diff --git a/packages/node_modules/@node-red/util/lib/i18n.js b/packages/node_modules/@node-red/util/lib/i18n.js
index 39e4a2c1a..236b66306 100644
--- a/packages/node_modules/@node-red/util/lib/i18n.js
+++ b/packages/node_modules/@node-red/util/lib/i18n.js
@@ -118,19 +118,12 @@ var MessageFileLoader = {
     type: "backend",
     init: function (services, backendOptions, i18nextOptions) { },
     read: function (lng, ns, callback) {
-        // there are two languages to consider:
-        // 1) the actual language lng (e. g. 'en-US' or 'de-DE', 'fr-FR',...)
-        // 2) the base language (e. g. 'en', 'de', 'fr',...)
-        var baseLng = lng.split('-')[0];
-        // read base language (e. g. 'de'), then actual language (e. g. 'de-DE') 
-        readFile(baseLng, ns).then(
-            baseData => {
-                // scenario 1: reading base language was successful -> read actual language -> if this fails, return base language data
-                readFile(lng, ns).then(data => callback(null, data), () => callback(null, baseData))
-            },
-            () => {
-                // scenario 2: reading base language failed -> read actual language -> if this fails too, return error
-                readFile(lng, ns).then(data => callback(null, data), err => callback(err))
+        readFile(lng, ns)
+            .then(data => callback(null, data))
+            .catch(() => {
+                // if reading language file fails -> try reading base language (e. g. 'fr' instead of 'fr-FR' or 'de' for 'de-DE')
+                var baseLng = lng.split('-')[0];
+                readFile(baseLng, ns).then(baseData => callback(null, baseData)).catch(err => callback(err));
             });
     }
 }