diff --git a/.changeset/great-avocados-turn.md b/.changeset/great-avocados-turn.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..781775351
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/great-avocados-turn.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+"@lingo.dev/_spec": patch
+"lingo.dev": patch
+---
+
+add helper method to spec
diff --git a/packages/spec/src/locales.spec.ts b/packages/spec/src/locales.spec.ts
index c2cfa3994..0291979c7 100644
--- a/packages/spec/src/locales.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/spec/src/locales.spec.ts
@@ -1,21 +1,26 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
-import { getAlternativeLocaleCodes } from "./locales";
+import { normalizeLocale } from "./locales";
 
-describe("getAlternativeLocaleCodes", () => {
-  it("should convert dash to underscore format", () => {
-    expect(getAlternativeLocaleCodes("en-US")).toEqual(["en_US"]);
-    expect(getAlternativeLocaleCodes("fr-FR")).toEqual(["fr_FR"]);
-    expect(getAlternativeLocaleCodes("zh-Hans-CN")).toEqual(["zh_Hans_CN"]);
+describe("normalizeLocale", () => {
+  it("should return normalized locale for short locale codes", () => {
+    expect(normalizeLocale("en")).toEqual("en");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("fr")).toEqual("fr");
   });
 
-  it("should convert underscore to dash format", () => {
-    expect(getAlternativeLocaleCodes("en_US")).toEqual(["en-US"]);
-    expect(getAlternativeLocaleCodes("fr_FR")).toEqual(["fr-FR"]);
-    expect(getAlternativeLocaleCodes("zh_Hans_CN")).toEqual(["zh-Hans-CN"]);
+  it("should return normalized locale for full locale codes", () => {
+    expect(normalizeLocale("en-US")).toEqual("en-US");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("fr-FR")).toEqual("fr-FR");
   });
 
-  it("should return empty array for simple locale codes", () => {
-    expect(getAlternativeLocaleCodes("en")).toEqual([]);
-    expect(getAlternativeLocaleCodes("fr")).toEqual([]);
+  it("should return normalized locale for full underscore locale codes", () => {
+    expect(normalizeLocale("en_US")).toEqual("en-US");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("fr_FR")).toEqual("fr-FR");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("zh_Hans_CN")).toEqual("zh-Hans-CN");
+  });
+
+  it("should return normalized locale for full explicit region locale codes", () => {
+    expect(normalizeLocale("en-rUS")).toEqual("en-US");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("fr-rFR")).toEqual("fr-FR");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("zh-rCN")).toEqual("zh-CN");
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/spec/src/locales.ts b/packages/spec/src/locales.ts
index a0aa98342..d72160fbc 100644
--- a/packages/spec/src/locales.ts
+++ b/packages/spec/src/locales.ts
@@ -237,18 +237,6 @@ export const resolveLocaleCode = (value: LocaleCode): LocaleCodeFull => {
   throw new Error(`Invalid locale code: ${value}`);
 };
 
-export const getAlternativeLocaleCodes = (locale: string): string[] => {
-  if (locale.includes("-")) {
-    // Convert all dashes to underscores
-    return [locale.replace(/-/g, "_")];
-  } else if (locale.includes("_")) {
-    // Convert all underscores to dashes
-    return [locale.replace(/_/g, "-")];
-  } else {
-    return [];
-  }
-};
-
 export const getLocaleCodeDelimiter = (locale: string): string | null => {
   if (locale.includes("_")) {
     return "_";
@@ -271,3 +259,7 @@ export const resolveOverridenLocale = (locale: string, delimiter?: "-" | "_" | n
 
   return locale.replace(currentDelimiter, delimiter);
 };
+
+export function normalizeLocale(locale: string) {
+  return locale.replaceAll("_", "-").replace(/([a-z]{2,3}-)r/, "$1");
+}