diff --git a/radio/src/audio_arm.cpp b/radio/src/audio_arm.cpp
index 1b69b1783..24b519f14 100644
--- a/radio/src/audio_arm.cpp
+++ b/radio/src/audio_arm.cpp
@@ -850,6 +850,9 @@ void AudioQueue::playFile(const char *filename, uint8_t flags, uint8_t id)
 {
 #if defined(SIMU)
   printf("playFile(\"%s\", flags=%x, id=%d)\n", filename, flags, id);
+  if (strlen(filename) > AUDIO_FILENAME_MAXLEN) {
+    TRACE("file name too long! maximum length is %d characters", AUDIO_FILENAME_MAXLEN);
+  }
   fflush(stdout);
 #else
 
diff --git a/radio/src/audio_arm.h b/radio/src/audio_arm.h
index 756352c3c..187f46e58 100644
--- a/radio/src/audio_arm.h
+++ b/radio/src/audio_arm.h
@@ -348,6 +348,8 @@ void pushPrompt(uint16_t prompt, uint8_t id=0);
   #define START_SILENCE_PERIOD()
 #endif
 
+char * getAudioPath(char * path);
+
 void referenceSystemAudioFiles();
 void referenceModelAudioFiles();
 
diff --git a/radio/src/lua.cpp b/radio/src/lua.cpp
index 25d3b8512..2d3a86011 100644
--- a/radio/src/lua.cpp
+++ b/radio/src/lua.cpp
@@ -261,6 +261,15 @@ static int luaGetValue(lua_State *L)
 static int luaPlayFile(lua_State *L)
 {
   const char * filename = luaL_checkstring(L, 1);
+  if (filename[0] != '/') {
+    // relative sound file path - use current languague dir for absolute path
+    char file[AUDIO_FILENAME_MAXLEN+1];
+    char * str = getAudioPath(file);
+    strncpy(str, filename, AUDIO_FILENAME_MAXLEN - (str-file));
+    file[AUDIO_FILENAME_MAXLEN] = 0;
+    PLAY_FILE(file, 0, 0);
+    return 0;
+  }
   PLAY_FILE(filename, 0, 0);
   return 0;
 }