diff --git a/gramps/gen/plug/_pluginreg.py b/gramps/gen/plug/_pluginreg.py
index 1ff59218a..f748ca8b5 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/plug/_pluginreg.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/plug/_pluginreg.py
@@ -1090,7 +1090,14 @@ class PluginRegister(object):
             fd.close()
             if os.path.exists(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(full_filename),
                                            'locale')):
-                local_gettext = glocale.get_addon_translator(full_filename).gettext
+                try:
+                    local_gettext = glocale.get_addon_translator(full_filename).gettext
+                except ValueError:
+                    print(_('WARNING: Plugin %(plugin_name)s has no translation'
+                            ' for any of your configured languages, using US'
+                            ' English instead') %
+                          {'plugin_name' : filename.split('.')[0] })
+                    local_gettext = glocale.translation.gettext
             else:
                 local_gettext = glocale.translation.gettext
             try:
diff --git a/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py b/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
index c47e73efe..3e997b691 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
@@ -535,8 +535,15 @@ class GrampsLocale(object):
                 LOG.warning("Unable to create collator: %s", str(err))
                 self.collator = None
 
-        self.translation = self._get_translation(self.localedomain,
-                                                 self.localedir, self.language)
+        try:
+            self.translation = self._get_translation(self.localedomain,
+                                                     self.localedir,
+                                                     self.language)
+        except ValueError:
+            LOG.warning("Unable to find translation for languages in %s, using US English", ':'.join(self.language))
+            self.translation = GrampsNullTranslations()
+            self.translation._language = "en"
+
         # This is a no-op for secondaries but needs the translation
         # set, so it needs to be here.
         self._set_dictionaries()
@@ -578,7 +585,8 @@ class GrampsLocale(object):
         if not languages or len(languages) == 0:
             LOG.warning("No language provided, using US English")
         else:
-            LOG.warning("No usable languages found in %s for %s, using US English", ':'.join(languages), os.path.abspath(localedir))
+            raise ValueError("No usable translations in %s" %
+                             ':'.join(languages))
         translator = GrampsNullTranslations()
         translator._language = "en"
         return translator