diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/SConscript b/selfdrive/ui/SConscript
index 7ede8c394a..58f237f0ae 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/SConscript
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/SConscript
@@ -96,3 +96,15 @@ if GetOption('extras'):
       f = raylib_env.Program(f"installer/installers/installer_{name}", [obj, cont, inter], LIBS=raylib_libs)
       # keep installers small
       assert f[0].get_size() < 1900*1e3, f[0].get_size()
+
+# Compile gettext .po -> .mo alongside Qt translations
+po_sources = [f"#selfdrive/ui/translations/app_{l.replace('main_', '')}.po" for l in languages.values()]
+mo_targets = [src.replace(".po", ".mo") for src in po_sources]
+msgfmt_bin = 'msgfmt'
+
+# Build each .mo individually to ensure one-to-one mapping
+mo_build = []
+for src, tgt in zip(po_sources, mo_targets):
+  mo_build.append(env.Command(tgt, src, f"{msgfmt_bin} -o $TARGET $SOURCE"))
+
+qt_env.Depends(assets, mo_build)
diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/translations/languages.json b/selfdrive/ui/translations/languages.json
index b0674dee82..132b5088d7 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/translations/languages.json
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/translations/languages.json
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 {
-  "English": "en",
-  "Deutsch": "de",
-  "Français": "fr",
-  "Português": "pt-BR",
-  "Español": "es",
-  "Türkçe": "tr",
-  "العربية": "ar",
-  "ไทย": "th",
-  "中文（繁體）": "zh-CHT",
-  "中文（简体）": "zh-CHS",
-  "한국어": "ko",
-  "日本語": "ja"
+  "English": "main_en",
+  "Deutsch": "main_de",
+  "Français": "main_fr",
+  "Português": "main_pt-BR",
+  "Español": "main_es",
+  "Türkçe": "main_tr",
+  "العربية": "main_ar",
+  "ไทย": "main_th",
+  "中文（繁體）": "main_zh-CHT",
+  "中文（简体）": "main_zh-CHS",
+  "한국어": "main_ko",
+  "日本語": "main_ja"
 }
diff --git a/system/ui/lib/multilang.py b/system/ui/lib/multilang.py
index 966f49ba65..d729a614ed 100644
--- a/system/ui/lib/multilang.py
+++ b/system/ui/lib/multilang.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import os
+import gettext
 import pyray as rl
 from typing import Union
 from openpilot.common.params import Params
@@ -58,4 +59,8 @@ class Multilang:
 
 
 multilang = Multilang()
-tr = multilang.translate
+l = gettext.translation('de', localedir=TRANSLATIONS_DIR, languages=[Params().get("LanguageSetting")])
+l.install()
+# tr = multilang.translate
+# tr = gettext.gettext
+tr = l.gettext