diff --git a/src/languageHandler.tsx b/src/languageHandler.tsx
index d9feec95b1..e699f8e301 100644
--- a/src/languageHandler.tsx
+++ b/src/languageHandler.tsx
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import PlatformPeg from "./PlatformPeg";
 // @ts-ignore - $webapp is a webpack resolve alias pointing to the output directory, see webpack config
 import webpackLangJsonUrl from "$webapp/i18n/languages.json";
 import { SettingLevel } from "./settings/SettingLevel";
+import {retry} from "./utils/promise";
 
 const i18nFolder = 'i18n/';
 
@@ -327,7 +328,7 @@ export function setLanguage(preferredLangs: string | string[]) {
             console.error("Unable to find an appropriate language");
         }
 
-        return getLanguage(i18nFolder + availLangs[langToUse].fileName);
+        return getLanguageRetry(i18nFolder + availLangs[langToUse].fileName);
     }).then((langData) => {
         counterpart.registerTranslations(langToUse, langData);
         counterpart.setLocale(langToUse);
@@ -336,7 +337,7 @@ export function setLanguage(preferredLangs: string | string[]) {
 
         // Set 'en' as fallback language:
         if (langToUse !== "en") {
-            return getLanguage(i18nFolder + availLangs['en'].fileName);
+            return getLanguageRetry(i18nFolder + availLangs['en'].fileName);
         }
     }).then((langData) => {
         if (langData) counterpart.registerTranslations('en', langData);
@@ -482,7 +483,15 @@ function weblateToCounterpart(inTrs: object): object {
     return outTrs;
 }
 
-function getLanguage(langPath: string): object {
+async function getLanguageRetry(langPath: string, num = 3): Promise<object> {
+    return retry(() => getLanguage(langPath), num, e => {
+        console.log("Failed to load i18n", langPath);
+        console.error(e);
+        return true; // always retry
+    });
+}
+
+function getLanguage(langPath: string): Promise<object> {
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
         request(
             { method: "GET", url: langPath },
diff --git a/test/i18n-test/languageHandler-test.js b/test/i18n-test/languageHandler-test.js
index 7968186e9e..b9bc955269 100644
--- a/test/i18n-test/languageHandler-test.js
+++ b/test/i18n-test/languageHandler-test.js
@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ describe('languageHandler', function() {
         languageHandler.setMissingEntryGenerator(key => key.split("|", 2)[1]);
     });
 
-    it('translates a string to german', function() {
+    it('translates a string to german', function(done) {
         languageHandler.setLanguage('de').then(function() {
             const translated = languageHandler._t('Rooms');
             expect(translated).toBe('Räume');
-        });
+        }).then(done);
     });
 
     it('handles plurals', function() {