diff --git a/lib/twitter/search.rb b/lib/twitter/search.rb
index 4fee2a549..d4a0b575e 100644
--- a/lib/twitter/search.rb
+++ b/lib/twitter/search.rb
@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ def lang(lang)
       self
     end
 
+    def locale(locale)
+      @query[:locale] = locale
+      self
+    end
+
     # popular|recent
     def result_type(result_type)
       @query[:result_type] = result_type
diff --git a/test/twitter/search_test.rb b/test/twitter/search_test.rb
index c92a63e21..bae02df02 100644
--- a/test/twitter/search_test.rb
+++ b/test/twitter/search_test.rb
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ class SearchTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       @search.fetch()
     end
 
+    should "be able to specify the locale" do
+      stub_get("http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=&locale=ja", "search.json")
+      @search.locale('ja')
+      @search.fetch()
+    end
+
     should "be able to specify the number of results per page" do
       @search.per_page(25)
       @search.class.expects(:get).with('http://search.twitter.com/search.json', :query => {:rpp => 25, :q => ''}, :format => :json, :headers => {'User-Agent' => 'Ruby Twitter Gem'}).returns({'foo' => 'bar'})