diff --git a/packages/common/i18next.js b/packages/common/i18next.js
index 22f445cb18077b2ffdaf5e206095c9df985e9a5e..26d78a3feb15f3e36925406da26633cf9f71a95d 100644
--- a/packages/common/i18next.js
+++ b/packages/common/i18next.js
@@ -50,19 +50,26 @@ export function humanFileSize(bytes, si = false) {
  * @param {object} languages - Mapping from languages to translation objects
  * @param {string} lng - The default language
  * @param {string} fallback - The fallback language to use for unknown languages or untranslated keys
+ * @param {string} [namespace] - The i18next namespace to load, defaults to 'translation'
  * @returns {i18next.i18n} A new independent i18next instance
  */
-export function createInstance(languages, lng, fallback) {
+export function createInstance(languages, lng, fallback, namespace) {
+    if (namespace === undefined)
+        namespace = 'translation';
+
     var options = {
         lng: lng,
         fallbackLng: fallback,
         debug: false,
+        ns: [namespace + '-override'],
+        defaultNS: namespace + '-override',
+        fallbackNS: [namespace],
         initImmediate: false, // Don't init async
         resources: {},
     };
 
     Object.keys(languages).forEach(function(key) {
-        options['resources'][key] = {translation: languages[key]};
+        options['resources'][key] = {[namespace]: languages[key]};
     });
 
     var i18n = i18next.createInstance();
diff --git a/packages/language-select/src/dbp-language-select-demo.js b/packages/language-select/src/dbp-language-select-demo.js
index 8a303139f1c0a0003ec9faf6f1ce3e3d56451c6d..2bbf7395ca5853be0680e1ca3441055f2167a171 100644
--- a/packages/language-select/src/dbp-language-select-demo.js
+++ b/packages/language-select/src/dbp-language-select-demo.js
@@ -4,13 +4,39 @@ import * as commonUtils from '@dbp-toolkit/common/utils';
 import { ScopedElementsMixin } from '@open-wc/scoped-elements';
 import {AdapterLitElement} from "@dbp-toolkit/provider/src/adapter-lit-element";
 import {Provider} from "@dbp-toolkit/provider";
+import {i18n} from './i18n.js';
 
+// This is an example on how to override translations at runtime
+let OVERRIDES = {
+    'de': {
+        'translation': {
+            'demo': 'Ãœberschrieben'
+        }
+    },
+    'en': {
+        'translation': {
+            'demo': 'Overridden'
+        }
+    }
+};
+
+function applyOverrides(i18n, namespace, overrides) {
+    for(let lang of Object.keys(overrides)) {
+        let data = overrides[lang][namespace];
+        if (data !== undefined) {
+            i18n.addResourceBundle(lang, namespace + '-override', data);
+        }
+    }
+}
 
 class LanguageSelectDisplay extends AdapterLitElement {
 
     constructor() {
         super();
         this.lang = 'de';
+        this._i18n = i18n.cloneInstance();
+        // FIXME: this overrides the translations for all clones
+        applyOverrides(this._i18n, 'translation', OVERRIDES);
     }
 
     static get properties() {
@@ -19,8 +45,18 @@ class LanguageSelectDisplay extends AdapterLitElement {
         };
     }
 
+    update(changedProperties) {
+        changedProperties.forEach((oldValue, propName) => {
+            switch (propName) {
+                case 'lang':
+                    this._i18n.changeLanguage(this.lang);
+            }
+        });
+        super.update(changedProperties);
+    }
+
     render() {
-        return html`${this.lang}`;
+        return html`<b>${this.lang}: ${this._i18n.t('demo')}</b>`;
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/language-select/src/i18n/de/translation.json b/packages/language-select/src/i18n/de/translation.json
index 625365129e7744b3c3351625f77dae484f24c399..f19ffd1c9ee2210bd784f187a46233b53a4d25b8 100644
--- a/packages/language-select/src/i18n/de/translation.json
+++ b/packages/language-select/src/i18n/de/translation.json
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
   "de": "Deutsch",
   "en": "Englisch",
   "de-action": "Auf Deutsch anzeigen",
-  "en-action": "Auf Englisch anzeigen"
+  "en-action": "Auf Englisch anzeigen",
+  "demo": "Hallo Welt"
 }
diff --git a/packages/language-select/src/i18n/en/translation.json b/packages/language-select/src/i18n/en/translation.json
index 1177302e3a9fad1e64b4d800673db9db0ea25cf8..52ba2b38f51b974f89fea0960cc19e1c569ee5d7 100644
--- a/packages/language-select/src/i18n/en/translation.json
+++ b/packages/language-select/src/i18n/en/translation.json
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
   "de": "German",
   "en": "English",
   "de-action": "Switch to German",
-  "en-action": "Switch to English"
+  "en-action": "Switch to English",
+  "demo": "Hello World"
 }