diff --git a/controller/action/NavActions.class.php b/controller/action/NavActions.class.php
index 4c10a227..8f91f5d1 100644
--- a/controller/action/NavActions.class.php
+++ b/controller/action/NavActions.class.php
@@ -23,8 +23,11 @@ class NavActions extends Actions
 
   public static function prepareGlobalItemsPartial(array $vars)
   {
-    $vars += ['selectedItem' => static::getNavUri()];
-    return $vars;
+    return $vars += [
+      'selectedItem' => static::getNavUri(),
+      'selectedCulture' => i18n::getLanguage() . '_' . i18n::getCountry(),
+      'cultures' => i18n::getAllCultures()
+    ];
   }
 
   public static function execute400(array $vars)
diff --git a/controller/action/i18nActions.class.php b/controller/action/i18nActions.class.php
index 0310d050..f56693b6 100644
--- a/controller/action/i18nActions.class.php
+++ b/controller/action/i18nActions.class.php
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ class i18nActions extends Actions
             Session::unsetKey(Session::KEY_USER_CULTURE);
         }
 
-        return Controller::redirect('/');
+        //if session changes update domain
+        //english language = www
+
+        return Controller::redirect($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] ?: '/');
     }
 }
diff --git a/lib/i18n.class.php b/lib/i18n.class.php
index bc8d5ebe..b02aaa52 100644
--- a/lib/i18n.class.php
+++ b/lib/i18n.class.php
@@ -14,46 +14,11 @@ class i18n
     $language = null,
     $translations = [],
     $country = null,
-    $cultures = ['pt_PT', 'en_US'],
-    $subdomainToCulture = array(
-        'pt' => 'pt_PT',
-        'en' => 'en_US'
-    );
+    $cultures = ['pt_PT', 'en_US'];
 
-  public static function register($culture = null) /*needed to trigger class include, presumably setup would happen here*/
+  public static function register() /*needed to trigger class include, presumably setup would happen here*/
   {
-    // Get user preference, if any
-    if ($culture === null)
-    {
-      $culture = Session::get(Session::KEY_USER_CULTURE);
-    }
-
-    // Deduce from subdomain
-    if ($culture === null)
-    {
-      $urlTokens = Request::getHost() ? explode('.', Request::getHost()) : [];
-      $code = $urlTokens ? reset($urlTokens) : 'en';
-      if (in_array($code, static::$subdomainToCulture))
-      {
-          $culture = static::$subdomainToCulture[$code];
-      }
-    }
-
-    // Deduce from HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE
-    if ($culture === null)
-    {
-        $code = explode(',', $_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE']);
-        if (in_array($code, static::$cultures))
-        {
-            $culture = $code;
-        }
-    }
-
-    // Default to en_US
-    if ($culture === null)
-    {
-        $culture = 'en_US';
-    }
+    $culture = static::deduceCulture();
 
     list($language, $country) = explode('_', $culture);
     static::$language = $language;
@@ -113,4 +78,60 @@ class i18n
     }
     return $scope ?: $token;
   }
+
+  protected static function deduceCulture()
+  {
+    $candidates = [];
+
+    //url trumps everything
+    $urlTokens = Request::getHost() ? explode('.', Request::getHost()) : [];
+    $code = $urlTokens ? reset($urlTokens) : null;
+    if ($code !== 'www')
+    {
+      $candidates[] = $code;
+    }
+
+    //then session
+    $candidates[] = Session::get(Session::KEY_USER_CULTURE);
+
+    // then headers
+    // http://www.thefutureoftheweb.com/blog/use-accept-language-header
+    if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE']))
+    {
+      // break up string into pieces (languages and q factors)
+      preg_match_all('/([a-z]{1,8}(-[a-z]{1,8})?)\s*(;\s*q\s*=\s*(1|0\.[0-9]+))?/i', $_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], $lang_parse);
+
+      if (count($lang_parse[1]))
+      {
+        // create a list like "en" => 0.8
+        $langs = array_combine($lang_parse[1], $lang_parse[4]);
+
+        // set default to 1 for any without q factor
+        foreach ($langs as $lang => $val)
+        {
+          if ($val === '')
+          {
+            $langs[$lang] = 1;
+          }
+        }
+
+        arsort($langs, SORT_NUMERIC);
+
+        $candidates = array_merge($candidates, array_keys($langs));
+      }
+    }
+
+    foreach($candidates as $candidate)
+    {
+      foreach (static::getAllCultures() as $culture)
+      {
+        if ($candidate === $culture || substr($culture, 0, 2) === $candidate)
+        {
+          return $culture;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    return 'en_US';
+  }
 }
diff --git a/view/template/nav/_globalItems.php b/view/template/nav/_globalItems.php
index d974fdf0..9e27de83 100644
--- a/view/template/nav/_globalItems.php
+++ b/view/template/nav/_globalItems.php
@@ -23,18 +23,11 @@
   <a href="https://github.com/lbryio"><span class="btn-label">GitHub</span><span class="icon-github icon-fw"></span></a>
 </div>
 <div class="control-item no-label-desktop">
-  <form id="language-form" action="/set-culture" method="POST">
-      <select id="language-dropdown" name="culture">
-          <?php
-          foreach (i18n::getAllCultures() as $culture)
-          {
-              echo "<option>$culture</option>";
-          }
-          ?>
-      </select>
+  <form action="/set-culture" method="POST">
+    <select id="language-dropdown" name="culture">
+      <?php foreach ($cultures as $culture): ?>
+        <option <?php echo $culture == $selectedCulture ? 'selected="selected"' : '' ?>><?php echo $culture ?></option>
+      <?php endforeach ?>
+    </select>
   </form>
 </div>
-
-<script type="text/javascript">
-    var _currentLang = '<?php echo i18n::getLanguage()."_".i18n::getCountry() ?>';
-</script>
diff --git a/web/js/global.js b/web/js/global.js
index d3590994..76d3e422 100644
--- a/web/js/global.js
+++ b/web/js/global.js
@@ -163,9 +163,7 @@ $(document).ready(function() {
     });
   }
 
-  var langDropdown = $('#language-dropdown');
-  langDropdown.val(_currentLang);
-  langDropdown.on('change', function(x) {
-      $('#language-form').submit();
+  $('#language-dropdown').on('change', function() {
+    $(this).closest('form').submit();
   });
 });