diff --git a/packages/node_modules/@node-red/util/lib/i18n.js b/packages/node_modules/@node-red/util/lib/i18n.js
index cddcb764f..4f1cf110f 100644
--- a/packages/node_modules/@node-red/util/lib/i18n.js
+++ b/packages/node_modules/@node-red/util/lib/i18n.js
@@ -136,8 +136,6 @@ function getCurrentLocale() {
 
 function init(settings) {
     if (!initPromise) {
-        // Keep this as a 'when' promise as top-level red.js uses 'otherwise'
-        // and embedded users of NR may have copied that.
         initPromise = new Promise((resolve,reject) => {
             i18n.use(MessageFileLoader);
             var opt = {
@@ -146,6 +144,8 @@ function init(settings) {
                 defaultNS: "runtime",
                 ns: [],
                 fallbackLng: defaultLang,
+                keySeparator: ".",
+                nsSeparator: ":",
                 interpolation: {
                     unescapeSuffix: 'HTML',
                     escapeValue: false,