diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index db2812b528f..d162e27f0a0 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -138,13 +138,8 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   end
 
   def set_locale
-    I18n.locale = if current_user
-                    current_user.effective_locale
-                  else
-                    SiteSetting.default_locale
-                  end
-
-    I18n.fallbacks.ensure_loaded!
+    I18n.locale = current_user.try(:effective_locale) || SiteSetting.default_locale
+    I18n.ensure_all_loaded!
   end
 
   def store_preloaded(key, json)
diff --git a/app/jobs/base.rb b/app/jobs/base.rb
index a187dfb682e..b14cf595894 100644
--- a/app/jobs/base.rb
+++ b/app/jobs/base.rb
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ module Jobs
             begin
               RailsMultisite::ConnectionManagement.establish_connection(db: db)
               I18n.locale = SiteSetting.default_locale
-              I18n.fallbacks.ensure_loaded!
+              I18n.ensure_all_loaded!
               begin
                 execute(opts)
               rescue => e
diff --git a/config/initializers/i18n.rb b/config/initializers/i18n.rb
index 616d519bfc1..ca6ee5e5695 100644
--- a/config/initializers/i18n.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/i18n.rb
@@ -1,26 +1,5 @@
 # order: after 02-freedom_patches.rb
 
-# Include pluralization module
-require 'i18n/backend/pluralization'
-I18n::Backend::Simple.send(:include, I18n::Backend::Pluralization)
-
-# Include fallbacks module
-require 'i18n/backend/fallbacks'
-I18n.backend.class.send(:include, I18n::Backend::Fallbacks)
-
-# Configure custom fallback order
-class FallbackLocaleList < Hash
-  def [](locale)
-    # user locale, site locale, english
-    # TODO - this can be extended to be per-language for a better user experience
-    # (e.g. fallback zh_TW to zh_CN / vice versa)
-    [locale, SiteSetting.default_locale.to_sym, :en].uniq.compact
-  end
-
-  def ensure_loaded!
-    self[I18n.locale].each { |l| I18n.ensure_loaded! l }
-  end
-end
-
-I18n.fallbacks = FallbackLocaleList.new
+require 'i18n/backend/discourse_i18n'
+I18n.backend = I18n::Backend::DiscourseI18n.new
 I18n.config.missing_interpolation_argument_handler = proc { throw(:exception) }
diff --git a/lib/freedom_patches/i18n_fallbacks.rb b/lib/freedom_patches/i18n_fallbacks.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 859e816c08f..00000000000
--- a/lib/freedom_patches/i18n_fallbacks.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-# This should be used until https://github.com/svenfuchs/i18n/pull/326 is merged into the I18n gem.
-
-module I18n
-  module Backend
-    module Fallbacks
-      def exists?(locale, key)
-        I18n.fallbacks[locale].each do |fallback|
-          begin
-            return true if super(fallback, key)
-          rescue I18n::InvalidLocale
-            # we do nothing when the locale is invalid, as this is a fallback anyways.
-          end
-        end
-
-        false
-      end
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/lib/freedom_patches/translate_accelerator.rb b/lib/freedom_patches/translate_accelerator.rb
index 7b3fc986a6c..77678081499 100644
--- a/lib/freedom_patches/translate_accelerator.rb
+++ b/lib/freedom_patches/translate_accelerator.rb
@@ -9,27 +9,7 @@
 # This patch depends on the convention that locale yml files must be named [locale_name].yml
 
 module I18n
-  module Backend
 
-    class Simple
-      def available_locales
-        # in case you are wondering this is:
-        # Dir.glob( File.join(Rails.root, 'config', 'locales', 'client.*.yml') )
-        #    .map {|x| x.split('.')[-2]}.sort
-        LocaleSiteSetting.supported_locales.map(&:to_sym)
-      end
-    end
-
-    module Base
-      # force explicit loading
-      def load_translations(*filenames)
-        unless filenames.empty?
-          filenames.flatten.each { |filename| load_file(filename) }
-        end
-      end
-
-    end
-  end
   # this accelerates translation a tiny bit (halves the time it takes)
   class << self
     alias_method :translate_no_cache, :translate
@@ -59,9 +39,13 @@ module I18n
       end
     end
 
+    def ensure_all_loaded!
+      backend.fallbacks(locale).each {|l| ensure_loaded!(l) }
+    end
+
     def ensure_loaded!(locale)
       @loaded_locales ||= []
-      load_locale locale unless @loaded_locales.include?(locale)
+      load_locale(locale) unless @loaded_locales.include?(locale)
     end
 
