diff --git a/django/utils/translation/__init__.py b/django/utils/translation/__init__.py
index 1788e82878..28ab9c015f 100644
--- a/django/utils/translation/__init__.py
+++ b/django/utils/translation/__init__.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ __all__ = [
     'activate', 'deactivate', 'override', 'deactivate_all',
     'get_language', 'get_language_from_request',
     'get_language_info', 'get_language_bidi',
-    'check_for_language', 'to_locale', 'templatize',
+    'check_for_language', 'to_language', 'to_locale', 'templatize',
     'gettext', 'gettext_lazy', 'gettext_noop',
     'ugettext', 'ugettext_lazy', 'ugettext_noop',
     'ngettext', 'ngettext_lazy',
@@ -193,6 +193,15 @@ def check_for_language(lang_code):
     return _trans.check_for_language(lang_code)
 
 
+def to_language(locale):
+    """Turn a locale name (en_US) into a language name (en-us)."""
+    p = locale.find('_')
+    if p >= 0:
+        return locale[:p].lower() + '-' + locale[p + 1:].lower()
+    else:
+        return locale.lower()
+
+
 def to_locale(language):
     """Turn a language name (en-us) into a locale name (en_US)."""
     language = language.lower()
diff --git a/django/utils/translation/trans_real.py b/django/utils/translation/trans_real.py
index 14e9e046a6..266843aa1d 100644
--- a/django/utils/translation/trans_real.py
+++ b/django/utils/translation/trans_real.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from django.core.signals import setting_changed
 from django.dispatch import receiver
 from django.utils.safestring import SafeData, mark_safe
 
-from . import LANGUAGE_SESSION_KEY, to_locale
+from . import LANGUAGE_SESSION_KEY, to_language, to_locale
 
 # Translations are cached in a dictionary for every language.
 # The active translations are stored by threadid to make them thread local.
@@ -57,15 +57,6 @@ def reset_cache(**kwargs):
         get_supported_language_variant.cache_clear()
 
 
-def to_language(locale):
-    """Turn a locale name (en_US) into a language name (en-us)."""
-    p = locale.find('_')
-    if p >= 0:
-        return locale[:p].lower() + '-' + locale[p + 1:].lower()
-    else:
-        return locale.lower()
-
-
 class DjangoTranslation(gettext_module.GNUTranslations):
     """
     Set up the GNUTranslations context with regard to output charset.
diff --git a/tests/i18n/tests.py b/tests/i18n/tests.py
index 2ab8dd73e2..3837ec9132 100644
--- a/tests/i18n/tests.py
+++ b/tests/i18n/tests.py
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ from django.utils.translation import (
     LANGUAGE_SESSION_KEY, activate, check_for_language, deactivate,
     get_language, get_language_bidi, get_language_from_request,
     get_language_info, gettext, gettext_lazy, ngettext, ngettext_lazy,
-    npgettext, npgettext_lazy, pgettext, to_locale, trans_null, trans_real,
-    ugettext, ugettext_lazy, ungettext, ungettext_lazy,
+    npgettext, npgettext_lazy, pgettext, to_language, to_locale, trans_null,
+    trans_real, ugettext, ugettext_lazy, ungettext, ungettext_lazy,
 )
 
 from .forms import CompanyForm, I18nForm, SelectDateForm
@@ -288,8 +288,8 @@ class TranslationTests(SimpleTestCase):
                 self.assertEqual(to_locale(lang), locale)
 
     def test_to_language(self):
-        self.assertEqual(trans_real.to_language('en_US'), 'en-us')
-        self.assertEqual(trans_real.to_language('sr_Lat'), 'sr-lat')
+        self.assertEqual(to_language('en_US'), 'en-us')
+        self.assertEqual(to_language('sr_Lat'), 'sr-lat')
 
     def test_language_bidi(self):
         self.assertIs(get_language_bidi(), False)