diff --git a/app/treema-ext.coffee b/app/treema-ext.coffee
index 314f30149..c7b6fac65 100644
--- a/app/treema-ext.coffee
+++ b/app/treema-ext.coffee
@@ -248,7 +248,14 @@ class JavaScriptTreema extends CodeTreema
 
 class InternationalizationNode extends TreemaNode.nodeMap.object
   findLanguageName: (languageCode) ->
+    # to get around mongoose emtpy object bug, there's a prop in the object which needs to be ignored
+    return '' if languageCode is '-' 
     locale[languageCode]?.nativeDescription or "#{languageCode} Not Found"
+    
+  getChildren: ->
+    res = super(arguments...)
+    res = (r for r in res when r[0] isnt '-')
+    res
 
   getChildSchema: (key) ->
     #construct the child schema here