diff --git a/doc/article/en-US/i18n-with-aurelia.md b/doc/article/en-US/i18n-with-aurelia.md
index 333d1db2..6c72130a 100644
--- a/doc/article/en-US/i18n-with-aurelia.md
+++ b/doc/article/en-US/i18n-with-aurelia.md
@@ -438,6 +438,9 @@ property plugin `instance.setup` function parameter.
   </source-code>
 </code-listing>
 
+> Passing the option `skipTranslationOnMissingKey` during plugin initialization, will keep your original contents in place and instead add a warning in the console
+about trying to update an element without a matching key.
+
 Any element in your views that has one of those attributes, will be translated when the locale is changed.
 
 <code-listing heading="Attribute based translation with the TCustomAttribute">
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d754751d..bb5302bf 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
     "url": "https://github.com/aurelia/i18n/issues"
   },
   "scripts": {
+    "build": "gulp build",
     "precommit": "gulp lint",
     "test": "karma start"
   },
diff --git a/src/i18n.js b/src/i18n.js
index 9ef793c8..1fbec491 100644
--- a/src/i18n.js
+++ b/src/i18n.js
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 /*eslint no-cond-assign: 0*/
 import * as LogManager from 'aurelia-logging';
 import i18next from 'i18next';
-import {DOM, PLATFORM} from 'aurelia-pal';
-import {EventAggregator} from 'aurelia-event-aggregator';
-import {BindingSignaler} from 'aurelia-templating-resources';
+import { DOM, PLATFORM } from 'aurelia-pal';
+import { EventAggregator } from 'aurelia-event-aggregator';
+import { BindingSignaler } from 'aurelia-templating-resources';
 
 export class I18N {
   static inject = [EventAggregator, BindingSignaler];
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ export class I18N {
 
   setup(options?): Promise<any> {
     const defaultOptions = {
+      skipTranslationOnMissingKey: false,
       compatibilityAPI: 'v1',
       compatibilityJSON: 'v1',
       lng: 'en',
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ export class I18N {
   }
 
   setLocale(locale): Promise<any> {
-    return new Promise( resolve => {
+    return new Promise(resolve => {
       let oldLocale = this.getLocale();
       this.i18next.changeLanguage(locale, (err, tr) => {
         this.ea.publish('i18n:locale:changed', { oldValue: oldLocale, newValue: locale });
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ export class I18N {
     let comparer = nf.format(10000 / 3);
 
     let thousandSeparator = comparer[1];
-    let decimalSeparator  = comparer[5];
+    let decimalSeparator = comparer[5];
 
     if (thousandSeparator === '.') {
       thousandSeparator = '\\.';
@@ -190,18 +191,25 @@ export class I18N {
       // convert to camelCase
       const attrCC = attr.replace(/-([a-z])/g, function(g) { return g[1].toUpperCase(); });
       const reservedNames = ['prepend', 'append', 'text', 'html'];
+      const i18nLogger = LogManager.getLogger('i18n');
+
       if (reservedNames.indexOf(attr) > -1 &&
-          node.au &&
-          node.au.controller &&
-          node.au.controller.viewModel &&
-          attrCC in node.au.controller.viewModel) {
-        const i18nLogger = LogManager.getLogger('i18n');
+        node.au &&
+        node.au.controller &&
+        node.au.controller.viewModel &&
+        attrCC in node.au.controller.viewModel) {
         i18nLogger.warn(`Aurelia I18N reserved attribute name\n
 [${reservedNames.join(', ')}]\n
 Your custom element has a bindable named ${attr} which is a reserved word.\n
 If you'd like Aurelia I18N to translate your bindable instead, please consider giving it another name.`);
       }
 
