diff --git a/php/index.php b/php/index.php
index fdbadd0..0f919a0 100644
--- a/php/index.php
+++ b/php/index.php
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@
 echo '<!-- current environment locale: ' . setlocale(LC_ALL, 0) . ' -->';
 
 $litSettings = new LitSettings($_GET, $directAccess);
+// debug value of textdomain path
+echo '<!-- textdomain path: ' . $litSettings->expectedTextDomainPath . ' -->';
 /*
 // debug value of locale that the script was set to after initializing LitSettings
 echo '<!-- setLocale: ' . $litSettings->setLocale . ' -->';
diff --git a/php/src/LitSettings.php b/php/src/LitSettings.php
index a652f26..13eff17 100644
--- a/php/src/LitSettings.php
+++ b/php/src/LitSettings.php
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class LitSettings
     public ?string $NationalCalendar = null;
     public ?string $DiocesanCalendar = null;
     //public ?string $setLocale        = null;
+    public ?string $expectedTextDomainPath = null;
     private ?array $MetaData         = null;
     private bool $directAccess       = false;
 
@@ -133,7 +134,8 @@ public function __construct(array $DATA, bool $directAccess = false)
         ];
         $this->setLocale = setlocale(LC_ALL, $localeArray);
         */
-        bindtextdomain("litexmplphp", "i18n");
+        $this->expectedTextDomainPath = __DIR__ . "/i18n";
+        bindtextdomain("litexmplphp", $this->expectedTextDomainPath);
         //textdomain("litcal");
         $this->directAccess = $directAccess;