     def translate(key, *args)
diff --git a/lib/i18n/backend/discourse_i18n.rb b/lib/i18n/backend/discourse_i18n.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9e34866d0b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/i18n/backend/discourse_i18n.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+require 'i18n/backend/pluralization'
+
+module I18n
+  module Backend
+    class DiscourseI18n < I18n::Backend::Simple
+      include I18n::Backend::Pluralization
+
+      def available_locales
+        # in case you are wondering this is:
+        # Dir.glob( File.join(Rails.root, 'config', 'locales', 'client.*.yml') )
+        #    .map {|x| x.split('.')[-2]}.sort
+        LocaleSiteSetting.supported_locales.map(&:to_sym)
+      end
+
+      # force explicit loading
+      def load_translations(*filenames)
+        unless filenames.empty?
+          filenames.flatten.each { |filename| load_file(filename) }
+        end
+      end
+
+      def fallbacks(locale)
+        [locale, SiteSetting.default_locale.to_sym, :en].uniq.compact
+      end
+
+      def exists?(locale, key)
+        fallbacks(locale).each do |fallback|
+          begin
+            return true if super(fallback, key)
+          rescue I18n::InvalidLocale
+            # we do nothing when the locale is invalid, as this is a fallback anyways.
+          end
+        end
+
+        false
+      end
+
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/components/discourse_i18n_spec.rb b/spec/components/discourse_i18n_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..98888fa42b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/components/discourse_i18n_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+require 'i18n/backend/discourse_i18n'
+
+describe I18n::Backend::DiscourseI18n do
+
+  let(:backend) { I18n::Backend::DiscourseI18n.new }
+
+  before do
+    backend.store_translations(:en, :foo => 'Foo in :en', :bar => 'Bar in :en')
+    backend.store_translations(:en, :items => {:one => 'one item', :other => "%{count} items" })
+    backend.store_translations(:de, :bar => 'Bar in :de')
+    backend.store_translations(:'de-AT', :baz => 'Baz in :de-AT')
+  end
+
+  it 'translates the basics as expected' do
+    expect(backend.translate(:en, 'foo')).to eq("Foo in :en")
+    expect(backend.translate(:en, 'items', count: 1)).to eq("one item")
+    expect(backend.translate(:en, 'items', count: 3)).to eq("3 items")
+  end
+
+  describe '#exists?' do
+    it 'returns true when a key is given that exists' do
+      expect(backend.exists?(:de, :bar)).to eq(true)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns true when a key is given that exists in a fallback locale of the locale' do
+      expect(backend.exists?(:de, :foo)).to eq(true)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns true when an existing key and an existing locale is given' do
+      expect(backend.exists?(:en, :foo)).to eq(true)
+      expect(backend.exists?(:de, :bar)).to eq(true)
+      expect(backend.exists?(:'de-AT', :baz)).to eq(true)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns false when a non-existing key and an existing locale is given' do
+      expect(backend.exists?(:en, :bogus)).to eq(false)
+      expect(backend.exists?(:de, :bogus)).to eq(false)
+      expect(backend.exists?(:'de-AT', :bogus)).to eq(false)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns true when a key is given which is missing from the given locale and exists in a fallback locale' do
+      expect(backend.exists?(:de, :foo)).to eq(true)
+      expect(backend.exists?(:'de-AT', :foo)).to eq(true)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns true when a key is given which is missing from the given locale and all its fallback locales' do
+      expect(backend.exists?(:de, :baz)).to eq(false)
+      expect(backend.exists?(:'de-AT', :bogus)).to eq(false)
+    end
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/spec/helpers/i18n_fallbacks_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/i18n_fallbacks_spec.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 01cd56077b3..00000000000
--- a/spec/helpers/i18n_fallbacks_spec.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,52 +0,0 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
-
-describe 'freedom patch for I18n::Backend::Fallbacks' do
-  before do
-    SiteSetting.default_locale = 'de'
-    I18n.locale = :de
-
-    store_translations(:en, :foo => 'Foo in :en', :bar => 'Bar in :en')
-    store_translations(:de, :bar => 'Bar in :de')
-    store_translations(:'de-AT', :baz => 'Baz in :de-AT')
-  end
-
-  def store_translations(locale, data)
-    I18n.backend.store_translations(locale, data)
-  end
-
-  describe '#exists?' do
-    it 'returns true when a key is given that exists in the default locale' do
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:bar)).to be true
-    end
-
-    it 'returns true when a key is given that exists in a fallback locale of the default locale' do
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:foo)).to be true
-    end
-
-    it 'returns false when a non-existing key is given' do
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:bogus)).to be false
-    end
-
-    it 'returns true when an existing key and an existing locale is given' do
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:foo, :en)).to be true
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:bar, :de)).to be true
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:baz, :'de-AT')).to be true
-    end
-
-    it 'returns false when a non-existing key and an existing locale is given' do
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:bogus, :en)).to be false
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:bogus, :de)).to be false
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:bogus, :'de-AT')).to be false
-    end
-
-    it 'returns true when a key is given which is missing from the given locale and exists in a fallback locale' do
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:foo, :de)).to be true
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:foo, :'de-AT')).to be true
-    end
-
-    it 'returns true when a key is given which is missing from the given locale and all its fallback locales' do
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:baz, :de)).to be false
-      expect(I18n.exists?(:bogus, :'de-AT')).to be false
-    end
-  end
-end