+      if (this.i18next.options.skipTranslationOnMissingKey &&
+        this.tr(key, params) === key) {
+        i18nLogger.warn(`Couldn't find translation for key: ${key}`);
+        return;
+      }
+
       //handle various attributes
       //anything other than text,prepend,append or html will be added as an attribute on the element.
       switch (attr) {
@@ -254,9 +262,9 @@ If you'd like Aurelia I18N to translate your bindable instead, please consider g
         break;
       default: //normal html attribute
         if (node.au &&
-            node.au.controller &&
-            node.au.controller.viewModel &&
-            attrCC in node.au.controller.viewModel) {
+          node.au.controller &&
+          node.au.controller.viewModel &&
+          attrCC in node.au.controller.viewModel) {
           node.au.controller.viewModel[attrCC] = this.tr(key, params);
         } else {
           node.setAttribute(attr, this.tr(key, params));
diff --git a/test/unit/relative.time.spec.js b/test/unit/relative.time.spec.js
index 6cde107c..0094e217 100644
--- a/test/unit/relative.time.spec.js
+++ b/test/unit/relative.time.spec.js
@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ describe('testing relative time support', () => {
           signaler.signal('aurelia-relativetime-signal');
           expect(elem.innerHTML).toBe('1 second ago');
 
+          component.dispose();
           done();
         }, 1000);
       });
diff --git a/test/unit/skiptranslation.spec.js b/test/unit/skiptranslation.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5019ada6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/skiptranslation.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { StageComponent } from 'aurelia-testing';
+import { bootstrap } from 'aurelia-bootstrapper';
+
+import { bootstrapTestEnvironment } from './staging-helpers';
+
+describe('staged tests', () => {
+  it('should keep original value instead of fallback to key, when defined via options', done => {
+    const target = 'fallback-target';
+    const component = StageComponent
+      .withResources('test/unit/mocks/rt-vm')
+      .inView('<h5 id=' + target + ' t="hello">Hello!</h5>')
+      .boundTo({ mydate: new Date() });
+
+    bootstrapTestEnvironment(component, {
+      resources: {
+        en: {
+          translation: {
+            hello: undefined
+          }
+        }
+      },
+      skipTranslationOnMissingKey: true
+    });
+
+    component.create(bootstrap)
+      .then(() => {
+        const elem = document.getElementById(target);
+        expect(elem.innerHTML).toBe('Hello!');
+
+        component.dispose();
+        done();
+      });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/unit/staging-helpers.js b/test/unit/staging-helpers.js
index 42b253d7..e6ee3f9e 100644
--- a/test/unit/staging-helpers.js
+++ b/test/unit/staging-helpers.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { Backend } from '../../src/aurelia-i18n-loader';
 
-export function bootstrapTestEnvironment(component, resources) {
+export function bootstrapTestEnvironment(component, config) {
   component.bootstrap((aurelia) => {
     aurelia.use
       .standardConfiguration()
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ export function bootstrapTestEnvironment(component, resources) {
         // register backend plugin
         instance.i18next.use(Backend.with(aurelia.loader));
 
-        return instance.setup({
+
+        return instance.setup(Object.assign({
           backend: {                                  // <-- configure backend settings
             loadPath: './locales/{{lng}}/{{ns}}.json' // <-- XHR settings for where to get the files from
           },
-          resources,
           interpolation: {
             prefix: '{{',
             suffix: '}}'
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ export function bootstrapTestEnvironment(component, resources) {
           defaultNS: 'translation',
           fallbackLng: 'en',
           debug: false
-        });
+        }, config));
       });
   });
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/t-attribute.spec.js b/test/unit/t-attribute.spec.js
index cdce631a..bc8b87c3 100644
--- a/test/unit/t-attribute.spec.js
+++ b/test/unit/t-attribute.spec.js
@@ -12,13 +12,18 @@ describe('t-attribute', () => {
       .inView(`<div t.bind="integer" id=${target}></div>`)
       .boundTo({ integer: 1 });
 
-    bootstrapTestEnvironment(component, {en: { translation: { '1': expectedValue}}});
+    bootstrapTestEnvironment(component, {
+      resources: {
+        en: { translation: { '1': expectedValue } }
+      }
+    });
 
     component.create(bootstrap)
       .then(() => {
         const elem = document.getElementById(target);
         expect(elem.innerHTML).toBe(expectedValue);
 
+        component.dispose();
         done();
       });
   });