diff --git a/lib/language.php b/lib/language.php
index 2af62fea0c..d72380e466 100644
--- a/lib/language.php
+++ b/lib/language.php
@@ -289,6 +289,21 @@ function get_nice_language_list()
     return $nice_lang;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Check whether a language is right-to-left
+ *
+ * @param string $lang language code of the language to check
+ * 
+ * @return boolean true if language is rtl
+ */
+
+function is_rtl($lang)
+{
+    $all_languages = common_config('site', 'languages');
+    $lang = $all_languages[$lang];
+    return ($lang['direction'] == 'rtl');
+}
+
 /**
  * Get a list of all languages that are enabled in the default config
  *