diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c5a99ef..d343337 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -71,10 +71,20 @@ bestool write-image out/open_source/open_source.bin --port /dev/ttyACM1
 - Quad tap : Volume Down
 
 ## Changing audio alerts
-The audio alerts are stored in: 
+The default audio alerts are stored in: 
 
 `config/_default_cfg_src_/res/en/`
 
 If you want to change the alert to a custom sound, just replace the sound file you'd like to change
 (ie `config/_default_cfg_src_/res/en/SOUND_POWER_ON.mp3`) with your own MP3 with the same name
 and recompile with `./build.sh`!
+
+### Language support
+
+The `LANG` environment variable can be set when running the `build.sh` script to load sound files
+for languages other than the default English. For example, running `LANG=cn ./build.sh` will load sounds files from 
+`config/_default_cfg_src_/res/cn/` instead of the default `en/` folder. 
+
+The current languages supported with sound files are English (`en`) and Chinese (`cn`). Other languages 
+(or other sets of custom sounds) may be added by adding all the correct sound files into a 
+`config/_default_cfg_src_/res/<custom_language>/` directory and building with `LANG=<custom_language> ./build.sh`.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 278a1d6..34cf9c0 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-make -j T=open_source DEBUG=1 >log.txt 2>&1
+
+# use LANG environment variable, default to "en"
+LANG="${LANG:-en}"
+
+make -j T=open_source LANG=${LANG} DEBUG=1 >log.txt 2>&1
 
 if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
 	echo "build success"