diff --git a/packages/vulcan-forms/lib/components/FormComponent.jsx b/packages/vulcan-forms/lib/components/FormComponent.jsx
index 3303dd3f5..51572e4ee 100644
--- a/packages/vulcan-forms/lib/components/FormComponent.jsx
+++ b/packages/vulcan-forms/lib/components/FormComponent.jsx
@@ -196,10 +196,12 @@ class FormComponent extends Component {
 
   Get errors from Form state through context
 
+  Note: we use `includes` to get all errors from nested components, which have longer paths
+
   */
   getErrors = errors => {
     errors = errors || this.props.errors;
-    const fieldErrors = errors.filter(error => error.path === this.props.path);
+    const fieldErrors = errors.filter(error => error.path.includes(this.props.path));
     return fieldErrors;
   };
 
diff --git a/packages/vulcan-forms/lib/components/FormIntl.jsx b/packages/vulcan-forms/lib/components/FormIntl.jsx
index a3a3f9cc6..5db706322 100644
--- a/packages/vulcan-forms/lib/components/FormIntl.jsx
+++ b/packages/vulcan-forms/lib/components/FormIntl.jsx
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import React, { PureComponent } from 'react';
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 import { Components, registerComponent, Locales } from 'meteor/vulcan:core';
+import omit from 'lodash/omit';
 
 class FormIntl extends PureComponent {
 
@@ -11,20 +12,20 @@ class FormIntl extends PureComponent {
   so we just use the order of the Locales array.
 
   */
-  getLocalePath = (locale, defaultIndex) => {
+  getLocalePath = (defaultIndex) => {
     return `${this.props.path}_intl.${defaultIndex}`;
   }
-
+  
   render() {
 
     // do not pass FormIntl's own value, inputProperties, and intlInput props down
-    const properties = _.omit(this.props, 'value', 'inputProperties', 'intlInput');
+    const properties = omit(this.props, 'value', 'inputProperties', 'intlInput');
 
     return (
       <div className="form-intl">
         {Locales.map((locale, i) => (
           <div className={`form-intl-${locale.id}`} key={locale.id}>
-            <Components.FormComponent {...properties} label={`${this.props.label} (${locale.id})`} path={this.getLocalePath(locale.id, i)} locale={locale.id} />
+            <Components.FormComponent {...properties} label={`${this.props.label} (${locale.id})`} path={this.getLocalePath(i)} locale={locale.id} />
           </div>
         ))}
       </div>
diff --git a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/collections.js b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/collections.js
index 28581afdf..965793542 100644
--- a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/collections.js
+++ b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/collections.js
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 import { Mongo } from 'meteor/mongo';
 import SimpleSchema from 'simpl-schema';
-import { addGraphQLCollection, addGraphQLQuery, addGraphQLMutation, addGraphQLResolvers, addToGraphQLContext } from './graphql.js';
+import { addGraphQLCollection, addToGraphQLContext } from './graphql.js';
 import { Utils } from './utils.js';
 import { runCallbacks } from './callbacks.js';
 import { getSetting, registerSetting } from './settings.js';
 import { registerFragment, getDefaultFragmentText } from './fragments.js';
 import escapeStringRegexp from 'escape-string-regexp';
-import { multiQueryTemplate, singleQueryTemplate, createMutationTemplate, updateMutationTemplate, upsertMutationTemplate, deleteMutationTemplate } from './graphql_templates';
+import { Locales, getIntlString } from './intl';
 
 const wrapAsync = (Meteor.wrapAsync)? Meteor.wrapAsync : Meteor._wrapAsync;
 // import { debug } from './debug.js';
@@ -119,6 +119,33 @@ Mongo.Collection.prototype.helpers = function(helpers) {
   });
 };
 
