diff --git a/web/src/hooks.server.ts b/web/src/hooks.server.ts
index f1388cd4..ff9311bd 100644
--- a/web/src/hooks.server.ts
+++ b/web/src/hooks.server.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { sequence } from '@sveltejs/kit/hooks'
 import { MeiliSearch } from 'meilisearch'
 import { locale } from 'svelte-i18n'
 import type { Actor } from '$lib/models/activitypub/actor'
+import { normalizeLocale } from '$lib/i18n/locales'
 
 
 function csrf(allowedPaths: string[]): Handle {
@@ -109,12 +110,14 @@ const auth: Handle = async ({ event, resolve }) => {
   }
   event.locals.settings = settings
 
-  const lang = settings?.language ?? event.request.headers.get('accept-language')?.split(',')[0]
+  const langHeader = event.request.headers.get('accept-language')?.split(',')[0]
+  const lang = settings?.language ?? langHeader
 
   if (lang) {
-    locale.set(lang)
+    const normalizedLocale = normalizeLocale(lang)
+    locale.set(normalizedLocale)
     if (pb.authStore.record) {
-      pb.authStore.record!.language = lang;
+      pb.authStore.record!.language = normalizedLocale;
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/web/src/lib/i18n/index.ts b/web/src/lib/i18n/index.ts
index a263ed13..67fa4f9b 100644
--- a/web/src/lib/i18n/index.ts
+++ b/web/src/lib/i18n/index.ts
@@ -1,26 +1,20 @@
 import { browser } from '$app/environment';
 import { getPb } from '$lib/pocketbase';
 import { init, register } from 'svelte-i18n';
+import { defaultLocale, LOCALE_LOADERS, normalizeLocale } from './locales';
 
-const defaultLocale = 'en'
-register('cs', () => import('./locales/cs.json'))
-register('en', () => import('./locales/en.json'))
-register('de', () => import('./locales/de.json'))
-register('es', () => import('./locales/es.json'))
-register('eu', () => import('./locales/eu.json'))
-register('fr', () => import('./locales/fr.json'))
-register('hu', () => import('./locales/hu.json'))
-register('it', () => import('./locales/it.json'))
-register('nl', () => import('./locales/nl.json'))
-register('no', () => import('./locales/no.json'))
-register('pl', () => import('./locales/pl.json'))
-register('pt', () => import('./locales/pt.json'))
-register('ru', () => import('./locales/ru.json'))
-register('zh', () => import('./locales/zh.json'))
+for (const [localeKey, loader] of Object.entries(LOCALE_LOADERS)) {
+    register(localeKey, loader)
+}
+
+const userLang = browser ? getPb().authStore.record?.language : null;
+const navigatorLang = browser ? window.navigator.language : null;
+
+const initial = normalizeLocale(userLang ?? navigatorLang ?? defaultLocale);
 
 init({
     fallbackLocale: defaultLocale,
-    initialLocale: browser ? getPb().authStore.record?.language ?? window.navigator.language : defaultLocale,
+    initialLocale: initial,
     formats: {
         date: {
             monthName: { month: 'long' }
@@ -28,4 +22,4 @@ init({
         number: {},
         time: {}
     },
-})
\ No newline at end of file
+})
diff --git a/web/src/lib/i18n/locales.ts b/web/src/lib/i18n/locales.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..50b08038
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/src/lib/i18n/locales.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+type LocaleMessages = Record<string, unknown>;
+type LocaleModule = { default: LocaleMessages };
+type LocaleLoader = () => Promise<LocaleMessages>;
+
+const localeModules = import.meta.glob<LocaleModule>("./locales/*.json");
+
+const localeEntries = Object.entries(localeModules)
+  .map(([path, loadModule]) => {
+    const match = path.match(/\/([a-z]{2,5}(?:-[a-z]{2,4})?)\.json$/i);
+    if (!match) return null;
+
+    const locale = match[1].toLowerCase();
+    const loader: LocaleLoader = async () => (await loadModule()).default;
+    return [locale, loader] as const;
+  })
+  .filter((entry): entry is readonly [string, LocaleLoader] => entry !== null);
+
+export const LOCALE_LOADERS: Record<string, LocaleLoader> = Object.fromEntries(
+  localeEntries,
+);
+
+export const SUPPORTED_LOCALES = Object.keys(LOCALE_LOADERS).sort();
+export type SupportedLocale = string;
+
+export const defaultLocale: SupportedLocale = SUPPORTED_LOCALES.includes("en")
+  ? "en"
+  : (SUPPORTED_LOCALES[0] ?? "en");
+
+export function normalizeLocale(raw: string | null | undefined): SupportedLocale {
+  if (!raw) return defaultLocale;
+
+  // remove spaces and any ";q=0.7" part
+  let tag = raw.trim().split(";")[0];
+
+  // Turn "de_CH" into "de-CH"
+  tag = tag.replace("_", "-");
+
+  // Lowercase language, uppercase region if present
+  const parts = tag.split("-");
+  if (parts.length === 2) {
+    tag = `${parts[0].toLowerCase()}-${parts[1].toUpperCase()}`;
+  } else {
+    tag = tag.toLowerCase();
+  }
+
+  // Map "de-CH" -> "de", "en-US" -> "en", etc.
+  const base = tag.split("-")[0];
+
+  if (SUPPORTED_LOCALES.includes(base)) {
+    return base;
+  }
+
+  return defaultLocale;
+}