i18next: Can not get current language

When I query i18next for current language it always comes back undefined. Retrieving keys and changing languages works fine.

import i18next from 'i18next';
import { reactI18nextModule } from 'react-i18next';
import en_US from './en_US.json';
import fr_CA from './fr_CA.json';
import es_US from './es_US.json';
import en_CA from './en_CA.json';

i18next.use(reactI18nextModule).init({
    resources: {
        en_US: { translations: en_US },
        fr_CA: { translations: fr_CA },
        es_US: { translations: es_US },
        en_CA: { translations: en_CA },
    },
    lng: 'en_US',
    fallbackLng: 'en_US',
    ns: ['translations'],
    defaultNS: 'translations',
    debug: true,
    react: {
        wait: true,
        defaultTransParent: 'span',
    },
});


export default i18next;

import React from 'react';
import i18next, { t, changeLanguage, language } from 'i18next';

export const getLocale = () => {
    return language; //this will always be undefined,
};

Console logging out i18next shows this