diff --git a/docs/howto/i18n.txt b/docs/howto/i18n.txt
index 722ab7ba90..853162aa70 100644
--- a/docs/howto/i18n.txt
+++ b/docs/howto/i18n.txt
@@ -70,3 +70,36 @@ The easiest way out is to store applications that are not part of the project
 ``django-admin.py makemessages`` on the project level will only translate
 strings that are connected to your explicit project and not strings that are
 distributed independently.
+
+Using translations outside views and templates
+==============================================
+
+While Django provides a rich set of i18n tools for use in views and templates,
+it does not restrict the usage to Django-specific code. The Django translation
+mechanisms can be used to translate arbitrary texts to any language that is
+supported by Django (as long as an appropriate translation catalog exists, of
+course). You can load a translation catalog, activate it and translate text to
+language of your choice, but remember to switch back to original language, as
+activating a translation catalog is done on per-thread basis and such change
+will affect code running in the same thread.
+
+For example::
+
+    from django.utils import translation
+    def welcome_translated(language):
+        cur_language = translation.get_language()
+        try:
+            translation.activate(language)
+            text = translation.ugettext('welcome')
+        finally:
+            translation.activate(cur_language)
+        return text
+
+Calling this function with the value 'de' will give you ``"Willkommen"``,
+regardless of :setting:`LANGUAGE_CODE` and language set by middleware.
+
+Functions of particular interest are ``django.utils.translation.get_language()``
+which returns the language used in the current thread,
+``django.utils.translation.activate()`` which activates a translation catalog
+for the current thread, and ``django.utils.translation.check_for_language()``
+which checks if the given language is supported by Django.
diff --git a/docs/topics/i18n/index.txt b/docs/topics/i18n/index.txt
index eed385276b..5e84463957 100644
--- a/docs/topics/i18n/index.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/i18n/index.txt
@@ -18,11 +18,11 @@ Essentially, Django does two things:
       to their language preferences.
 
 The complete process can be seen as divided in three stages. It is also possible
-to identify an identical number of roles with very well defined responsabilities
+to identify an identical number of roles with very well defined responsibilities
 associated with each of these tasks (although it's perfectly normal if you
 find yourself performing more than one of these roles):
 
-    * For applicacion authors wishing to make sure their Django apps can be
+    * For application authors wishing to make sure their Django apps can be
       used in different locales: :ref:`topics-i18n-internationalization`.
     * For translators wanting to translate Django apps: :ref:`topics-i18n-localization`.
     * For system administrators/final users setting up internationalized apps or