diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/BasicMessageComposer.js b/src/components/views/rooms/BasicMessageComposer.js
index 3f07cf567e..06d8013550 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/BasicMessageComposer.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/BasicMessageComposer.js
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import TypingStore from "../../../stores/TypingStore";
 import EMOJIBASE from 'emojibase-data/en/compact.json';
 import SettingsStore from "../../../settings/SettingsStore";
 import EMOTICON_REGEX from 'emojibase-regex/emoticon';
+import { _t } from '../../../languageHandler';
 
 const REGEX_EMOTICON_WHITESPACE = new RegExp('(?:^|\\s)(' + EMOTICON_REGEX.source + ')\\s$');
 
@@ -487,11 +488,11 @@ export default class BasicMessageEditor extends React.Component {
         return (<div className={classes}>
             { autoComplete }
             <div className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatBar" ref={ref => this._formatBarRef = ref}>
-                <span onClick={this._formatBold} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatBold"></span>
-                <span onClick={this._formatItalic} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatItalic"></span>
-                <span onClick={this._formatStrikethrough} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatStrikethrough"></span>
-                <span onClick={this._formatCode} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatCode"></span>
-                <span onClick={this._formatQuote} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatQuote"></span>
+                <span aria-label={_t("Bold")} role="button" onClick={this._formatBold} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatBold"></span>
+                <span aria-label={_t("Italics")} role="button" onClick={this._formatItalic} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatItalic"></span>
+                <span aria-label={_t("Strikethrough")} role="button" onClick={this._formatStrikethrough} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatStrikethrough"></span>
+                <span aria-label={_t("Code block")} role="button" onClick={this._formatCode} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatCode"></span>
+                <span aria-label={_t("Quote")} role="button" onClick={this._formatQuote} className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatButton mx_BasicMessageComposer_formatQuote"></span>
             </div>
             <div
                 className="mx_BasicMessageComposer_input"
diff --git a/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json b/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
index 2498b018e3..990363d105 100644
--- a/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
+++ b/src/i18n/strings/en_EN.json
@@ -757,6 +757,11 @@
     " (unsupported)": " (unsupported)",
     "Join as <voiceText>voice</voiceText> or <videoText>video</videoText>.": "Join as <voiceText>voice</voiceText> or <videoText>video</videoText>.",
     "Ongoing conference call%(supportedText)s.": "Ongoing conference call%(supportedText)s.",
+    "Bold": "Bold",
+    "Italics": "Italics",
+    "Strikethrough": "Strikethrough",
+    "Code block": "Code block",
+    "Quote": "Quote",
     "Some devices for this user are not trusted": "Some devices for this user are not trusted",
     "Some devices in this encrypted room are not trusted": "Some devices in this encrypted room are not trusted",
     "All devices for this user are trusted": "All devices for this user are trusted",
@@ -1397,7 +1402,6 @@
     "Unhide Preview": "Unhide Preview",
     "Share Permalink": "Share Permalink",
     "Share Message": "Share Message",
-    "Quote": "Quote",
     "Source URL": "Source URL",
     "Collapse Reply Thread": "Collapse Reply Thread",
     "End-to-end encryption information": "End-to-end encryption information",