diff --git a/src/kernel/config.c b/src/kernel/config.c
index 01fb7a7ee..d7ad98ecc 100644
--- a/src/kernel/config.c
+++ b/src/kernel/config.c
@@ -1736,12 +1736,51 @@ static const char * parameter_key(int i)
   return parameters[i];
 }
 
+
+void init_terrains_translation(const struct locale *lang) {
+    void **tokens;
+    const terrain_type *terrain;
+    
+    tokens = get_translations(lang, UT_TERRAINS);
+    for (terrain = terrains(); terrain != NULL; terrain = terrain->next) {
+        variant var;
+        const char *name;
+        var.v = (void *)terrain;
+        name = LOC(lang, terrain->_name);
+        if (name) {
+            addtoken(tokens, name, var);
+        }
+        else {
+            log_error_n("no translation for terrain %s in locale %s", terrain->_name, locale_name(lang));
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+void init_options_translation(const struct locale * lang) {
+    void **tokens;
+    int i;
+
+    tokens = get_translations(lang, UT_OPTIONS);
+    for (i = 0; i != MAXOPTIONS; ++i) {
+        variant var;
+        var.i = i;
+        if (options[i]) {
+            const char *name = LOC(lang, options[i]);
+            if (name) {
+                addtoken(tokens, name, var);
+            }
+            else {
+                log_error_n("no translation for OPTION %s in locale %s", options[i], locale_name(lang));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 static void init_locale(const struct locale *lang)
 {
     variant var;
     int i;
     const struct race *rc;
-    const terrain_type *terrain;
     void **tokens;
 
     tokens = get_translations(lang, UT_MAGIC);
@@ -1755,12 +1794,19 @@ static void init_locale(const struct locale *lang)
         sstr = _strdup(str);
         tok = strtok(sstr, " ");
         while (tok) {
+            const char *name;
             for (i = 0; i != MAXMAGIETYP; ++i) {
                 if (strcmp(tok, magic_school[i]) == 0) break;
             }
             assert(i != MAXMAGIETYP);
             var.i = i;
-            addtoken(tokens, LOC(lang, mkname("school", tok)), var);
+            name = LOC(lang, mkname("school", tok));
+            if (name) {
+                addtoken(tokens, name, var);
+            }
+            else {
+                log_error_n("no translation for magic school %s in locale %s", tok, locale_name(lang));
+            }
             tok = strtok(NULL, " ");
         }
         free(sstr);
@@ -1772,24 +1818,18 @@ static void init_locale(const struct locale *lang)
 
     tokens = get_translations(lang, UT_RACES);
     for (rc = races; rc; rc = rc->next) {
+        const char *name;
         var.v = (void *)rc;
-        addtoken(tokens, LOC(lang, rc_name(rc, 1)), var);
-        addtoken(tokens, LOC(lang, rc_name(rc, 0)), var);
+        name = LOC(lang, rc_name(rc, 1));
+        if (name) addtoken(tokens, name, var);
+        name = LOC(lang, rc_name(rc, 0));
+        if (name) addtoken(tokens, name, var);
     }
 
     init_translations(lang, UT_PARAMS, parameter_key, MAXPARAMS);
 
-    tokens = get_translations(lang, UT_OPTIONS);
-    for (i = 0; i != MAXOPTIONS; ++i) {
-        var.i = i;
-        if (options[i]) addtoken(tokens, LOC(lang, options[i]), var);
-    }
-
-    tokens = get_translations(lang, UT_TERRAINS);
-    for (terrain = terrains(); terrain != NULL; terrain = terrain->next) {
-        var.v = (void *)terrain;
-        addtoken(tokens, LOC(lang, terrain->_name), var);
-    }
+    init_options_translation(lang);
+    init_terrains_translation(lang);
 }
 
 typedef struct param {
@@ -1918,10 +1958,7 @@ void init_locales(void)
 {
     int l;
     for (l = 0; localenames[l]; ++l) {
-        const struct locale *lang = get_locale(localenames[l]);
-        if (!lang) {
-            lang = get_or_create_locale(localenames[l]);
-        }
+        const struct locale *lang = get_or_create_locale(localenames[l]);
         init_locale(lang);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/kernel/config.h b/src/kernel/config.h
index 6aef0a61e..859f5e0a6 100644
--- a/src/kernel/config.h
+++ b/src/kernel/config.h
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ extern "C" {
 /* ------------------------------------------------------------- */
   void add_translation(struct critbit_tree **cb, const char *str, int i);
   void init_translations(const struct locale *lang, int ut, const char * (*string_cb)(int i), int maxstrings);
+  void init_locales(void);
   int shipspeed(const struct ship *sh, const struct unit *u);
 
 #define i2b(i) ((bool)((i)?(true):(false)))
diff --git a/src/kernel/jsonconf.c b/src/kernel/jsonconf.c
index 829e93113..232a8890a 100644
--- a/src/kernel/jsonconf.c
+++ b/src/kernel/jsonconf.c
@@ -670,5 +670,6 @@ void json_config(cJSON *json) {
             log_error_n("config contains unknown attribute %s", child->string);
         }
     }
+    init_locales();
 }
 
diff --git a/src/kernel/jsonconf.test.c b/src/kernel/jsonconf.test.c
index 5083f8e73..a9283ecc3 100644
--- a/src/kernel/jsonconf.test.c
+++ b/src/kernel/jsonconf.test.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "types.h"
 #include "jsonconf.h"
 
+#include "config.h"
 #include "building.h"
 #include "direction.h"
 #include "item.h"
@@ -97,6 +98,23 @@ static void test_races(CuTest * tc)
     test_cleanup();
 }
 
+static void test_findrace(CuTest *tc) {
+    const char * data = "{\"races\": { \"dwarf\": {} }, \"strings\": { \"de\" : { \"race::dwarf\" : \"Zwerg\" } } }";
+    cJSON *json = cJSON_Parse(data);
+    const struct locale *lang;
+    const race *rc;
+
+    CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, json);
+    test_cleanup();
+    lang = get_or_create_locale("de");
+    CuAssertPtrEquals(tc, 0, (void *)findrace("Zwerg", lang));
+
+    json_config(json);
+    rc = findrace("Zwerg", lang);
+    CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, rc);
+    CuAssertStrEquals(tc, "dwarf", rc->_name[0]);
+}
+
 static void test_items(CuTest * tc)
 {
     const char * data = "{\"items\": { "
@@ -389,6 +407,7 @@ CuSuite *get_jsonconf_suite(void)
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_castles);
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_terrains);
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_races);
+    SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_findrace);
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_strings);
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_spells);
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_flags);
diff --git a/src/kernel/xmlreader.c b/src/kernel/xmlreader.c
index 3832c9bb1..933fcaaa2 100644
--- a/src/kernel/xmlreader.c
+++ b/src/kernel/xmlreader.c
@@ -2175,7 +2175,6 @@ static int parse_strings(xmlDocPtr doc)
   xmlXPathFreeObject(strings);
 
   xmlXPathFreeContext(xpath);
-  init_locales();
   return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/util/xml.c b/src/util/xml.c
index b4f7dadac..078b08b9b 100644
--- a/src/util/xml.c
+++ b/src/util/xml.c
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ int read_xml(const char *filename, const char *catalog)
       result = 0;
   }
   xmlFreeDoc(doc);
+  init_locales();
   return result;
 #else
     log_error("LIBXML2 disabled, cannot read %s.\n", filename);