diff --git a/src/browser/index.jsx b/src/browser/index.jsx
index 5e4099fb..f4c28269 100644
--- a/src/browser/index.jsx
+++ b/src/browser/index.jsx
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ function teamConfigChange(updatedTeams) {
 
 function handleSelectSpellCheckerLocale(locale) {
   config.set('spellCheckerLocale', locale);
+  ipcRenderer.send('update-dict', locale);
 }
 
 ReactDOM.render(
diff --git a/src/main.js b/src/main.js
index 5ce4f0e9..97aad610 100644
--- a/src/main.js
+++ b/src/main.js
@@ -776,16 +776,22 @@ function handleUpdateMenuEvent(event, configData) {
   }
 }
 
-function handleUpdateDictionaryEvent() {
+// localeSelected might be null, if that's the case, use config's locale
+function handleUpdateDictionaryEvent(_, localeSelected) {
   if (config.useSpellChecker) {
-    spellChecker = new SpellChecker(
-      config.spellCheckerLocale,
-      path.resolve(app.getAppPath(), 'node_modules/simple-spellchecker/dict'),
-      (err) => {
-        if (err) {
-          console.error(err);
-        }
-      });
+    const locale = localeSelected || config.spellCheckerLocale;
+    try {
+      spellChecker = new SpellChecker(
+        locale,
+        path.resolve(app.getAppPath(), 'node_modules/simple-spellchecker/dict'),
+        (err) => {
+          if (err) {
+            console.error(err);
+          }
+        });
+    } catch (e) {
+      console.error('couldn\'t load a spellchecker for locale');
+    }
   }
 }