diff --git a/lib/Text/SpellChecker.pm b/lib/Text/SpellChecker.pm
index 631a635..332bda2 100644
--- a/lib/Text/SpellChecker.pm
+++ b/lib/Text/SpellChecker.pm
@@ -71,9 +71,10 @@ text.

  =over 4

-=item $checker = Text::SpellChecker->new(text => $text, from_frozen => 
$serialized_data)
+=item $checker = Text::SpellChecker->new(text => $text, from_frozen => 
$serialized_data, lang => $lang)

-Send either the text or a serialized object to the constructor.
+Send either the text or a serialized object to the constructor.
+Optionally, the language of the text can also be passed.

  =item $checker = new_from_frozen($serialized_data)

@@ -111,7 +112,8 @@ Replace all subsequent occurences of the current 
word with a new word.
  =item $checker->suggestions

  Returns a reference to a list of alternatives to the
-current word.
+current word in a scalar context, or the list directly
+in a list context.

  =item $checker->text

@@ -165,6 +167,7 @@ sub new {
      bless {
              text => $args{text},
              ignore_list => {},    # keys of this hash are words to be 
ignored
+            ( lang => $args{lang} ) x !!$args{lang},
      }, $class;
  }

@@ -219,7 +222,7 @@ sub next_word {
      my $self = shift;
      pos $self->{text} = $self->{position};
      my $word;
-    my $sp = Text::Aspell->new;
+    my $sp = $self->_aspell;
      while ($self->{text} =~ m/([a-zA-Z]+(?:'[a-zA-Z]+)?)/g) {
          $word = $1;
          next if $self->{ignore_list}{$word};
@@ -235,6 +238,21 @@ sub next_word {
  }

  #
+# Private method returning a Text::Aspell object
+#
+sub _aspell {
+    my $self = shift;
+
+    unless ( $self->{aspell} ) {
+        $self->{aspell} = Text::Aspell->new;
+        $self->{aspell}->set_option( lang => $self->{lang} )
+                if $self->{lang};
+    }
+
+    return $self->{aspell};
+}
+
+#
  # replace - replace the current word with a new one.
  #
  # parameters :
@@ -266,7 +284,12 @@ sub highlighted_text {
  # Some accessors
  #
  sub text         { return $_[0]->{text}; }
-sub suggestions  { return $_[0]->{suggestions};  }
+sub suggestions  {
+    return wantarray
+                ? @{$_[0]->{suggestions}}
+                :   $_[0]->{suggestions}
+                ;
+}
  sub current_word { return $_[0]->{current_word};  }

  #
@@ -274,7 +297,12 @@ sub current_word { return $_[0]->{current_word};  }
  #
  sub serialize {
     my $self = shift;
-   return encode_base64 freeze $self;
+
+   # remove mention of Aspell object, if any
+   my %copy = %$self;
+   delete $copy{aspell};
+
+   return encode_base64 freeze \%copy;
  }


diff --git a/t/Text-SpellChecker.t b/t/Text-SpellChecker.t
index 5334b53..6a6047b 100644
--- a/t/Text-SpellChecker.t
+++ b/t/Text-SpellChecker.t
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
  #########################

-use Test::More tests => 6;
+use Test::More tests => 7;
  BEGIN { use_ok('Text::SpellChecker') };

  #########################
@@ -15,11 +15,18 @@ ok($checker->next_word eq 'Foor', 'Catching English 
word');

  ok($checker->next_word eq 'seevn', 'Iterator');

+# we can call it two different ways
+my @suggestions = $checker->suggestions;
+my $suggestions = $checker->suggestions;
+ok( eq_array( \@suggestions, $suggestions), 'suggestions' );
+
  $checker->replace(new_word => 'seven');

  ok($checker->text =~ /score and seven/, 'replacement');

  my $original = Text::SpellChecker->new(from_frozen => 
$checker->serialize);

+delete $checker->{aspell};  # 'cause the freezing don't carry over
+                            # the Text::Aspell object
  ok(eq_hash($original,$checker),'freezing, thawing');