor/locales_spec.js
+++ b/test/red/api/editor/locales_spec.js
@@ -33,16 +33,16 @@ describe("api/editor/locales", function() {
             locales.init({
                 i18n: {
                     i: {
-                        lng: function() { return 'en-US'},
-                        setLng: function(lang,callback) {
+                        language: function() { return 'en-US'},
+                        changeLanguage: function(lang,callback) {
                             if (callback) {
                                 callback();
                             }
+                        },
+                        getResourceBundle: function(lang, namespace) {
+                            return {namespace:namespace, lang:lang};
                         }
                     },
-                    catalog: function(namespace, lang) {
-                        return {namespace:namespace, lang:lang};
-                    }
                 }
             });
             app = express();
@@ -81,13 +81,15 @@ describe("api/editor/locales", function() {
             // bit of a mess of internal workings
             locales.init({
                 i18n: {
-                    catalog: function(namespace, lang) {
-                        return {
-                            "node-red": "should not return",
-                            "test-module-a-id": "test-module-a-catalog",
-                            "test-module-b-id": "test-module-b-catalog",
-                            "test-module-c-id": "test-module-c-catalog"
-                        }[namespace]
+                    i:{
+                        getResourceBundle: function(lang, namespace) {
+                            return {
+                                "node-red": "should not return",
+                                "test-module-a-id": "test-module-a-catalog",
+                                "test-module-b-id": "test-module-b-catalog",
+                                "test-module-c-id": "test-module-c-catalog"
+                            }[namespace]
+                        }
                     }
                 },
                 nodes: {