+/*
+
+Custom validation function to check for required locales
+
+See https://github.com/aldeed/simple-schema-js#custom-field-validation
+
+*/
+const validateIntlField = function () {
+  let errors = [];
+
+  // if field is required, go through locales to check which one are required
+  if (!this.definition.optional) {
+    const requiredLocales = Locales.filter(locale => locale.required);
+
+    requiredLocales.forEach((locale, index) => {
+      const strings = this.value;
+      const hasString = strings.some(s => s.locale === locale.id && s.value);
+      if (!hasString) {
+        errors.push({ path: this.key, locale: locale.id, index, name: `${this.key.replace('_intl', '')} (${locale.id})` });
+      }
+    });
+
+  }
+  // hack to work around the fact that custom validation function can only return a single string
+  return `intlError|${JSON.stringify(errors)}`;
+}
+
 export const createCollection = options => {
 
   const { typeName, collectionName = getCollectionName(typeName), schema, generateGraphQLSchema = true, dbCollectionName } = options;
@@ -138,23 +165,23 @@ export const createCollection = options => {
   // generate foo_intl fields
   Object.keys(schema).forEach(fieldName => {
     const fieldSchema = schema[fieldName];
-    if (fieldSchema.type && fieldSchema.type.name === 'IntlString') {
+    if (fieldSchema.intl || (fieldSchema.type && fieldSchema.type.name === 'IntlString')) {
 
       // we have at least one intl field
       hasIntlFields = true;
 
-      // make non-intl field optional
-      schema[fieldName].optional = true;
-
       schema[`${fieldName}_intl`] = {
         ...schema[fieldName], // copy properties from regular field
         hidden: true,
         type: Array,
+        custom: validateIntlField,
       }
       schema[`${fieldName}_intl.$`] = {
-        type: Object,
-        blackbox: true,
+        type: getIntlString(),
       }
+
+      // make non-intl field optional
+      schema[fieldName].optional = true;
     }
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/config.js b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/config.js
index f7dd70f2f..e8808dab6 100644
--- a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/config.js
+++ b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/config.js
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ SimpleSchema.extendOptions([
   'query', // field-specific data loading query
   'selectable', // field can be used as part of a selector when querying for data
   'orderable', // field can be used to order results when querying for data
+
+  'intl', // set to `true` to make a field international
 ]);
 
 // eslint-disable-next-line no-undef
diff --git a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/intl.js b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/intl.js
index 9f5f587a6..c1d5df8c7 100644
--- a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/intl.js
+++ b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/intl.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import SimpleSchema from 'simpl-schema';
-import { Strings } from './strings';
 
 export const Locales = [];
 
@@ -31,14 +30,16 @@ Generate custom IntlString SimpleSchema type
 */
 export const getIntlString = () => {
   
-  const schema = {};
-
-  Object.keys(Strings).forEach(locale => {
-    schema[locale] = {
+  const schema = {
+    locale: {
       type: String,
-      optional: true,
-    };
-  });
+      optional: false,
+    },
+    value: {
+      type: String,
+      optional: false,
+    }
+  };
 
   const IntlString = new SimpleSchema(schema);
   IntlString.name = 'IntlString';
diff --git a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/validation.js b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/validation.js
index 08b677ab2..55768fa6c 100644
--- a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/validation.js
+++ b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/modules/validation.js
@@ -47,11 +47,22 @@ export const validateDocument = (document, collection, context) => {
     errors.forEach(error => {
       // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
       // console.log(error);
-      validationErrors.push({
-        id: `errors.${error.type}`,
-        path: error.name,
-        properties: error,
-      });
+      if (error.type.includes('intlError')) {
+        const intlErrors = JSON.parse(error.type.replace('intlError|', ''));
+        intlErrors.forEach(intlError => {
+          validationErrors.push({
+            id: `errors.required`,
+            path: `${intlError.path}.${intlError.index}`,
+            properties: intlError,
+          });
+        });
+      } else {
+        validationErrors.push({
+          id: `errors.${error.type}`,
+          path: error.name,
+          properties: error,
+        });
+      }
     });
   }
 
@@ -96,11 +107,22 @@ export const validateModifier = (modifier, document, collection, context) => {
     errors.forEach(error => {
       // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
       // console.log(error);
-      validationErrors.push({
-        id: `errors.${error.type}`,
-        path: error.name,
-        properties: error,
-      });
+      if (error.type.includes('intlError')) {
+        const intlErrors = JSON.parse(error.type.replace('intlError|', ''));
+        intlErrors.forEach(intlError => {
+          validationErrors.push({
+            id: `errors.required`,
+            path: `${intlError.path}.${intlError.index}`,
+            properties: intlError,
+          });
+        });
+      } else {
+        validationErrors.push({
+          id: `errors.${error.type}`,
+          path: error.name,
+          properties: error,
+        });
+      }
     });
   }