diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/types/config.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/types/config.ts
index a606825d820..def3242e7c5 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/types/config.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/types/config.ts
@@ -230,6 +230,12 @@ export interface GrafanaConfig {
 
   // The namespace to use for kubernetes apiserver requests
   namespace: string;
+
+  /**
+   * Language used in Grafana's UI. This is after the user's preference (or deteceted locale) is resolved to one of
+   * Grafana's supported language.
+   */
+  language: string | undefined;
 }
 
 export interface SqlConnectionLimits {
diff --git a/packages/grafana-runtime/src/config.ts b/packages/grafana-runtime/src/config.ts
index 3d25e0d5b2f..8a7dae06941 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-runtime/src/config.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-runtime/src/config.ts
@@ -176,6 +176,12 @@ export class GrafanaBootConfig implements GrafanaConfig {
   localFileSystemAvailable: boolean | undefined;
   cloudMigrationIsTarget: boolean | undefined;
 
+  /**
+   * Language used in Grafana's UI. This is after the user's preference (or deteceted locale) is resolved to one of
+   * Grafana's supported language.
+   */
+  language: string | undefined;
+
   constructor(options: GrafanaBootConfig) {
     this.bootData = options.bootData;
 
diff --git a/public/app/app.ts b/public/app/app.ts
index 0de34f8fe68..613b40d560c 100644
--- a/public/app/app.ts
+++ b/public/app/app.ts
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ import { setPanelDataErrorView } from '@grafana/runtime/src/components/PanelData
 import { setPanelRenderer } from '@grafana/runtime/src/components/PanelRenderer';
 import { setPluginPage } from '@grafana/runtime/src/components/PluginPage';
 import { getScrollbarWidth } from '@grafana/ui';
-import config from 'app/core/config';
+import config, { updateConfig } from 'app/core/config';
 import { arrayMove } from 'app/core/utils/arrayMove';
 import { getStandardTransformers } from 'app/features/transformers/standardTransformers';
 
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ export class GrafanaApp {
       parent.postMessage('GrafanaAppInit', '*');
 
       const initI18nPromise = initializeI18n(config.bootData.user.language);
+      initI18nPromise.then(({ language }) => updateConfig({ language }));
 
       setBackendSrv(backendSrv);
       initEchoSrv();
diff --git a/public/app/core/internationalization/index.tsx b/public/app/core/internationalization/index.tsx
index 3265397ce26..1b9d850c6d0 100644
--- a/public/app/core/internationalization/index.tsx
+++ b/public/app/core/internationalization/index.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import LanguageDetector, { DetectorOptions } from 'i18next-browser-languagedetec
 import React from 'react';
 import { Trans as I18NextTrans, initReactI18next } from 'react-i18next'; // eslint-disable-line no-restricted-imports
 
-import { LANGUAGES, VALID_LANGUAGES } from './constants';
+import { DEFAULT_LANGUAGE, LANGUAGES, VALID_LANGUAGES } from './constants';
 
 const getLanguagePartFromCode = (code: string) => code.split('-')[0].toLowerCase();
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ const loadTranslations: BackendModule = {
   },
 };
 
-export function initializeI18n(language: string) {
+export function initializeI18n(language: string): Promise<{ language: string | undefined }> {
   // This is a placeholder so we can put a 'comment' in the message json files.
   // Starts with an underscore so it's sorted to the top of the file. Even though it is in a comment the following line is still extracted
   // t('_comment', 'This file is the source of truth for English strings. Edit this to change plurals and other phrases for the UI.');
@@ -35,19 +35,30 @@ export function initializeI18n(language: string) {
 
     // If translations are empty strings (no translation), fall back to the default value in source code
     returnEmptyString: false,
+
+    // Required to ensure that `resolvedLanguage` is set property when an invalid language is passed (such as through 'detect')
+    supportedLngs: VALID_LANGUAGES,
+    fallbackLng: DEFAULT_LANGUAGE,
   };
-  let init = i18n;
+  let i18nInstance = i18n;
   if (language === 'detect') {
-    init = init.use(LanguageDetector);
+    i18nInstance = i18nInstance.use(LanguageDetector);
     const detection: DetectorOptions = { order: ['navigator'], caches: [] };
     options.detection = detection;
   } else {
     options.lng = VALID_LANGUAGES.includes(language) ? language : undefined;
   }
-  return init
+
+  const loadPromise = i18nInstance
     .use(loadTranslations)
     .use(initReactI18next) // passes i18n down to react-i18next
     .init(options);
+
+  return loadPromise.then(() => {
+    return {
+      language: i18nInstance.resolvedLanguage,
+    };
+  });
 }
 
 export function changeLanguage(locale: string) {