diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 079b2335..02ff01b1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -247,6 +247,8 @@ endif()
 
 install(DIRECTORY webskins
 	DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/znc")
+install(DIRECTORY translations
+	DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/znc")
 install(DIRECTORY man/
 	DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_MANDIR}/man1"
 	FILES_MATCHING PATTERN "znc*")
diff --git a/include/znc/Translation.h b/include/znc/Translation.h
index 0ea4864c..8ecfd2c2 100644
--- a/include/znc/Translation.h
+++ b/include/znc/Translation.h
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@
 #include <znc/ZNCString.h>
 #include <unordered_map>
 
+struct CTranslationInfo {
+    static std::map<CString, CTranslationInfo> GetTranslations();
+
+    CString sSelfName;
+};
+
 // All instances of modules share single message map using this class stored in
 // CZNC.
 class CTranslation {
@@ -38,6 +44,7 @@ class CTranslation {
     void DelReference(const CString& sDomain);
 
   private:
+    // Domain is either "znc" or "znc-foo" where foo is a module name
     const std::locale& LoadTranslation(const CString& sDomain);
     std::unordered_map<CString /* domain */,
                        std::unordered_map<CString /* language */, std::locale>>
diff --git a/modules/controlpanel.cpp b/modules/controlpanel.cpp
index 5472ef74..e26be904 100644
--- a/modules/controlpanel.cpp
+++ b/modules/controlpanel.cpp
@@ -276,7 +276,9 @@ class CAdminMod : public CModule {
             PutModule("StatusPrefix = " + pUser->GetStatusPrefix());
 #ifdef HAVE_I18N
         else if (sVar == "language")
-            PutModule("Language = " + pUser->GetLanguage());
+            PutModule("Language = " + (pUser->GetLanguage().empty()
+                                           ? "en"
+                                           : pUser->GetLanguage()));
 #endif
 #ifdef HAVE_ICU
         else if (sVar == "clientencoding")
@@ -453,8 +455,22 @@ class CAdminMod : public CModule {
         }
 #ifdef HAVE_I18N
         else if (sVar == "language") {
-            pUser->SetLanguage(sValue);
-            PutModule("Language = " + pUser->GetLanguage());
+            auto mTranslations = CTranslationInfo::GetTranslations();
+            // TODO: maybe stop special-casing English
+            if (sValue == "en") {
+                pUser->SetLanguage("");
+                PutModule("Language is set to English");
+            } else if (mTranslations.count(sValue)) {
+                pUser->SetLanguage(sValue);
+                PutModule("Language = " + sValue);
+            } else {
+                VCString vsCodes = {"en"};
+                for (const auto it : mTranslations) {
+                    vsCodes.push_back(it.first);
+                }
+                PutModule("Supported languages: " +
+                          CString(", ").Join(vsCodes.begin(), vsCodes.end()));
+            }
         }
 #endif
 #ifdef HAVE_ICU
diff --git a/modules/webadmin.cpp b/modules/webadmin.cpp
index 966c0a62..b44342a6 100644
--- a/modules/webadmin.cpp
+++ b/modules/webadmin.cpp
@@ -316,7 +316,11 @@ class CWebAdminMod : public CModule {
         pNewUser->SetNoTrafficTimeout(uNoTrafficTimeout);
 
 #ifdef HAVE_I18N
-        pNewUser->SetLanguage(WebSock.GetParam("language"));
+        CString sLanguage = WebSock.GetParam("language");
+        if (CTranslationInfo::GetTranslations().count(sLanguage) == 0) {
+            sLanguage = "";
+        }
+        pNewUser->SetLanguage(sLanguage);
 #endif
 #ifdef HAVE_ICU
         CString sEncodingUtf = WebSock.GetParam("encoding_utf");
@@ -1376,13 +1380,15 @@ class CWebAdminMod : public CModule {
 
 #ifdef HAVE_I18N
             Tmpl["HaveI18N"] = "true";
-            // TODO don't have them hardcoded here
+            // TODO maybe stop hardcoding English here
             CTemplate& l_en = Tmpl.AddRow("LanguageLoop");
             l_en["Code"] = "";
             l_en["Name"] = "English";
-            CTemplate& l_ru = Tmpl.AddRow("LanguageLoop");
-            l_ru["Code"] = "ru-RU";
-            l_ru["Name"] = "Russian";
+            for (const auto& it : CTranslationInfo::GetTranslations()) {
+                CTemplate& lang = Tmpl.AddRow("LanguageLoop");
+                lang["Code"] = it.first;
+                lang["Name"] = it.second.sSelfName;
+            }
 #else
             Tmpl["HaveI18N"] = "false";
 #endif
diff --git a/src/Translation.cpp b/src/Translation.cpp
index dbde1268..cc7e1d6c 100644
--- a/src/Translation.cpp
+++ b/src/Translation.cpp
@@ -15,11 +15,36 @@
  */
 
 #include <znc/Translation.h>
+#include <znc/FileUtils.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_I18N
 #include <boost/locale.hpp>
 #endif
 
+namespace {
+std::map<CString, CTranslationInfo> FillTranslations() {
+    std::map<CString, CTranslationInfo> mTranslations;
+    CDir Dir;
+    Dir.Fill(_DATADIR_ "/translations");
+    for (CFile* pFile : Dir) {
+        CString sName = pFile->GetShortName();
+        CTranslationInfo& translation = mTranslations[sName];
+        MCString msData;
+        // TODO: make the file format more sensible than this
+        msData.ReadFromDisk(pFile->GetLongName());
+        translation.sSelfName = msData["SelfName"];
+        // TODO: right-to-left support
+    }
+    return mTranslations;
+}
+}  // namespace
+
+std::map<CString, CTranslationInfo> CTranslationInfo::GetTranslations() {
+    static std::map<CString, CTranslationInfo> mTranslations =
+        FillTranslations();
+    return mTranslations;
+}
+
 CTranslation& CTranslation::Get() {
     static CTranslation translation;
     return translation;
diff --git a/translations/ru-RU b/translations/ru-RU
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8076c1ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/translations/ru-RU
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+SelfName Русский