Load a default (en) language underneath the selected language.

The default language (en) is loaded first and the selected
language is loaded on top of it so that missing translation keys
in the selected language will have the original English strings
available on the UI.

cmd/init.go

@@ -257,18 +257,32 @@ func initConstants() *constants {
 }
 
 // initI18n initializes a new i18n instance with the selected language map
-// loaded from the filesystem.
+// loaded from the filesystem. English is a loaded first as the default map
+// and then the selected language is loaded on top of it so that if there are
+// missing translations in it, the default English translations show up.
 func initI18n(lang string, fs stuffbin.FileSystem) *i18n.I18n {
-	b, err := fs.Read(fmt.Sprintf("/i18n/%s.json", lang))
+	const def = "en"
+
+	b, err := fs.Read(fmt.Sprintf("/i18n/%s.json", def))
 	if err != nil {
-		lo.Fatalf("error loading i18n language file: %v", err)
+		lo.Fatalf("error reading default i18n language file: %s: %v", def, err)
 	}
 
+	// Initialize with the default language.
 	i, err := i18n.New(b)
 	if err != nil {
 		lo.Fatalf("error unmarshalling i18n language: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	// Load the selected language on top of it.
+	b, err = fs.Read(fmt.Sprintf("/i18n/%s.json", lang))
+	if err != nil {
+		lo.Fatalf("error reading i18n language file: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := i.Load(b); err != nil {
+		lo.Fatalf("error loading i18n language file: %v", err)
+	}
+
 	return i
 }
 

internal/i18n/i18n.go

@@ -43,6 +43,21 @@ func New(b []byte) (*I18n, error) {
 	}, nil
 }
 
+// Load loads a JSON language map into the instance overwriting
+// existing keys that conflict.
+func (i *I18n) Load(b []byte) error {
+	var l map[string]string
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &l); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	for k, v := range l {
+		i.langMap[k] = v
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 // Name returns the canonical name of the language.
 func (i *I18n) Name() string {
 	return i.name